on external drives...

[r16]

ı am one proud owner of a computer with a total of 40GB disk space , a couple of times ı really filled one part ( C:// has 5% left , D:// has 0 KB stuff ) . So ı have a couple of external drives .

ı hear they can be broken , so ı plug them and remove before ı close down the computer . ı kinda have to , with only two USB ports . Is this constant plug/remove regime good or bad ? The latest one ı have has a tendency to kinda breakdown of a sorts ; ı put it in , ı see it is attached as a drive but it shows 0 capacity and the Windows says please attach a drive or something like that . Trying to remove it with this "remove safely" option that appears on the right hand side of the screen the name that appears is not the name of the drive -the brand of the manufacturer- but something like "G:// usb bridge" . ı reboot and it then works .

also can heat cause similar things ? Last night it was working , ı had dinner and afterwards ı found it with 0 capacity and usb bridge thing , with a whirring sound coming from it and the case extremely hot . Is this normal or do ı get a new one before it dies on me ?

 

[LucyDuke]

It's going to die, you'd better get a new one.

 

[r16]

will do , can it survive a week or so as ı back it up ?

 

[LucyDuke]

There's no way to know.

 

[Furiey]

In that state I would do nothing with it other than try to back it up. Once you have the data safe then you can play about further with it.

 

[r16]

out of 190 GB , ı carried about 6 to the older drive . In two sessions about 20 minutes each , before the drive started to get hot . Should ı risk it slowly or take two drives to a faster computer so that more could be done in limited time ? Would using a iced up water bottle help me in any way , by contact cooling or the problem lies with the spinning mechanism inside the drive and not the heat ?

have the full intention to get a new drive but should ı get a thick one , as the faulty one is a slim and more volume could mean better reliability ?

 

[LucyDuke]

There's no way to know how long it has. Ice is not going to help, you shouldn't do that.

The physical shape of a new drive isn't important.