Probably, some time ago, with a device such as external drives, it would have been a bit confusing for a computer technician. Indeed, often the fact of the presence of a CD-ROM drive inside the PC case automatically made this device “elite”: not everyone could afford it.
However, time did not stand still. Pretty soon, laser disk drives became commonplace. And then external drives appeared on the scene.
External drive - what is it
Probably, without any definitions, many understand that an external drive is a compact device designed to work (read and write) with all kinds of disks, which connects to a computer through one of its ports.
An external device is called precisely because it is not located inside the system unit, but outside. That is, an external drive can simply be taken and disconnected at any time, connected to another computer or drive, taken with you on the road or somewhere else.
When an external drive may be needed
There are a lot of situations when such a drive may be needed, if not completely, you cannot do without it.
For example, for a netbook. For the sake of compactness, netbook manufacturers did not place the drive for laser discs in the case. So the user has lost the ability to work with such disks. And it would be really bad if not for the external CD-ROM drive. It simply connects to the device via a USB port - and you can start working with laser disks. Therefore, most often external drives are purchased paired with a netbook.
An external drive may also be needed if the main drive on the device has failed. Or if you want to quickly rewrite information from one laser disk to another without first transferring data to your hard disk (many will probably recall the once common double-cassettes).
In a word, all sorts of situations where an external drive for a computer may be needed simply cannot be counted.
What are external drives
External drives can be classified in different ways: depending on the connection port, on the possibility or impossibility to record, by the way of power supply, by the type of readable disks and by other signs.
However, most often external drives are divided into:
- CD-drives - those that can only read and write CD-discs (currently they are almost never found);
- DVD drives are the most common type of drive that “sees” both CDs and DVDs;
- Blu-Ray - respectively, in addition to CD and DVD, such devices can work with Blu-Ray discs;
- writers and non-writers - those that can not only read, but also write information to disk, or just read (the latter are also practically not used today);
- powered by USB and through an external power supply.
Are there laptop-only or desktop-only models? No, there are none. External drives are universal, they work equally well on netbooks, laptops, and paired with a desktop computer.
Pros of external drives
Of course, an external drive has a number of advantages, as well as an independent device, and before its built-in “colleague”.
- External devices for working with disks can be simply disconnected from the computer at any time and, for example, given to a friend. In order to do such a trick with a built-in drive, you will need to disassemble the system unit or laptop case.
- The external drive will help out if the main drive on the device is broken.
- It will help to work with disks even on those devices where such drives are simply not structurally provided. For example, recently external drives for tablets have appeared.
- External drives are compact and easy to plug in; they are easy to replace.
Cons of external drives
But, as always, there were some minuses:
- Speed is the main weak point of any external drive. Anyway, the USB port is still slower than the internal system ports.
- Often an external laptop drive requires a separate power supply. Moreover, it can be carried out both via USB, and through a conventional outlet. Poor-quality power supplies burn quickly, but finding the exact same one is almost impossible - it’s easier to just buy another drive.
- An external drive is more expensive than its built-in counterpart.
How to connect an external drive
Fortunately, there is nothing complicated about connecting an external drive. Usually, all that is required is to plug the USB cable into the appropriate socket on the computer, and the plug of the power supply into the outlet.
If necessary, you can still install additional software and drivers. But often you can not do this - the system simply recognizes the device as a new drive and works quite correctly with it using standard means.
How to choose a removable drive
Choosing an external drive, you need to take into account the following points:
- If the computer has a USB 2.0 port, then you need to purchase such a drive. The process of reading and writing will go much more vigorously.
- If possible, you should prefer a model powered by both USB and a power outlet. If the power supply burns out, the device can be powered directly from the computer. In addition, such external drives will allow you to work offline. For example, on the road with a netbook.
- Whenever possible, the drive should read and write to most common disk formats. For the sake of versatility, you can neglect other secondary functions, which are most often used only a couple of times for the entire time and then only out of curiosity.
- The appearance of the drive also has a role. A beautiful device looks stylish on the table and will attract a lot of curious looks.
- As for speed, there is no need to get the highest speed. The standard 52 speeds are enough "for the eyes" for all occasions. Moreover, recording at high speeds often occurs incorrectly. Yes, and the drive motor itself can quickly fail if you abuse too often working at high speeds.
Regarding the manufacturer - there are no definite recommendations. In principle, all companies today produce good-quality external drives. Each company has both successful and not too models. But frankly bad today you will not meet.
Of course, before buying, it will not be superfluous to look on the Internet and get acquainted with the results of independent reviews and tests, as well as read reviews from real users of the selected external drive model. Thus, taking into account these recommendations, you can enjoy using an external drive for more than one year.