PACKING MY SUITCASES. (Startech 1 Drive 3.5" External Drive Case IDECASE35F)

Member Name: thingywhatsit

Product:	Startech 1 Drive 3.5" External Drive Case IDECASE35F
Date:	23/08/05 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to take my computer information with me when I travel

Disadvantages: None whatsoever.

FILES IN A SUITCASE

Imagine a suitcase. Imagine all your computer files in neat little folders stacked away so that they are portable. In years gone by, not only would this be heavy and cumbersome because of the weight of papers in files, and trying to find things within those files would have been even harder.

A SOLUTION TO MY PROBLEMS.

One of the reasons that I wanted a Portable External Enclosure (or external drive) was because I am not technically minded. I make mistakes. I clog my computer up with rubbish and sometimes when it does not work, it is simply my fault for overloading the system with things that take up a lot of space, and also that my computer is a little like my character, disorganised. No wonder I kept having computer crashes, with program upon program battling it out with shared files and in the end making the blue screen of death appear so often that I gave up the ghost and had my hard drive formatted.

Whilst the shop were happy on the four occasions that this happened to move standard things like documents, they were not too keen on moving my programs, and time after time, I found myself storing things on CD's that inevitably got lost. Recently my computer crashed, and this time it was not due to any fault on my part but an overheating problem that fried the graphics card, although once again, I was put in the situation where I lost a lot of things that I consider important to me, because before the crash I did not have time to save items to disc.

It occurred to me that having an external drive would suit my needs in two ways. One would be that my files then became portable, and I could take them with me when I stay with friends in Paris and Toulouse who are as computer nutty as me, and the second reason being that I could store items that were important to me and if the computer crashed, could be sure that what I was losing was safely stored on the external drive, get the shop to repair the computer with peace of mind knowing that my files were safely tucked away on another hard drive.

WHAT YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY

The box contained the drive itself which is a pretty fancy looking drive in silver and black. Its a neat little box and no bigger than a clutch bag. ( 4.8 in x 8.3 in x 1.4 in).It also enclosed the power lead with its own transformer and a separate lead to plug in the USB point of your computer. There is also an installation CD which must be loaded prior to plugging the drive into a USB point.

STARTING UP

Starting to use the hard drive was strange. I wasn't accustomed to finding another drive, but once I got the hang of that, using it was a doddle. The drive is very quiet and has Firewire 800 (IEEE) and USB2 interfaces making transferral of documents and program files rapid. In my case, my USB's are pretty old and the program warned that I would get better and faster transferral if I were to use a high speed USB, although I found that my existing USB socket was sufficient for my needs.

DRAGGING AND DROPPING

I found that small files like documents, music tracks and photographs could easily be transferred by dragging and dropping, although I found that the most effective way of moving programs was to move the installation zip files over to the external hard disc. I actually opened several programs to ensure that they were fully functional and was happy that the transfer had worked satisfactorily and extremely quickly.

SPECS

This storage device can be used with both Windows 98 onwards and Mac computers. It has an internal 3.5" expansion bay and a controller interface type ATA-133. The drive complies with CE standards and support was not necessary in my case. There was no manual included with the item, although the installation disc was simple and self explanatory. It comes with a years' guarantee. The storage space available on this hard drive is 38.2 GB which is massive for a small unit like this.

MY THOUGHTS

Although it is claimed that this drive keeps itself cool, I agree that the drive itself is always cool to the touch, though am concerned that the transformer if used for lengthy periods of time actually seems quite hot to the touch. For the use I have for a gadget like this, this is not a major issue, because I only have it plugged in at a time when I want to transfer data, and unplugging and plugging in does not cause any hiccups with the running of my system. In fact, XP tells me when it is safe to unplug.

I find that this is a sturdy and neat piece of equipment and that people that share computers would find it advantageous as they could store their own files separately. Yes, I know that programs like XP allow you to do this, but having an external storage means that you are not clogging your machine up with excess files that slow your system down.

So far, it has proven to be worth its weight in gold, since recently I had to have my entire hard disc wiped and transferred my important files prior to formatting the hard drive. They were easily accessed, and the storage capacity means that there is ample space for more. In the case of overload, which by my reckoning would take a couple of years, I shall easily be able to afford a second one, and at 80 Euros, which is the equivalent of just under sixty pounds, the protection it gives me is well worth the money spent.

ANY MISGIVINGS ?

None at all. I would thoroughly recommend this storage device as a life saver !! Absolutely ideal for both Desktop computers and portables, and so easy to pack in that suitcase pocket for true portability.

Buy one, you won't regret it.

Rachel

Summary: Superb little gadget that is so valuable to me.

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