HDD capacity

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

I am considering an external HDD (USB/Firewire). I would like to be
able to use the drive on each of my systems. I have two rather new
desktops and two older laptops. Does the BIOS have anything to do
with the maximum drive capacity recognized by the OS's (Win XP and Win
2K) of an external drive connected to a computer via the USB port? The
BIOS on the laptops will not recognize more than 32GB. I would like
to get something in the 200GB range. The desktops have USB 2.0 and
Firewire, but the laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for
backup.
---------------------------------------------------------------

bs has been included as part of my e-mail address to reduce the
amount of spam mail. Change the 'bs'in my address to 'bellsouth'
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Bill Burlingame

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 19:18:59 -0600, William J. Burlingame
<wjburl@bs.net> wrote:

>I am considering an external HDD (USB/Firewire). I would like to be
>able to use the drive on each of my systems. I have two rather new
>desktops and two older laptops. Does the BIOS have anything to do
>with the maximum drive capacity recognized by the OS's (Win XP and Win
>2K) of an external drive connected to a computer via the USB port? The
>BIOS on the laptops will not recognize more than 32GB. I would like
>to get something in the 200GB range. The desktops have USB 2.0 and
>Firewire, but the laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for
>backup.


The only thing I have say is about the slowness of the USB1.1, depends
how much stuff you are backing up.

Consider attaching a permanent large drive on a desktop, the guy that
stays on 24x7 (and idle to sleep as needed), then everybody on the
network can write to it, anytime, automatically. After years and
years of experience, I find that if people have to do any work at all,
they will skip the backups. You can threaten them to do it, it works
for a while, then things slacks off, and you know what happends, when
u need it the most, you did not back up that very important last
update.

My backup is schedule to write to my server, in the middle of the
night, automatically. Set up once and forget it. That's the best
backup method.

 

[Andrew]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

In comp.sys.laptops William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> wrote:
: I am considering an external HDD (USB/Firewire). I would like to be
: able to use the drive on each of my systems. I have two rather new
: desktops and two older laptops. Does the BIOS have anything to do
: with the maximum drive capacity recognized by the OS's (Win XP and Win
: 2K) of an external drive connected to a computer via the USB port? The
: BIOS on the laptops will not recognize more than 32GB. I would like
: to get something in the 200GB range. The desktops have USB 2.0 and
: Firewire, but the laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for
: backup.

Do get USB 2.0 PC Cards for your laptops. Since they cost only about
$20 now and they will save you hours and hours of transfer time, they
are well worth the investment. I've used one for a while and it works
without a hitch with my external hard drives. Even if you backup
overnight, you might still be waiting in the morning for the backups
to finish with USB 1.1.

Andrew
--
----> Portland, Oregon, USA <----
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[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> wrote in message
news:k2mn11tqp8ct57u7p505pudlv1j49h9asp@4ax.com...

> I am considering an external HDD (USB/Firewire). I would like to be
> able to use the drive on each of my systems. I have two rather new
> desktops and two older laptops. Does the BIOS have anything to do
> with the maximum drive capacity recognized by the OS's (Win XP and
> Win 2K) of an external drive connected to a computer via the USB port?

Nope.

> The BIOS on the laptops will not recognize more than 32GB.

Doesnt matter.

> I would like to get something in the 200GB range.
> The desktops have USB 2.0 and Firewire, but the
> laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for backup.

1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge
deal with the smaller laptop drives tho.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:45:01 +1100, "Rod Speed" <rod_speed@yahoo.com>
wrote:

>
>William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> wrote in message
>news:k2mn11tqp8ct57u7p505pudlv1j49h9asp@4ax.com...
>
>> I am considering an external HDD (USB/Firewire). I would like to be
>> able to use the drive on each of my systems. I have two rather new
>> desktops and two older laptops. Does the BIOS have anything to do
>> with the maximum drive capacity recognized by the OS's (Win XP and
>> Win 2K) of an external drive connected to a computer via the USB port?
>
>Nope.
>
>> The BIOS on the laptops will not recognize more than 32GB.
>
>Doesnt matter.
>
>> I would like to get something in the 200GB range.
>> The desktops have USB 2.0 and Firewire, but the
>> laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for backup.
>
>1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge
>deal with the smaller laptop drives tho.
>

Thanks for the response. I know the USB 1.1 will be slow, but for the
limited use, it's not a huge problem.


---------------------------------------------------------------

bs has been included as part of my e-mail address to reduce the
amount of spam mail. Change the 'bs'in my address to 'bellsouth'
to send me a message.

Bill Burlingame

 

[peter]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

> >> I would like to get something in the 200GB range.
> >> The desktops have USB 2.0 and Firewire, but the
> >> laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for backup.
> >
> >1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge
> >deal with the smaller laptop drives tho.
> >
>
> Thanks for the response. I know the USB 1.1 will be slow, but for the
> limited use, it's not a huge problem.

USB 1.1 and 200GB disk. Limited use? In what sense?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> writes:
> >1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge deal with the smaller
> >laptop drives tho.
>
> Thanks for the response. I know the USB 1.1 will be slow, but for the
> limited use, it's not a huge problem.

If the laptops have cardbus, you can get a cardbus usb 2.0 adapter.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Peter <peterfoxghost@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:382bdgF5igob4U1@individual.net...

>>>> The BIOS on the laptops will not recognize more than 32GB.

>>>> I would like to get something in the 200GB range.
>>>> The desktops have USB 2.0 and Firewire, but the
>>>> laptops have only USB 1.1. This is strictly for backup.

>>> 1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge
>>> deal with the smaller laptop drives tho.

>> Thanks for the response. I know the USB 1.1 will be
>> slow, but for the limited use, it's not a huge problem.

> USB 1.1 and 200GB disk. Limited use? In what sense?

In the sense of the size of the laptop drives being backed up.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

On 22 Feb 2005 20:00:33 -0800, Paul Rubin
<http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote:

>William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> writes:
>> >1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge deal with the smaller
>> >laptop drives tho.
>>
>> Thanks for the response. I know the USB 1.1 will be slow, but for the
>> limited use, it's not a huge problem.
>
>If the laptops have cardbus, you can get a cardbus usb 2.0 adapter.

Seems like a good idea. I often wondered how well the 2.0 adapters
work on an older computer. It's a 333Mhz Toshiba that doesn't get a
lot of use, but I would like to back it up on occasion. I'll not
replace it until it dies or it won't run some piece of SW I need to
run on it.


---------------------------------------------------------------

bs has been included as part of my e-mail address to reduce the
amount of spam mail. Change the 'bs'in my address to 'bellsouth'
to send me a message.

Bill Burlingame

 

[francis]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> wrote:
><http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote:
>
>>William J. Burlingame <wjburl@bs.net> writes:
>>> >1.1 is a significant downside. Not a huge deal with the smaller
>>> >laptop drives tho.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the response. I know the USB 1.1 will be slow, but for the
>>> limited use, it's not a huge problem.
>>
>>If the laptops have cardbus, you can get a cardbus usb 2.0 adapter.
>
>Seems like a good idea. I often wondered how well the 2.0 adapters
>work on an older computer. It's a 333Mhz Toshiba that doesn't get a
>lot of use, but I would like to back it up on occasion. I'll not
>replace it until it dies or it won't run some piece of SW I need to
>run on it.

Technically, there shouldn't be any problems, I'd think. I've got
a ThinkPad 600e that I plugged a DLink USB2.0 cardbus into and it
works just fine. The TP is running Win2000 Pro.

There's one thing, though, I've my external DVD writer and HD on
the card. I can read CD/DVDs from the external DVD drive and write
them to the external HD just fine. But, I can't read from the
external drive and write to the external DVD. It always fails
because, it seems, the HD can't keep up with the buffering demand.
The HD is, BTW, a Western Digital WD2500JB in a USB2.0 enclosure.
I'm not sure whether the card/driver is the problem, the CPU (P2/300)
or it's just not designed well enough to work.

Anyhow, to your original question, a USB2.0 cardbus shouldn't be
a problem. I suggest avoiding the generic ALi chipset ones. They
consistently bluescreened my TP. DLink, SIIG, Adaptec cards should
work fine.

FWIW, HTH.
--
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Francis Hartojo SDF Public Access UNIX System http://sdf.lonestar.org |
| echo "senapvf@serrfuryy.bet" | tr '[a-z]' '[n-za-m]' |
| _________ __________ |
| \ .'---------------------------------------------`. / |
+------> | Why do people think they can claim a moral | <------+
/______| superiority just because they get up earlier? |_______\
`-----------------------------------------------'

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

>snip<

I got my external HDD, but I didn't buy the USB 2.0 cardbus yet.
CompUSA had a $70 instant discount on a Maxtor 250GB drive. They were
out of stock on the Maxtor and substituted Hitachi. I bought a store
brand USB 2.0 enclosure and all seems to work well. I'll look into
the 2.0 cardbus soon. All in all it was $99.99 for the 250GB HDD and
$29.95 for the enclosure. I'm running with XP Pro and Win2k on my
machines. I copied a compressed Drive Image file of my primary system
to the external drive and it took about 15 minutes to copy 22GB. I
didn't actually time it, but that was the time posted in the copy
window. I haven't tried the laptop yet. It's only using about 5 GB of
a 30 GB drive. I haven't used Drive Image on it yet to create a
backup. So far so good.


---------------------------------------------------------------

bs has been included as part of my e-mail address to reduce the
amount of spam mail. Change the 'bs'in my address to 'bellsouth'
to send me a message.

Bill Burlingame