Need recommendations for portable hard drives. The reviews on newegg and amazon are too rah rah or doomsday. [more inside]
posted on Apr 28, 2008 - 29 answers

Please explain to me how a 7200rpm SATA external hard drive (USB 2 or Firewire 800) can be written to / read from as expediently as a 7200 RPM SATA internal hard drive? It doesn't seem to make sense. Isn't the USB/Firewire a bottleneck? Why would an external drive be as suitable for audio recording as an internal?
posted on Jan 18, 2008 - 16 answers

Am I running my completely enclosed HD into the ground? [more inside]
posted on Dec 17, 2007 - 4 answers

Does anyone have experiences with Gillware for recovering data from a dead hard drive, aside from user bhance? They are cheaper than the big enterprise-level data recovery companies, but I'd like to see comments from more than one person if possible.
posted on Jun 17, 2007 - 3 answers

Can/should I re-use the enclosure for a hard drive I have outgrown as a housing for a new hard drive, or should I just buy new? Either way, what should I be buying? [more inside]
posted on Jun 2, 2007 - 7 answers

When I buy my new 24" imac, should I keep my PC and use it as a server, buy a hard drive enclosure, or just scrap my old PC? [more inside]
posted on Mar 13, 2007 - 12 answers

What's the best option for external Mac Fire Wire Drives? [more inside]
posted on Mar 3, 2007 - 13 answers

I have two SATA drives installed on my machine. My computer works fine except for the fact that roughly every two or three weeks my computer will fail to boot with a message reading "NTLOADER is missing. Press CTRL ALT DEL to reboot." I can fix the problem temporarily by opening up my computer case and swapping the drives around on the motherboard (putting the cable for Drive 1 into SATA 2 and vice versa), at which point Windows will boot up fine and function without a problem but as I said, within the space of two to three weeks, the problem comes back. Hope me, please! System specs inside. [more inside]
posted on Dec 28, 2006 - 14 answers

I want to move my C: drive to a different location. On my XP machine I have 5 hard drives, all 20 Gigs with the exception of my C: drive which is 15 Gigs, hence the move. What's the most painless way to do this? [more inside]
posted on Oct 24, 2006 - 7 answers

MacFilter: What procedures would allow a User directory to exist on an external hard drive? [more inside]
posted on Oct 18, 2006 - 9 answers

My hard drive died and I want to recover a great deal of the data that (hopefully) still exists on it. After reading the Metafilter Wiki, I know this question has been asked before, but my question relates more to the process of recovering the data than the actual possibility of doing so. [more inside]
posted on Sep 18, 2006 - 16 answers

Which of the files in this 4mb zip file (link to website) can I get rid of so that I can fit it all on one 3.5" floppy disk so that the Windows XP installation program will recognise my brand new SATA drive? [more inside]
posted on Sep 3, 2006 - 4 answers

What's the best way of adding a Terabyte of reliable, contiguous, archive-quality storage to my system? By 'best' I mean Toyota Corolla as opposed to Hummer. [more inside]
posted on Mar 22, 2006 - 48 answers

Is my hard drive really dead? Really? For real? Seriously? [more inside]
posted on Feb 17, 2006 - 10 answers

How flexible is my new mp3 library? [more inside]
posted on Oct 5, 2005 - 5 answers

What's your favorite Windows XP data backup option? [more inside]
posted on Jun 9, 2005 - 15 answers

Let's say you had a wooden box you wanted to turn into a PC case. Where would you buy a metal 5.25" bay assembly? I'm talking about a U-shaped piece of flat metal that will screw onto the wood box wherein a couple of drives can be mounted. There's just way too much noise in Google on this one. Thanks!
posted on Nov 19, 2004 - 7 answers

Are there any real advantages to running Windows XP on a partitioned hard drive, with a different partition each for Windows, programs, and files?
posted on Nov 15, 2004 - 6 answers

iBookFilter: I need a replacement hard drive for a G3 iBook. [+]
posted on Nov 8, 2004 - 9 answers

I'm changing jobs and want to make sure I wipe clean anything I don't want to leave behind on my computer (personal, not work-related). Other than deleting files, what else should I do that will not ruin anything that the company needs on the hard drive? Also, is there a way to import all my browser faves into a text file or something to save them and take them all with me?
posted on Sep 27, 2004 - 7 answers

Why will Windows only let me format a hard drive to half its capacity? [MI]
posted on Aug 25, 2004 - 9 answers

Hard drive problem: I tried to move a functioning fat32 slave drive into a new machine. It showed up as RAW, so I put it back in the old machine. Now shows as RAW there too. Did I really lose all my data? ..
posted on Aug 24, 2004 - 3 answers

I'm looking for an external hard drive that I will use to backup my personal computer. What should I buy? [more inside].
posted on Aug 12, 2004 - 11 answers

My hard drive is full. Can anyone recommend a (free?) utility or technique for clearing out all the waste on my computer (iBook running OS X 10.3.4)? (overflowing inside)
posted on Jun 17, 2004 - 22 answers

I've got a 120GB external firewire hard drive (EZQuest Cobra) and the fan has started making a loud noise. Thing is, the fan was pretty loud to begin with so I'm thinking maybe I should just replace the entire enclosure with a top of the line super quiet one. Suggestions?
posted on Jun 1, 2004 - 2 answers

External hard drives.
posted on May 12, 2004 - 15 answers

Some months ago I bought a RAID card for my desktop PC, and a second hard drive. I'd like to set up a mirrored RAID array just to decrease my chances of ever losing any data. My problem is that the instructions are clear on how to install the card, but not on what to do if I ever experience trouble. Can I take one drive from a mirrored array and put it in another machine? If one drive fails, will the other just keep trucking and boot the PC? Any experience getting a mirrored RAID set up, or recovering one, would be appreciated.
posted on May 5, 2004 - 7 answers