How to record information

[emjay]

I may be wrong here, but can you not get a 'hub' which works in a similar way to a multiplug adaptor?

 

[Bryman]

Yes, you certainly can get a USB hub, either 2 way or 4 way, on a short cable. That can be plugged into a port at the back of the computer and makes connection of several devices much more convenient. The only thing to be aware of though is that it will probably not supply power to such devices so they would then need separate power leads.

I have a couple of Lacie USB external hard drives (2 1/2" 40GB) which are powered via the USB cable but not via the hub. I bought mine about 10 years ago from DABS. They used to be located near Woking, Surrey, but I believe that they moved to somewhere near Manchester.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Anyone know where I can get an external hard drive that would be compatible with USB1 as the ports which are USB2 both appear to be at the back of the computer and occupied by other leads? I have a Lacie share at present and wanted to get another - got the other a couple of years ago, but only just learnt how to use it.

I got a new pen drive 2 weeks ago and that appeared to work OK, but it's so small it will get lost, but I want a larger capacity as the pen drive wouldn't store a fraction of my photos, let alone any FH data and I am told an external hard drive is less easily corrupted.

It depends on what is actually plugged into the USB ports at the back. If the devices are USB1 devices then you could move them to a USB1 port at the front and free up a USB2 slot at the back. Typical USB1 devices are keyboard, mouse, printer. That would save you buying an old small very slow USB drive.

Note a standard memory sticks these days are typically higher capacity than old USB1 external hard drives and a lot cheaper. So that's an alternative if you are looking for a temporary solution.

If you are looking to buy something that will work on old machine and new machine and be modern and fast and last a good deal of time then you should look at Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices. They plug into your wifi router or PC network port rather than USB and are typically 10-100 times faster at copying data. Thus will be a purchase that lasts many years rather than a USB1 device that would be very slow and might not even work that well on a new PC given that USB1 is a rather old technology.

 

[PhilGee]

As an alternative, you could get something like this PCI USB card which would accept the cable for 2 of the front ports, converting them to USB2 as well as providing 4 rear USB2 ports. If you have a PCI-E slot available, then there are cards which will give USB3 ports at the back of the computer (but check the reviews to see if they are Vista compatible).

Just another thought, Vista may have problems with advanced format drives (it has a patch to allow use of the "compatible" drives that "pretend" to have the older sector size), but I don't know whether the USB interface will mask that effect or not.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Amazon have a helpful NAS storage buying guide.

 

[Alexander Bisset]

As an alternative, you could get something like this PCI USB card which would accept the cable for 2 of the front ports, converting them to USB2 as well as providing 4 rear USB2 ports. If you have a PCI-E slot available, then there are cards which will give USB3 ports at the back of the computer (but check the reviews to see if they are Vista compatible).

Given prior discussions with Chrissy, buying something that involves opening up the machine is not something I'd advise her doing, thus a PCI card is not a good bet. It is a decent solution for others especially those who are intending keeping their machine for a while, but it does take a degree of technical confidence to open up the machine. As Chrissy has said in the past, and I don't think she will mind me saying, technical confidence is not her strong suit

 

[Alexander Bisset]

Just another thought, Vista may have problems with advanced format drives (it has a patch to allow use of the "compatible" drives that "pretend" to have the older sector size), but I don't know whether the USB interface will mask that effect or not.

A very good point modern drives with larger capacities might not work properly plugged into a USB on a Vista machine. Another good reason to use a NAS device as it is effectively a mini PC in a box with its own disk and web front end to manage it so it really doesn't matter what type of device you have. Most NAS devices would work with Macs too and are a great way to move data from an old PC to a new one.

 

[chrissy1]

Given prior discussions with Chrissy, buying something that involves opening up the machine is not something I'd advise her doing. As Chrissy has said in the past, and I don't think she will mind me saying, technical confidence is not her strong suit

Totally agree, Alexander and very diplomatically put. I have developed in confidence no end since joining this forum, but still have a VERY long way to go...!!!! I started at near enough zero knowledge 6 weeks ago, never having saved any work, used a pen drive or external hard drive, saved a photo or posted one - you get the picture.

I think we might wait until I get a new computer as I think there is still space on the current external hard drive even though it has actually backed up the whole computer now. The external hard drive we have now is 500GB, but I am not sure how much that holds in terms of what I have on my computer..........esp as the FTM files are expanding by the day, as are the files of photos.

The new pendrive I bought recently would only hold a fraction of the photos I wanted to save - think it was either 16 or 32GB. Can you get bigger ones? (Didn't see any)

Many thanks for the advice regarding the NAS. Sounds as though this might be a good solution, esp if it would make transfer to a new machine easier - all for that! I have copied out the details and left my OH with the task of reading up on it , as he is the one with the Paypal and DABS account and I am off to meet ex-colleagues for lunch!

Still want to get a new machine when Win10 comes out, but maybe wait a few weeks until any teething problems are sorted out, do you think...........? or do the best deals come out immediately?