By Terry Currier
Having a second hard drive for your computer system makes it easy to back up, but it’s not always easy for everyone to put in a second drive. A USB or Firewire external hard drive is an easy way to go. A 100GB USB external hard drive can be brought at CompUSA for $120.
Another way to go is to get a external drive kit and buy whatever size drive you want to put in it. The ADS Tech SimpleTouch HD Kit will cost $59.99 at their website $64.99 at Circuit City, or $45.99 at Buy.com and Amazon.com. I’ve seen 80GB internal hard drives go for about $60 (after rebate). I went to an after-Thanksgiving sale and brought a 200GB for $30. Other than having to get up at 4:30 in the morning, I got some good deals.
The ADS Tech SimpleTouch HD Kit comes with 
I found the kit easy with the instructions they include.
Basically, take the kit apart, take the hard drive and plug it into the flat
ribbon cable, slide it in and screw in
the screws to hold the drive. Slide the
cover over, attach the power cord, attach the USB cable, and turn it on.
Windows XP and 2000 will recognize you have a new drive that you will have to format
to use.
ADS says it has sustained data transfer rates up to 35 MB/Sec, I find it does not slow my computer down at all. They have the SimpleTouch BackUp Button which backs up any file or folder with One Button (on the back of the unit.) I found it easier to just schedule my NTI Backup to just back up to it at night and I never have to worry about it.
One other thing to comment on I had brought two other external kits at the computer swapmeet. In one, I put a DVD drive, and in the other an 80GB drive. I paid $47 for the unit and it does work, but I noticed it is quite warm on the casing. Neither included fans, but the ADS is designed to let air flow around it so it is much cooler. The other? I’m going to give it to my son; he can back up his drive and keep his food warm with it.
Supports:
From out February 2006 newsletter
Membership in WINNERS is $20 annually for individuals with $5 for each additional family member. The newsletter is emailed to the members in PDF format.
 |
Winners is a member of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG) is an international, platform-independent, nonprofit corporation (incorporated in Washington, DC) devoted to helping user groups throughout the world. Almost 400 user groups are members of APCUG. http://www.apcug.net/ |