External Drive question

E

ekorazn

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 28, 2004
Messages
452
I just snagged a Maxtor 200gb external for $70 :)

So far it's great, but I'm still iffy on the external expect of the drives:

1. Do external heat up faster since they are in a small compartment, so wouldn't that be more prone to damage?

2. Can I rip open the casing and use the hdd in the casing as a regular internal hard drive? Or is it not an IDE?

3. Is it ok if the external hard drive is ALWAYS on? There is no on/off button other than yanking the DC adapter out of the outlet.

thanks in advance!
 
1) Not necessarily. Depends on how they are made. Some cool better, others dont.

2) Most are standard hard drives. If its a western digital mybook you can tear it out of the casing and its a SATA2 hard drive (not IDE).

3) Its just like any other hard drive, you can leave it always on, or turn it on/off at your leisure. My personal tip for you though is if you turn it off, give it a few seconds for it to stop spinning and the head to park before you move it.. Thats always been a concern of mine that I might scratch a platter if I move it while its still spinning.
 
Astrogiblet said:
1) Not necessarily. Depends on how they are made. Some cool better, others dont.

2) Most are standard hard drives. If its a western digital mybook you can tear it out of the casing and its a SATA2 hard drive (not IDE).

3) Its just like any other hard drive, you can leave it always on, or turn it on/off at your leisure. My personal tip for you though is if you turn it off, give it a few seconds for it to stop spinning and the head to park before you move it.. Thats always been a concern of mine that I might scratch a platter if I move it while its still spinning.
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That information helped!

I haven't been updated on computer hardware recently, but Im guessing a SATA2 drive is not compatible with a regular atx motherboard?

The problem with my external drive is that there is no way I can get the disk to stop spinning. It spins when it's not even plugged into my computer. I don't know if it's a fan in there or if its the actual drive that's still spinning.
 
ekorazn said:
I haven't been updated on computer hardware recently, but Im guessing a SATA2 drive is not compatible with a regular atx motherboard?

The problem with my external drive is that there is no way I can get the disk to stop spinning. It spins when it's not even plugged into my computer. I don't know if it's a fan in there or if its the actual drive that's still spinning.
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SATA 2 is compatible with most ATX motherboards, but it depends on how old your system is. If its within the last year or two, it should be fine.

If you cut the power, everything should stop spinning, thats what I'm talking about. Some external drives have power switches on them, but not all do.
 
After like 20-30 min. the hard drive makes no sound and no movement and the temperature is cool. The only thing that is on is the power LED. Can I just leave it "on", or would leaving it on 24/7 be unhealthy?
 
ekorazn said:
After like 20-30 min. the hard drive makes no sound and no movement and the temperature is cool. The only thing that is on is the power LED. Can I just leave it "on", or would leaving it on 24/7 be unhealthy?
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You can leave it on 24/7 no problems. Its just like any other hard drive.
 
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