Hi Patricia, I would just like to add to what Joseph has said.
While it does not matter which brand you use, you may find that some brands get better reviews than others. I don't think it would hurt you to do some research on some brands out there. I know that Amazon offers user reviews on their products, and since Amazon hosts a large variety of brands, this may be your best bet at actually seeing what others think about the various brands. Another resource I find is a site here in Canada: http://www.futureshop.ca This is a electronics chain, direct competitors of Best Buy, which also provides user reviews on their products. The other good thing about this site is that it offers exact specifications on their hard drives, detailing speeds and transfer rates and the like, which you can then take to which ever store you plan on patronizing to see if they carry the same model. Other things I would look at, when purchasing hard drives, external or internal, are the RPM speeds, the higher the better, the transfer rates, again, the higher the better, and whether the drives are ultra portable or semi portable. Ultra portable drives don't require an external power supply, meaning they don't have a power adapter they need to plug into an electrical outlet to function, whereas, semi portable means that they do require a power adapter, which usually accompanies the drive in the box, and must be plugged in separately from your computer or laptop. The latter are usually the fastest, in terms of speeds, as the electrical power helps in that process, and they tend to be the larger storage capacities, anywhere between 300 gigabytes up to 1 terabyte or more. I Believe Best Buy's web site also offers comparison shopping and user reviews, but it's been a while since I've been there. I do have a couple of warnings for you, if you're going to purchase an external drive. First and foremost, lay them horizontally, never vertically, especially if the surface you're sitting them on is unstable. I've seen hard drives get ruined because they were standing vertically, and the person nudged the desk, and it fell over. Well, that little fall was enough to throw the heads out of alignment, and even break them altogether, ruining the drives completely. Another thing I would recommend is formatting the drive when you get it home. Most drives come shipped already formatted, but they are usually formatted with the FAT format, either FAT or FAT 32. This format is notorious for failing and getting corrupted. Your best bet is to format it into NTFS format, as it is more stable. You can check the format of the drive after you plug it in by pressing the applications key, then entering on the properties of the drive in the My Computer window. You may have to use your mouse cursor, or virtualize the window, but that's how you find out what it's formatted at. I think that's all I can think of right now, but if I think of anything else, I'll write to the list. Victor Visit the JAWS Users List home page at: http://www.jaws-users.com Address for the list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/blind-computing@jaws-users.com/ To post to this group, send email to blind-computing@jaws-users.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help from Mailman with your account Put the word help in the subject or body of a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use the following form in order to contact the management team http://www.jaws-users.com/BlindComputing.php If you wish to join the JAWS Users List send a blank email to the following address: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
