Probably some time ago sodevice, as external drives, it would be a lot of puzzling geek. After all, often the fact of the very presence of a CD-drive inside the PC case automatically made this device "elite": not everyone could afford it.
However, time did not stand still. Pretty soon, disk drives for laser discs became commonplace. And then the external disk drives appeared on the scene.
External drive - what is it
Probably without many definitionsit is clear that an external drive is a compact device designed to work (read and write) with all sorts of disks that connects to a computer through one of its ports.
External device is called precisely becauseis not inside the system unit, but outside. That is, you can simply take and disconnect an external drive at any time, connect it to another computer or disk drive, take it with you on the road or anywhere else.
When an external drive may be needed
There are many situations in which such a disk drive may be needed, if at all - you can't do without it.
For example, for a netbook.For the sake of compactness, netbook manufacturers did not place the drive for laser discs in the case. So the user lost the opportunity to work with such disks. And it would be very bad if it were not for an external CD drive. It simply connects to the device via a USB port - and you can start working with laser discs. Therefore, most external drives are purchased in a pair with a netbook.
An external drive may also be needed.If the main drive on the device has failed. Or if you need to quickly rewrite the information from one laser disk to another without first transferring data to the hard disk (many will probably remember the once-common dvuhkassetniki).
In short, all sorts of situations when you may need an external drive for your computer, just do not count.
What are external drives
External drives can be classifiedin different ways: depending on the connection port, on the possibility or inability to record, on the method of power, on the types of readable discs and on other signs.
However, most often external disk drives are divided into:
- CD-drives - those that can read and write only CD-discs (at present, they practically do not occur);
- DVD-drives - the most common type of drives, which "sees" as a CD, and DVD;
- Blu-Ray - respectively, in addition to CD and DVD, such devices can work with Blu-Ray-discs;
- writing and not writing - those that can not only read, but also write information to disk, or just read (the latter are also practically not used today);
- powered via USB and an external power supply.
Are there models only for laptops ordesktop only? No, there is no such. External drives are versatile, they work equally well on netbooks, laptops, and paired with a desktop computer.
Advantages of external drives
Of course, the external drive has several advantages as an independent device, and in front of its built-in "colleague".
- Внешние устройства для работы с дисками можно в any time just disconnect from the computer and, for example, give to a friend. In order to do this trick with a built-in drive, you will need to disassemble the system unit or laptop case.
- The external drive will help out if the main drive on the device is broken.
- It will help to work with disks even on those devices where such drives are simply not constructively provided. For example, recently appeared external drives for tablets.
- External drives are compact and easy to connect and easy to replace.
Cons of external drives
But, as always, it was not without drawbacks:
- Speed is the main weak point of any external drive. Anyway, the USB port is still slower than the internal system ports.
- Often an external notebook drive requiresseparate power supply. And it can be carried out via USB, or through a regular outlet. Poor-quality power supplies burn quickly, but it’s almost impossible to find another exactly the same - it’s easier to just buy another drive.
- External drive is more expensive than its built-in counterpart.
How to connect an external drive
Fortunately, there is nothing difficult in how to connect an external drive. Usually, all that is required is to insert the USB cable into the appropriate connector on the computer and the power supply plug into the outlet.
If necessary, you can still installadditional software and drivers. But you can often not do this - the system simply recognizes the device as a new drive and quite correctly works with it using standard tools.
How to choose a removable drive
When choosing an external drive, you need to take into account the following points:
- If the computer has a USB 2.0 port, then you need to purchase just such a drive. The process of reading and writing will go much more cheerful.
- If possible, you should prefermodel with power from both USB and from the outlet. If the power supply burns down, the device can be powered directly from the computer. In addition, such external drives will allow you to work offline. For example, on the road with a netbook.
- Whenever possible, the drive should readmost common disc formats and burn them. For the sake of versatility, other minor functions can be neglected, which are most often used only a couple of times in all the time, and then only out of curiosity.
- The appearance of the drive also has a specific role. Beautiful device looks stylish on the table and will attract a lot of curious glances.
- As for speed, there is no needto acquire the highest speed. Standard 52 speeds enough for "eyes" for all occasions. Moreover, recording at high speeds often happens incorrectly. Yes, and the drive motor itself can quickly fail if too often abused work at high speeds.
Concerning the manufacturer - here are unambiguousno recommendation In principle, all companies today produce good quality external drives. Each company has both successful and not too models. But frankly bad today you will not meet.
Of course, before buying it will not be superfluous.look in the Internet and get acquainted with the results of independent reviews and tests, as well as read reviews from real users of the selected model of external drive. Thus, taking into account these recommendations, you will be able to enjoy using the external drive for more than one year.
