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Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo This is how I see things:
First check that your PC has a USB version 2 port. (If it's no older than 2 or three years then it probably does, but best to be sure.) If it does then that is your best bet for a connection to use for an external drive. |
Agreed. Failing that, you can use Firewire (which is fine, but the drives are usually a little more expensive). If you have neither USB2 or Firewire, adding a firewire card to your PC is easy and only costs a few pounds - I don't have direct experience on adding USB2.0 but have heard a few horror stories.
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£100 + VAT (very roughly) gets you about a 160 GByte external drive with power supply or 80-100GByte in pocket size, £50 gets you about 80Gbyte "desktop" or 40GBytes in pocket format. Try www.ebuyer.com if you don't have a preference for a supplier.
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For what it's worth, Aria (
www.aria.co.uk) do a 250GB external for £95 + VAT.
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Whichever format size or manufacturer you pick, it really is then just a matter of plugging it in. Windows XP should immediately recognise and be able to use the drive.
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It's maybe 3 years since I bought my externals; I'm fairly sure that although XP recognized them, I still had to format them - not that that's difficult. Other downside was they are relatively noisy - but again I think this has improved over time.