Buying an external hard drive

[ultramarine]

I have a laptop computer that I have had for a few years which has about 25GB capacity, and as I have used up a lot of space I have been considering buying an external hard drive to increase my storage. Would this be a good idea, and if so, what type and make of external hard drive would others recommend?

[Wolfeymole]

Why buy an external when you can buy an internal?

[ultramarine]

Someone said to me that an external drive would be easier to install. But I don't know much about the workings of hard drives so I wanted to ask for more opinions on here. If someone had a description or a link to details about the advantages and disadvantages of internal vs external hard drives then I would be interested to read it. Thanks.

[Wolfeymole]

Have a look here Ultra.

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd /perf/perf/issuesIntExt.html

[ACtheTROLL]

You say an older machine do you have USB2 .... or USB1

if USB1 ... an external HDD will work .... but it will be painfully slow. In that case a new internal HDD is a much better option.

If you have USB2 an external HDD will also be useful in your next machine (desk or lap top) so go with that option.

If possible take the lappy with you and make sure that your machine will see all the disc (an older machine may not have a bios capable of reading a HDD bigger than 32 or 132Gb (depending on the version)