How to set up a hard drive?

My wife has a new computer with Windows Vista. She has need for an external storage device for pictures, some correspondence and personal files and some other personal matter that we do not wish to risk losing in the event of a computer crash. I think an external HD sounds like what is needed. My problem: I don't know a thing about HDs, how to set them up or how to use them.

I assume that some sort of file system is set up on the HD and then files can be dragged and dropped, or in some way copied to waiting files in the HD.

Is there some reference material available that I could read that would show me how to manage this? How to choose a HD, install it, set it up, and use it?

Any/all help would be greatly appreciated!

bill

 

The first thing to do is decide how big of a drive is needed. Then decide if you want to put it together yourself, or buy a pre-built external. Building it is easy and all that is needed is a screwdriver, and many kits include the screwdriver. I have 2 externals, an 80gb and a 100gb, I built them both using laptop drives. I like these better because they don't require a seperate power cord; they get the power from the USB bus. Plus, they're smaller, and more portable, but they do cost a little more. Anyway, if you buy a pre-built, it will come formatted, usually with software already installed, and ready to plug into the USB port. The software is generally some type of backup program, where you can set parameters for backing up data: like which files, if you want incremental or complete back ups, how often (hourly, every minute, real time, weekly, etc), and so on. You don't HAVE to use the installed program, you can drag-n-drop or copy-n-paste all you want. If you build one, the kit is usually around $15 or $20 for a laptop drive, plus the cost of the drive, they start at $60 or so. After it's put together, you'll plug it into a USB port, let XP install it, then go to Disk Management and format it, and assign a drive letter to it. It's very easy.
Let us know what you decide to do... if you have questions, or need help, we're here...

 

Enclosures for hard drives...
3.5" hard drives (desktop drives)
...http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=54776&item_no=HD-389U2&show=b&pass=&shopid=
...http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=44774&item_no=IMBS35E-BK&show=b&pass=&shopid=
...http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=44724&item_no=MST35E-BK&show=b&pass=&shopid=
Note: those shown above are for IDE drives, you can get 'em for SATA drives also and they all plug into USB ports. You can also get some that plug into firewire ports.
For 2.5" drives (laptop hard drives)-
...http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=44723&item_no=SATA25MSTR&show=b&pass=&shopid= (for SATA drive)
...http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=63047&item_no=CA-NS250U2&show=b&pass=&shopid=
...http://www.malabs.com/product.asp?product_sku=44773&item_no=IMBS25A-BU&show=b&pass=&shopid= (available in many colors)
Any of the enclosures shown should be under $25 at any computer store (without the drive naturally )

 

Her volume is not going to be great. What about using USB Flash drives? Is this a reasonable alternative?

Thank you for the idea of backing up files on CDs.

Thoughts on Flash drives will be appreciated

 

Just in case you don't know, SD card is a type of memory card used in many digital cameras. plodr has explained how one of them can be used as a flash drive for data files.