Hi there,im thinking of purchasing an external usb 2.0 hdd..to use between my
pc and laptop..will be a 300gb + depending on cost + enclosure....will only
be used for storage of digi images and my music files (mp3,currently at
around 300gbs worth,currently backed up on dvds),was wondering on which is
best,a normal ide type hdd or sata,havent a clue whats the differance between
them..and secondly would i need to formatt it before i could use it or will
it be ready to go from when its pluggged in.. and would i be able to play my
music files direct from the external drive to either pc or laptop withoput
having them on my internal drives? are there any know common probs with
transferring data between internal and external..ie sending mp3 files/pics
from internal or disc to external?

thanks in advance for any help
--
thanks
stu8975

either you use sata or ide for the external its the same, since the USB2
connection will be slower than what the drives can deliver.

USB 2 is fast, but its not as fast as an internal drive.
Make sure your computer has USB2 and not USB 1.1. If the pc is fairly
new it will probably have usb2, or you can geta usb2 pci card for 10
dollars.

You will have to format the drive since the drive cannot know before hand
what OS you will be using. File system differ according to the OS.
You since you have XP will use NTFS.

You dont have to do anything special with the external... all files will be
usable just like if they were on an internal drive.

if you need any help tell me

kenny
www.computerboom.com
"stu8975" <stu8975@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:984B1A90-0500-4366-AF6D-BABC86467637@microsoft.com...
> Hi there,im thinking of purchasing an external usb 2.0 hdd..to use between
> my
> pc and laptop..will be a 300gb + depending on cost + enclosure....will
> only
> be used for storage of digi images and my music files (mp3,currently at
> around 300gbs worth,currently backed up on dvds),was wondering on which is
> best,a normal ide type hdd or sata,havent a clue whats the differance
> between
> them..and secondly would i need to formatt it before i could use it or
> will
> it be ready to go from when its pluggged in.. and would i be able to play
> my
> music files direct from the external drive to either pc or laptop withoput
> having them on my internal drives? are there any know common probs with
> transferring data between internal and external..ie sending mp3 files/pics
> from internal or disc to external?
>
> thanks in advance for any help
> --
> thanks
> stu8975