What Can an External Hard Drive Hold?

External hard drives have gained a lot of popularity over the last couple of years. This is mainly due to the increasing number of manufacturers who have started producing external hard drives, and the new, more sleek designs to come out for external hard drives. Different computer users use external hard drives to hold different data. However, there are some common uses for external hard drives, and what is stored on them.

External Hard Drives

External hard drives are one way to store data. They have one great advantage over storage devices such as flash discs, SD cards and floppy disks--capacity. An external hard drive can hold a tremendous amount of data, up to 4TB. So, external hard drives are not commonly used to store small amounts of data such as a couple of text files. Rather, they are used to store large amounts of data and media. External hard drives are commonly used to hold data for four major purposes.

Backup Data

The first common use for external hard drives is to hold backup data. Many computer users like to keep a backup of all of their files in case something were to happen. Anything from a power surge to accidently dropping a laptop could cause your computer's internal hard drive to fail. By having your files backed up to an external hard drive, you can easily transfer them back to a new hard drive.

Extra Storage

External hard drives are also commonly used for holding extra files. Internal hard drives tend to fill up rather quickly. After your computer's internal hard drive is full, you have two basic options. You can either replace the internal hard drive with a higher-capacity new one, or add an external hard drive. For many people, adding the external hard drive is the better solution. Not only does it add more storage to your computer, but also simplifies the installation process. With an external hard drive, you do not need to open up your computer at all. Most external hard drives connect to your computer via a USB port or firewire.

Transport Data

External hard drives are also used to hold mobile data. Many times, students need to transport large files to and from class. Some of these files may not fit on a standard flash drive or floppy disk. So, an external hard drive is the next best thing. Also, many business professionals use external hard drives to transport data. External hard drives can be very convenient in times where space is limited, such as airplane travel.

Shared Files

External hard drives also commonly hold shared files. Many businesses need a centralized location to store all of their files. By connecting an external hard drive to a wireless network, businesses can easily share files. This will allow them to read and write to the external hard drive.

Types of Files

External hard drives can hold any type of file that your computer can hold. This can be anything from a MP3 music file to a Power Point presentation. External hard drives are actually the same types of hard drives that are used inside of computers, wrapped inside a fancy case. One common type of file stored on external hard drives are movie files. Movie files are usually pretty massive in size. Many computer users choose to store all of their movies on an external hard drive to save space on their computer's hard drive.

References

• PC World External Hard Drive Info
• Western Digital External Hard Drives