How to Use an External Hard Drive With Multiple Computers

Portable hard drives have grown in popularity. They offer a wide range of storage capacity and cross-platform compatibility in today’s computing world. These drives are available in various sizes—from one gigabyte (GB) to 400 GB. They are primarily used in different machines as removable media to store, transfer, edit, restore or share files. Here is how to use an external hard drive with multiple computers.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• USB port
• Computer

1. Identify different computers for which you need to store, transfer, edit, restore or share files using an external hard drive.

2. Check the operating system of each computer and note the configuration and related information.

3. Find out the availability of a spare USB port on each machine as you will need to use this port to attach the external hard drive. Usually, a USB 2.0 version hard drive is compatible with most computers.

4. Format the disk in MS-DOS while working with Mac and PC platforms. Both systems can read and write in MS-DOS format. Check the storage capacity and consider your future requirements.

5. Install the required drivers to detect the external hard drive in older versions of the Windows operating system. Windows XP allows the majority of external hard drives to plug and play using the USB port. Older versions such as Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Pro may require you to install the driver provided along with the external hard drive for detection and use.

6. Attach the drive to the USB port using the cable connector. Once the drive is recognized by the computer, you can copy, store, transfer, edit, restore or share data files on the machine using the explorer window in Windows OS.

7. Eject and unplug the drive from the USB port using a safe removal technique as shown in the manual.

8. Use the drive with other machines in a similar way.

Tips & Warnings

• Install anti-virus software in all the machines that you are working with and scan the drive regularly. Format it immediately if any virus is detected to prevent crashing of both the machines and the hard drive.
• Use a proper case and cover for the drive.
• Consider altering the format of the files while saving to make it accessible by programs running with older versions on other operating systems.
• Check for viruses in the drives each time you copy, transfer or swap contents from one machine to others.
• Remove the hard drive only after properly ejecting it to prevent data loss.