Portable hard drives

[mikey4444]

My desktop PC is about 5 years old now. It has a dual-core processor and I am quite happy with it and I don't want to go the expense of replacing it.

But it only has a 186gb hard drive and I am now having to erase files in order to make room for new photos and videos,

So, I am thinking of buying one of those portable hard drives. I can get 500gb for £59 from PC World, which would seem to be good value. They have 1tb ones for an extra £20, which is even better value.

But how easy are they to use ? Will I be able to use it both on my desk top and my small notebook, without too much faffing about ?

I like to avoid faffing if at all possible !

[bibblebub]

Dead easy. I've got 2 that I use for backups and you just plug them into a USB port and off you go. It wasn't that long ago that you needed 2 USB ports to provide enough power but advances in technology mean that only 1 USB port is necessary these days.

[rockyracoon]

I've just ordered this for my son, recommended by 2 AB'ers

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

Free delivery as well!

[BlueToffee]

I'm your archetypical technophobe, and if I can use one, anyone can. 500gb should be big enough but try Amazon, probably cheaper than PC World.

[moonraker558]

A 1 TB should cater for all of your future needs, Havingf said that as I do a lot of video editing i be soon looking for a 2TB.

[mikey4444]

Thanks guys....so bloody quick !

Rocky...this looks good but I am becoming increasingly unhappy with Amazon. I have a couple of friends that have worked there and they tell terrible stories ....widespread bullying from very aggressive managers being the main complaint.

Also they don't appear to be willing to pay any tax in Britain. So I will try ebay.

[mikey4444]

Also thanks to bluetoffee and moonraker...your replies came in as I was doing my first thanks !

Thanks God for AB !

[bibblebub]

p.s. when you plug it in it will be allocated a drive letter (just like your main disk drive is C:) which can change depending on what other devices you have plugged in at the time - if you want it to always use the same letter then you can use disk management to set that.

[Old_Geezer]

Easy as others have said.
Although I've never considered buying an unpowered one.
But, to be honest, it's not that difficult to clone your existing disk on a bigger new one and install it internally as the new system disk.

[mikey4444]

I bought a 1TB Toshiba portable hard drive from PC World today, for only £59....It took about 30 seconds to install and I have now cured by capacity problem ! Very easy-peasy, as you all said, so many thanks !