Removable Drives
Do You Need A Second Computer Or Just One That’s Schizophrenic?

BizNet Lets You In On Why You Need A “Removable” Drive.

If your answer is “yes” to one or more of the below questions, then you need a “Removable Drive”.

·        Do you need to move a lot of information between two or more locations?

·        Do you need a second computer in your house because you don’t want to risk your computer data in the hands of another family member (like your kids)?

·        Do you want to surf the net without there being anyway for your important data to be compromised?

·        Do you want to lock up your computer data to keep it safe from fire or theft?

·        If your computer crashes would you like to be able to just turn on another computer and be up and running?

If you answered “Yes” to any of those questions, then you know why you need a “Removable” Hard Drive.  But do you know what a removable hard drive is?

I know that sounds like I’m asking an easy question.  After all a “Removable” hard drive would simply be any drive that can be removed.  Ah, but there is more to it.

The basics of “Removable” Hard Drives:

First you have two basic categories.  Bootable and non-bootable. 

A Bootable drive is almost always your “C” drive.  This is the drive your computer starts up from.  It has your operating system, and all the settings that are not held in the computers Bios.  Without a Bootable drive in place your computer will not work.

A Non-Bootable drive is just a drive used for storage.  A computer can run without it.  It does not generally contain any of your important settings or information.

Bootable and Non-Bootable drives generally attach to your computer in different ways.

In general, a Non-Bootable drive can connect to your computer by:

·        USB Port

·        Serial Port

·        Parallel Port

·        SCSI Convector

·        Hard Drive Controller (internal only)

·        Custom or proprietary devise

Bootable drives in general are always connected to your computer by a connection to your Hard Drive Controller.  In some cases they can also be connected by a SCSI connection.

Two get all the advantages of a removable drive as outlined at the top of this article you need to make your bootable drive removable.  In fact by making your bootable drive removable, and by having two drives that can be swapped in and out of your computer, you can in fact make one computer function like two.

Two Computers?  Yes, think of it this way.  Your computer gets its “personality” from its bootable drive.  Put a different bootable drive with different settings and information on it, and the computer will look and feel like a different computer.  Why do this?  By putting in your “other” hard drive, when you surf the net, you can use a drive that has no personal information on it.  Or if your kid wants to use your computer, just pop in the other drive.  All your settings and information are safe on the drive you pulled out.  You get the idea.

So how do you make your “C” drive a removable drive?  One of the easiest ways is with a “Removable Hard Drive Holder”. This is simply a hard drive holder that is mounted into your computer.  The holder has two parts.  The “holder part” that attaches to your computer and the “tray” part that is removable (by sliding it in and out).  Your hard drive gets mounted in this tray.  By having two or more trays, you can use more the one “C” drive in your computer.

Now with this removable tray in your computer you can pull out your hard drive anytime you want.  You can pull it and look it up.  Pull it and take it with you.  Pull it and put it into another computer (with a compatible “holder”).  You get the idea.

Depending in the type of drive you need the holder to work with, and if you want a metal or plastic holder, you can pay anywhere from $7.00 to $40.00 for a holder and one tray.

For a review of a USB removable drive see this months test site


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Last modified: November 08, 2002