USB enclosure setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter The Seabat
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The Seabat

Howdy:

I just bought an enclosure for a laptop 4.3GB hard drive that runs off
a USB port. The instructions that came with it are pretty skimpy. I
assume that I have to fdisk and format this thing just like a regular
internal hard drive?

Can I set this puppy up with a bunch of programs and then just plug it
in to my folks or my computer and be able to run the apps from that
HD? I realize they would have to be stand alone apps, that didn't
write anything to the registry.

Also, is it possible to set the disc up with two partitions, one FAT32
and the other NTFS, so that I could use the drive on both Win98 and
WinXP machines. In other words have it set up so that which ever type
of OS I plug the unit into, it would automatically seek out the
partition that matched the file system?

Or am I asking too much of this USB device? Any recomendation to sites
that would have plenty of info for me to read-up on this hardware?

Thank you.
 
The Seabat said:
Howdy:

I just bought an enclosure for a laptop 4.3GB hard drive that runs off
a USB port. The instructions that came with it are pretty skimpy. I
assume that I have to fdisk and format this thing just like a regular
internal hard drive?

Can I set this puppy up with a bunch of programs and then just plug it
in to my folks or my computer and be able to run the apps from that
HD? I realize they would have to be stand alone apps, that didn't
write anything to the registry.

Also, is it possible to set the disc up with two partitions, one FAT32
and the other NTFS, so that I could use the drive on both Win98 and
WinXP machines. In other words have it set up so that which ever type
of OS I plug the unit into, it would automatically seek out the
partition that matched the file system?
Click to expand...

Xp/2000 can see and use fat32

all that you have asked is possible
 
The said:
I just bought an enclosure for a laptop 4.3GB hard drive that runs off
a USB port. The instructions that came with it are pretty skimpy. I
assume that I have to fdisk and format this thing just like a regular
internal hard drive?
Click to expand...

Yep. (Or the Disk Management applet under Computer Management.)
Can I set this puppy up with a bunch of programs and then just plug it
in to my folks or my computer and be able to run the apps from that
HD? I realize they would have to be stand alone apps, that didn't
write anything to the registry.
Yep.

Also, is it possible to set the disc up with two partitions, one FAT32
and the other NTFS, so that I could use the drive on both Win98 and
WinXP machines.
Click to expand...

Yes, but.
In other words have it set up so that which ever type
of OS I plug the unit into, it would automatically seek out the
partition that matched the file system?
Click to expand...

Well, if you plug it into a Win98/ME system, the FAT32 partition will be
mounted and the NTFS partition won't. If you plug it into a 2K/XP
system, the system will mount BOTH partitions and give them both drive
letters, which may or may not be what you have in mind. If you're just
concerned about portability between Win98/ME and Win2K/XP, I'd just
format the thing FAT32 since both sets of OSes understand FAT32.
 
The said:
Howdy:

I just bought an enclosure for a laptop 4.3GB hard drive that runs off
a USB port. The instructions that came with it are pretty skimpy. I
assume that I have to fdisk and format this thing just like a regular
internal hard drive?

Can I set this puppy up with a bunch of programs and then just plug it
in to my folks or my computer and be able to run the apps from that
HD? I realize they would have to be stand alone apps, that didn't
write anything to the registry.
Click to expand...

Not many apps are able to run without being installed. You would be
better off putting CD images onto the hard drive, i.e. with
http://www.magiciso.com/ though with only 4.3 GB, you won't be putting
many of them on there.
Also, is it possible to set the disc up with two partitions, one FAT32
and the other NTFS, so that I could use the drive on both Win98 and
WinXP machines.
Click to expand...

FAT32 partitions can be written and read by either OS.
 
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