The external hard disk is still a valuable option<\/p>\n
Zatni Arbi, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
With a 30 GB hard disk spinning smoothly inside your PC, it is
\nhard to imagine that you will ever outgrow what you already have
\nin there. But, then again, having the flexibility of an external
\nhard disk is not really an extra piece of luxury. Sometimes you
\nmay need to transport large volumes of data from one computer to
\nanother.<\/p>\n
A peer-to-peer network between the two machines, or a DVD
\nwriter capable of recording 4.7 GB of data per platter, will
\nsolve the problem quite easily. But if neither is available, and
\nwe have to transfer gigabytes of files, an external hard disk
\nwill serve the purpose well.<\/p>\n
A couple of years back we could find simple external cases for
\nhard disks and CD-ROM drivers. These were a cheap solution for
\nthose who needed an external hard disk. It usually connects to
\nthe host system via the parallel port, though, and therefore the
\nspeed would be quite limited. If speed is important, a hard disk
\ncartridge like the SyJet made by SyQuest will serve us better.<\/p>\n
An old player in this area is Iomega, which is, unlike
\nSyQuest, still very much around today. For instance, Iomega Jaz
\nis still available today at www.wetmarket.com for US$ 435.00.<\/p>\n
One cartridge can hold up to 2 GB of data, and you can buy
\nadditional cartridges as your need grows. The external device
\nuses a SCSI interface, but now Iomega will throw a USB adaptor in
\nthe box if you buy it.<\/p>\n
Castlewood's $199 Orb has also been around in Indonesia for
\nsome time. It uses almost the same technology as Iomega Jaz, but
\nit has 200 MB extra storage per cartridge. Now, if 2 or 2.2 GB of
\nremovable storage is not enough for you, Iomega has the PeerLess
\n20 GB external hard disk. It connects to the PC via its USB port,
\nand has a price tag of less than $400.<\/p>\n
Maxtor has a similar but more interesting large-capacity
\nexternal storage. Its $278.25 RA040 uses a 7,200 RPM hard disk
\nand has room for 40 GB of data.<\/p>\n
The interesting thing lies in the connection to the host
\nsystem-PC or Mac, which uses the IEEE 1394 Firewire interface.
\nThis allows for a very high data transfer rate, making this
\nexternal hard disk suitable for video and audio file storage. We
\ncan even build a huge library by stacking up to 64 of these
\nstorage devices.<\/p>\n
If you use a notebook, an interesting solution is IBM's
\nMicroDrive, which can be inserted into its PCMCIA slot with an
\nadapter. MicroDrive first appeared on the market with a 300 MB
\ncapacity, but now the 1 GB and 512 MB versions are available.<\/p>\n
Taking a full PowerPoint presentation with you will be very
\nsimple using this device, but it has been designed for use not
\nonly on a notebook but also on digital cameras, PDAs and portable
\nMP3 players. In fact, IBM, Compaq and Tuneln Network have
\nannounced that you can now watch full feature films on a
\nMicroDrive equipped iPaq.<\/p>\n
Among the cutest of external hard disks is perhaps Pockey
\nDrive (www.pockeydrives.com). It is a very compact external drive
\npackage that does not require an extra power adaptor as it draws
\npower directly from the PC's or notebook's USB port. The
\ncapacity can be up to 30 GB, depending on the 2.5-inch hard disk
\nthat we put in it.<\/p>\n
So, although CD-Writers have become commonplace and DVD-
\nWriters have begun to emerge on the market, external hard disks
\nhave not died entirely. Their benefits are the speed and their
\nlarger storage capacities compared to the CD-ROM and DVD-RAM.<\/p>",
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