Hard drives

[lynn]

Is there a difference between an external or internal hard drive besides the
obvious? My computer is soooo slow. I am worried about opening the computer
to install an internal>

 

[Alias]

Is there a difference between an external or internal hard drive besides the
obvious? My computer is soooo slow. I am worried about opening the computer
to install an internal>

It's probably not your hard drive. If you're afraid to open the case,
take your computer to a professional tech to have it fixed. Don't take
it to some place like Best Buy or Geek Squad but a small computer store
where they care about their customers.

Alias

 

[R. McCarty]

External drives if connected via USB 2.0 will only run at about 25 Meg
per second. This compares with 60-80 Megabytes for an IDE/SCSI or
SATA internal drive. An external SCSI or SATA can also run at speeds
similar to internally mounted drives.

A slow PC can be caused by all kinds of issues. Malware or a Dirty
drive ( inconsistent state ) will make things run slow. Most likely the
internal drive is highly fragmented. This can cause performance loss over
time. Because it increases with use, most users do not notice how much
the PC is slowing down.

It sounds to me like your system just needs a cleaning and tune-up.
*Cleaning not physical cleanup, but that also should be done a couple
of times a year. ( Remove dust and accumulated gunk on fan blades )

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Is there a difference between an external or internal hard drive besides the
obvious? My computer is soooo slow.

An external USB drive will be slower than an internal one.

What does that difference have to do with your computer being slow?
Installing another drive, whether internal or external, is not going
to speed it up.

I am worried about opening the computer
to install an internal

Installing an internal drive is very simple. It requires mounting the
drive with four screws and plugging in two cables. If you've never
done it before, get a friend with more experience to work with you the
first time.

What do you plan on using this second drive for? It should be its use
that dictates whether it should be internal or external.

 

[JS]

What is the size of your internal hard drive?
How much of the total size is still available as free space?

JS

 

[HeyBub]

Is there a difference between an external or internal hard drive
besides the obvious? My computer is soooo slow. I am worried about
opening the computer to install an internal>

If the external drive is a USB drive, the difference in speed is
significant.

Opening a computer case (on a desktop machine) is equivalent to opening the
hood of your car.

Do you have access to a 12-year old male?

 

[Hiram B Culpeper]

If the external drive is a USB drive, the difference in speed is
significant.

Opening a computer case (on a desktop machine) is equivalent to opening
the hood of your car.

Do you have access to a 12-year old male?

Don't let a 12 year old male within a mile of your PC if you ever want in to
work again.

 

[Lorne]

On Sat, 5 Apr 2008 08:51:00 -0700, lynn



Installing an internal drive is very simple. It requires mounting the
drive with four screws and plugging in two cables.

Don't you also have to change the jumper settings on the new drive to make
it a slave if it is sharing an IDE cable?

 

[PD43]

Don't you also have to change the jumper settings on the new drive to make
it a slave if it is sharing an IDE cable?

That too.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Don't you also have to change the jumper settings on the new drive to make
it a slave if it is sharing an IDE cable?

Maybe. It depends on whether it's IDE, whether it's sharing a cable,
whether it's cable select or not, and how the jumper is set when you
get it.