Can anyone recommend a 250-500gb portable hard storage drive? I can only afford up to £70. I know u can get elec powered ones for this but I want usb powered. Is it easier to lose files on a computers own hard drive or an external one? Which is generally safer?

The advantage of an external hard drive is that if you don't need to use it you don't need to have it powered on. So the drive will last longer. And, if you change computers you still have the external drive with your user files to connect to the new computer.

Check out this link for drives...
Computer Hard Drive, Hard Disk Drive, Hard Drives, Cheap Hard Drives at TigerDirect.com

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Klaatu Barada Nikto

Hi,there are several choices to chose form.

You could buy and external case off ebay,they have there own power supply and USB connection.they can be combie cases to hold either a SATA hard drive or IDE.I recommend SATA.
Buying this type case then you can buy an internal hard drive and put it straight into the case.
The cases are usaly around £10 to buy,however watch price on postage.
You could try ebay/Amazon.com or a few local stores and buy what internal drive you want as in what gig.

It works out cheaper then buying an already built external hard drive.I have bought this case and can use what size hard drive I wish.

I did buy an external hard drive off ebay already built 300 gig for £52 however with posting it costs more,so have a good look at what you want to consider in buying.

If that hard drive ever fails then in the long run it is cheaper just to buy a new internal hard drive and reuse the case.

Buying ready made externals can be costly.
Hope this helps you?

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It is all in the hardware..........................................
Sources:
http://www.microsoft.com/en/gb/default.aspx
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/Home/
http://www.petri.co.il/index.htm

PCHF Rules Scan Computer for Driver Updates Pre-Work

Hi thanks for your help.

But internal hard drives dont have usb connectivity do they? How do they connect? Ive only ever bought devices that connect usb wise. Are the cases"one size fits all" & are they bigger than the ext ones? I havejust got the Maxtor 160gb portable drive which is very small(hand size). It has 2 usb plugs but I find that it works without the power plug connected. Im happy with it but would take it back for one over 250gb. It only cost £55($100) plus a £5 free voucher back so thats not bad from what Ive seen around.

I own a couple of drives from this manufacture and they work great, check it out.

Vantec USA

No internal drives do not have USB connections,these cases convert a normal SATA/IDE internal hard drive to external.To be used via USB.
You can even buy these cases to convert laptop hard drives.

__________________
It is all in the hardware..........................................
Sources:
http://www.microsoft.com/en/gb/default.aspx
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/Home/
http://www.petri.co.il/index.htm

PCHF Rules Scan Computer for Driver Updates Pre-Work