Re: Anybody ever used an external hard drive ?

On Sat, 3 Jan 2009 08:43:43 -0600, "Glenn" <minorgo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Gary" <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:jb0vl4150po1hfpmm6112ll1o231mo97vt@xxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:59:01 -0600, "Glenn" <minorgo@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

"Gary" <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5ounl450ecahd68uapaicrguhms8t5tnl5@xxxxxxxxxx
For several years now, every time I get a new computer I try to
sort and save various files I have onto CDs in an effort to have
everything I want -- to keep both safe and up to date. When I
got
my new XP, I was in the process of going through about a dozen
CDs
to update and sort out so I can add to them in the future.

I now have a laptop with Vista and a desktop with XP. Each
computer
will read CDs made by the other, but I can't add data to a disk
initialized by another computer.

Then I discovered something. Why not use an external hard drive
?
I
had heard of them, but I had never given one any thought. I
looked into it, and it seems that is just what I want.

Besides some financial data, I have a collection family pictures,
music and thousands of files concerning history. These files
are
strewn over about 12 CDs and DVDs. It's only about 6 gigs of
good
stuff, but it's really scattered. To put it blunt -- I have a
mess.
I have wanted to keep all my computer files in a small collection
so
I
could put them in a safe deposit box if the need ever arose.

I bought an external drive this morning. It's only about 5
inches
by
3 inches by 5/8 of an inch. I will store 250 gigs. That
ought
to
hold me for one lifetime. If nothing else, I have a new play
pretty :-)

If anybody has had any experience with one, I like to hear what
you
think.


Sonny, I bought my first external hard drive sometime about 1982.
The
PC only came with diskettes so I bought a 20 megabyte model. Ten
was
the other option, as I recall. I programmed the sectors to increase
the capacity a little, but others thought this to be a virus, do I
decided not to continue with such options. I also fooled around
with
FAT, but the S/360 access methods weren't for PCs. With this in
mind,
what do you want to know?

I have no education nor professional experience with computers.
However, the company I worked for went on computers in 1980.
It
was an IMB System 32 (or was it 34?) I seem to recall it had
memory of about 500K. I was fascinated. I fell in love. I use to
back that damn thing up every night and carry the disks home with
me.
By 1982 I bought a Radio Shack TRS 80, learned how to program in
Basic and have been a fan of computers ever since.

I was late getting to the internet. 1997.



Probably a system 32, but I didn't think it had that much memory. A
S/32 was sold with application packages so no programmer was needed.
The S/34 tried to migrate these packages, but it was more of a general
purpose computer. The S/36 was the end of this line (that started
with the S/3) with the S/38 and its follow-on the AS/400 intended to
migrated the users to a database system. Now they are called servers,
but the ideas introduced with the S/38 can't be duplicated because it
would bankrupt anyone but the federal government, and maybe even them
trying to educate the programmers.

After we bought the IMB, their engineer would stop by when he was in
the neighborhood to make sure everything was alright, and talk to us
about computers . He was a very likeable and knowledgeable man and
it wasn't long before he had put me onto some books about how to
program in RPG2.

I've been hooked on computers ever since.

.

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