eXternal hard drive Q

[Jeanbones]

eYyo!

Sorry I'm a newb, looking for advice

I am thinking of getting a good external Hard drive, and i had a few q'.....

1.Can you customize an ex. Hard drive to run linux...

2.can you put a password encryption on these things?

3.I've tested on an old one and I was able to play maxpayne2 on it...can i install more programs like Adobe..etc

thx in advance!

 

[Yami]

1) Yes, you just have the drive plugged in when you boot the Linux disc. Will be pretty slow over USB, though.

2) Yes, I'm not entirely sure how though. Try Google.

3) Yes, externals work just the same as internals, except, you know... externally. And sometimes slower.

 

[CrunchyToast]

USB 2 would be the way you wanna go to keep its speed decent. If you don't have USB 2.0 ports, you can purchase one for cheap that plugs right in to a PCI slot.

 

[Luke]

^dude, i don't even think they have ever made usb 1.0 external hdd's, let alone are still selling them. Also he probably has usb 2.0 ports if the computer is not over 6 years old (or when ever usb 2.0 came out, can't remember)

1.) yes you can run it, like said it would be slow though
2.)If you buy one that is already assembled then they usually come password protected (you can not use it with out the password, some have encryption built in as well.
3.)Yes, but again, any large scale things would be slower then if they were on an internal drive.

 

[Yami]

if the computer is not over 6 years old (or when ever usb 2.0 came out, can't remember)

Just checked on Wikipedia, it's nine years old - ten next year, which makes me feel old.

 

[Luke]

Just checked on Wikipedia, it's nine years old - ten next year, which makes me feel old.

i should have know it was older then 6 years, i have a socket a computer siting right next to me with usb 2.0. Thanks for the confirm. That's exactly my point, if he is using something older then a socket a computer, then an external hdd upgrade/addition would be the last thing on his mind. Hopefully.