External Hardrive for USB 1

B

Berns

New Member
I am not too computersavy. wish to buy an external harddrive for my 5 year old Dell computerto use for backup and store videos. My usb is 1. (not 2. like the newer ones)
Also all my usb ports are used (Camera, Ipod, UPS, etc)
Is there a workable solution for this senior citizen?
 
Solution

You need to get a usb hub, which should run you around $20. Depending on the hub,it can support 2 or more devices, so look for on that supports maybe 4 devices. As far as the hard drive, most any usb drive will work. Keep in mind USB 2.0 is backwards compatible, so it will work with USB 1, you just wont get the transfer rates of 2.0
 
First off, welcome to CF!

There is a solution to your lack of USB ports, you need a USB hub, something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817111490

However, since you have USB 1.1, and not the more modern USB 2.0, your transfer speeds will be very slow. It will be MUCH slower than your normal, internal harddrives. I suggest just adding another internal harddrive to your computer; it's not hard at all, and even IDE is better than USB, unless you need to take the drive/files between computers.

edit: lynx beat me to it
 
Well, thanks for the info. I think the idea of a hub an and external HD sounds easiest.
If I back up from my 40 gig harddrive in this way, how long would it take with the slower 1.1 USB?
How big of an external harddrive should I buy?
 
As for speed of USB 1.1, let's put it this way: The max speed of USB 1.1 is 1.5 megabytes/ second. The max speed of USB 2.0 is 60 megabytes/ second, 40x faster than USB 1.1. In fact, I'm not even sure if modern external harddrives will work with USB 1.1. It isn't hard at all to install an internal harddrive, there's really only one way it can connect. On top of that, an internal drive is also cheaper.

As for size of the drive, if you want it just to back up your 40GB harddrive, all you need to buy is another 40gb drive. If you want to use it for storage, it depends how much you think you'll need. They come in all sizes- from 40gb all the way up to 750gb. There is a website, Newegg.com (only ships to US) that has very reasonable prices and also has excellent customer support. Here is a link for IDE (internal) harddrives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N=2010150014 1035907789&name=IDE Ultra ATA100
 
Many thanks to all who responded. This really, really helps me. Now I have some options. It's great to have a forum like this.
Berns
 
It would be best if you buy a PCI USB card. This way, you can have USB2.0 speed, which is HUGE if you want to use an external harddrive. Trust me, it's not fun transferring large files at 1.1 speed.
 
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