What is a USB Hard Drive?

A USB hard drive is an external hard drive. The USB (Universal Serial Bus) is an external interface used to connect various devices to a computer. The USB is used for external devices and you are not likely to see the USB interface used for an internal hard drive. So, a USB drive is simply an external hard drive that is connected to the computer via a USB cable.

You will want to connect the hard drive with a USB 2.0 interface. If you only have the older USB 1.1 support on your computer, you will be unhappy with the slow performance of the USB disk. With USB 2.0 you will get data transfer speeds up to 480 Mbps, which is pretty good performance for an external device. o

When looking for an external hard drive, You have so many options...

This is the 5GB Seagate microdrive. One of the smallest hard drives available. It will fit into one of those Altoids mint tins.

This is a USB enclosure holds 2.5" laptop drives. The enclosure requires no power supply so it will put an extra strain on your notebook battery. This is an easy way to transfer large files between your notebook and your desktop.

This enclosure holds a 3.5" desktop size drive. The enclosure has it's own power supply that will need to be plugged in. There is also a power switch in back of the enclosure that lets you turn the unit on or off while the computer is still running. You can get enclosures that will accept either SATA or EIDE hard drives. If you have an old IDE hard drive laying around, this enclosure is a good way to get some use out of it.

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