Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 10:21:59 -0800 (PST)
From: David Chien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: External HDD / USB question
USB is the easiest, but limited to 1.2MB / SEC transfer rates (far slower than
the 30+MB/Sec modern HDs are capable of)
Parallel port HDs also work. I've got an external case from www.h45.com and
dropped in a spare laptop HD. No problems at all, except that during transfers
to the HD, the machine under Windows does become very, very sluggish as the CPU
will be completely tied up working on the transfer. This won't happen under
USB because only the p.port requires constant CPU administration during
transfers.
However, I chose p.port because I wanted DOS compatibility, something no USB HD
can give you because there's no DOS USB support at all. This way, I can
transfer files off a system in case of an emergency, or if I'm using Ghost to
backup my system under DOS.
--
As for PCMCIA HDs, you've got three choices.
1) SCSI PCMCIA adapter to external SCSI HD - fastest.
(there's also firewire, but ignore this for today because drives are very
expensive, and no drive yet exceeds the bandwidth of SCSI, which is far
cheaper)
2) IDE PCMCIA adapter to external IDE HD - slightly slower than SCSI, but far
cheaper for the HDs.
3) PCMCIA HD. eg. Kingston now carries their 2GB PCMCIA HD card! and you can
easily store truck-loads of information on this tinsy card. Similarly, you can
use the IBM Microdrive in their adapter.
<Okay, not a HD, but other alternatives>
a) Iomega Clik! drive. External & PCMCIA versions available. When I had
mine for free, it did work as stated, but naturally, like a slow HD/fast FDD
from the 80s. Cheap 40MB media, but fragile, so don't sit on one or subject it
to magnetic fields.
b) PCMCIA flash cards. Type II go up to 1GB or so, Compact flash in
adapters hit about 512MB in a flash card that'll fit into your PCMCIA slot.
c) USB flash cards. Take any flash card and add a Zio! flash adapter and
you can attach to USB in a pocktable size. Also, some make all-in-one
adapter+flash in one devices not much bigger than a key that'll attach by USB.
Naturally, limited by USB's slow 1.2MB/s transfer rate.
d) External CD-RW drives attached by parallel, USB, SCSI, or PCMCIA slots.
Cheapest storage / MB on the planet, 650MB per disc, but slower than a HD by
far.
HDs, except a few smaller lower-power ones, usually are not self/battery
powered and require an external power source. The external USB/p.port models
from H45 will draw power from your KB/Mouse/USB ports.
A few CD-RW drives are battery powerd, the rest require an AC.
All PCMCIA HDs/Flash cards & USB flash cards running off the Zio! adapter &
Iomega Clik! PCMCIA model & all USB all-in-one adapter+flash devices do not
require external power to run.
=====
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