Help installing a hard drive

[Dave T.]

Hello all,

I have a spare EIDE internal hard drive I would like to install to my
machine, but I don't have a spare bay. Can someone clue me in about USB
HD cases, how do they work and what to do to set one up? Does the drive
just plug in to the case, or does it come with cables? I never knew that
these things existed until recently, so am ignorant of them.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Buy the case.. install the HDD.. attach the supplied power cord.. attach the
supplied USB cable.. connect to the computer.. power up the USB drive..

 

[Richard Urban]

An external hard drive case comes in USB or Firewire configuration - or
both.

The drive jumpers *must* be configured as per the instructions that come
with the case. In my case I had to jumper the drive as master. The drive
connects internally just as it would connect in your computer. The case
connection wires are quite short. The case interface converts the IDE drive
to either a USB or Firewire input/output.

External drives on USB 1.1 are very slow. A USB 2.0 or Firewire interface is
preferable. See if your computer has USB 2.0 or Firewire.

You would need the requisite connecting cable between the external drive
case and your computer USB or Firewire port.

--

Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

 

[Dave T.]

An external hard drive case comes in USB or Firewire configuration - or
both.

The drive jumpers *must* be configured as per the instructions that come
with the case. In my case I had to jumper the drive as master. The drive
connects internally just as it would connect in your computer. The case
connection wires are quite short. The case interface converts the IDE
drive to either a USB or Firewire input/output.

External drives on USB 1.1 are very slow. A USB 2.0 or Firewire
interface is preferable. See if your computer has USB 2.0 or Firewire.

You would need the requisite connecting cable between the external drive
case and your computer USB or Firewire port.

Thanks guys, I figured it would be that simple, just was not familiar
with them.