Creative uses for external drives

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HARDWARE By Peter Deegan Despite the availability of cloud storage over fast Internet connections and the ever-increasing size of storage built into a
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windbg, Lars220, fisher75, Cybertooth, lmacri

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When I bought my first modern computer (a Vista tower in 2008), it came with a variety of unfamiliar but intriguing slots for different kinds of storage attachments. They were labeled thus:

1. SmartMedia/xD
2. CompactFlash I/II/MD
3. MS/Pro/Duo/Pro Duo
4. SD/Mini/MMC/RS/Plus/Mobile

Having never heard of any of this, I set out to find out what they were for, and to collect samples of each kind. Unfortunately, by the time I started the collection, some of the formats were already obsolescent and hard to find. I did eventually gather up specimens of many of them, ranging from a 256MB Memory Stick Pro Duo to a 1GB RS MMC, to an 8GB CompactFlash Ultra by SanDisk.

The CompactFlash card came in handy when we set up our first Windows Media Center PC a few years later. That computer came with very little RAM installed, which caused issues with the TV program buffer. So as a stopgap measure, I plugged in the 30MB/s CF card to use as ReadyBoost storage, which yielded an immediate improvement in Media Center performance.

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Lars220

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I hear your about the mess of formats — so many to choose from including those overpriced and low storage Sony Memory Sticks … shudder.

Happily things have settled down a lot when it comes to camera storage cards.  Now it’s almost all SD or, more likely, microSD — all the other formats have gone the way of the Ark.

Peter Deegan

 

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Cybertooth

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Be careful when selecting a docking station for an external drive. They are not all created equal, as I’ve learned when replacing my cherished 13-year old Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition computer case (we’re downsizing; and the case is reluctantly for sale —  contact me if interested). I’d been using a wonderful Kingwin KF-256-BK Hot Swap Rack to back up to both SSDs and conventional hard drives. But without an external drive bay, I could no longer use this with my new case (and it doesn’t fit in cases for external drive bays).

I’m writing this to forewarn anybody else here who needs an external docking station.

Since few current computer cases provide for any external drive bays anymore, we’re stuck having to use a docking station if you want to attach external drives for backup images, backup files, or cloning. I first tried a docking station like that shown in Peter Deegan’s fine article, but quickly discovered that inserting an SSD in it was a crap shoot because the power and data slots were very difficult to line up (and not visible when trying to connect them).

Then I discovered a different sort of docking bay from Sabrent (Model: DS-UCMH), its USB C M.2 PCIe NVMe + 2.5″/3.5″ SATA/AHCI SSD & HDD converter (amazon carries it). This device makes it really easy to line up the ports —  because you can see them. And as a USB 3.2 device, it is really fast.

As you can see, the SATA data and power ports for SSDs and conventional hard drives are quite easily seen and accessed. And there’s a port on top for a NVMe drive as well. Should you wish to to clone between a NVME drive and an SSD or hard drive, you can use the NVMe port and the SATA port. There are switches on the back to facilitate cloning between drives on the two ports.
I hope this information helps anybody in need of a docking station. (And yes, I do agree that nearly all of them are grossly overpriced.)

 

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Peter Deegan, Cybertooth, Lars220

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Not all docking stations and other more simple devices are equal.  SO TRUE! Timings vary by infinitesimal amounts, which explains why I have a whole collection of  docking stations and other apparatus, often used for data recovery.  Sometimes, a drive won’t even spin up with one type of connection but works just fine with another.

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Good article, thank you Peter Deegan, who wrote:

“USB memory sticks … have many uses such as … providing a portable toolbox, … Look for a portable version of any program you like.”

I enjoy using the Portable Apps from:  https://portableapps.com/download
where you first download the Platform, it gives you the choice to go right on your connected usb thumb / flash drive if you have it connected, and you can just make a folder on your computer if you want, but it makes more sense to put it on a portable flash drive so you can use it anywhere on almost any Windows computer. After you have the Platform installed on the flash drive, then you can pick and choose from about 450 available apps that will be installed into the Platform for easy use. See screenshot.
The Support page has good information for first timers: https://portableapps.com/support

“If you’re looking for some help with our platform, one of our apps, packaging apps yourself, or portable software in general, you’ve come to the right place. – The PortableApps.com Platform is a full-featured portable software system that lets you build your own custom portable app suite for use in your synced cloud folder, on your local PC, or on a portable USB drive.”

Be sure to visit the PortableApps.com Platform Features page for info:
https://portableapps.com/platform/features
All in all, this website seems to be very good for fans of Portable Apps.

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Peter Deegan, Cybertooth

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