Portable Memory

External Hard drives

What is a hard drive?

0The hard drive is the main data storage device in a computer. The computers operating system, software and data and files are stored on the hard drive

0External hard drives are hard drives that sit in a casing and connect to your computer through a cable.

History of External Hard Drives0 1953: IBM invented 1st external hard drive the size of a washing machine0 1956: IBM ships the first hard drive in the

RAMAC 305 system. The drive holds 5MB of data at $10,000 a megabyte. The system is as big as two refrigerators.

0 1963: IBM comes up with the first removable hard drive, the 1311, which has six 14-inch platters and holds 2.6MB.

0 1970: General Digital Corporation (renamed Western Digital in 1971) is founded in California.0 1978: First RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks) technology patent is filed0 1979: A group headed by Al Shugart founds disk-drive manufacturer Seagate Technology.0 1979: Seagate introduces the ST-506 drive and interface, which is then used in all early

microcomputer implementations.0 1980: IBM introduces the first gigabyte hard drive. It is the size of a refrigerator, weighs about 550

pounds, and costs $40,000.http://www.pcworld.com/article/127105/article.html

History of External Hard Drives cont’d.0 1984: Western Digital makes the first Winchester hard drive controller card for the

IBM PC/AT--and sets an industry standard.0 1985: Western Digital produces the first ESDI (Enhanced Small Device Interface)

controller board, which allows larger capacity and faster hard drives to be used in PCs.0 1986: The official SCSI spec is released; Apple Computer's Mac Plus is one of the first

computers to use it.0 1988: Prairie Tek releases the 220, the first 2.5-inch hard drive designed for the

burgeoning notebook computer market0 1996: IBM stores 1 billion bits per square inch on a platter.0 1998: IBM announces its Microdrive, the smallest hard drive to date. It fits 340MB on a

single 1-inch platter.0 2004: The first 0.85-inch hard drive, Toshiba's MK2001MTN, debuts. It stores 2GB on a

single platter.0 2006: Seagate's Momentus 5400.3 notebook hard drive is the first 2.5-inch model to

use perpendicular magnetic recording, which boosts its capacity up to 160GB.0 2006: Seagate releases the Barracuda 7200.10, at 750GB the largest hard drive to date.0 2006: Cornice and Seagate each announce a 1-inch hard drive that holds 12GB.

Why use an external hard drive?

0 To back up data 0 Back up data from multiple devices and have it all stored in one place0 Keep data safe and secure

software malfunction, Viruses human error natural disasters Theft

0 Travel0 Work0 School

Types of External Hard drive0 USB drives- low cost and portability. slowest drives, transferring about 400 megabits of data per second, but they have the virtue of being compatible with almost any computer on the market.

0 FireWire drives - transfer for complex and large multimedia filespopular among people with Apple computerstransfers files about twice as quickly as USB ports.

0 eSATA Drives- External Serial Advanced Technology Attachmentalmost seven times faster than USB drivesshare the same channel as your computer's internal hard drivethe cost can run nearly double as similarly sized USB drives; the lack of external eSATA ports on most computers and the need for an external power source.

http://www.ehow.com/list_7184807_types-external-hard-drive.html#ixzz2CEEEmyFh

Flash Drive

0 small data storage device that connects to your computer's USB(Universal Serial Bus) port.

0 thumb drive0 a flash drive is typically small, cross-platform, rewritable

and extremely inexpensive. 0 USB flash drives have effectively replaced established computer media,

including Zip drives and floppy discs.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8179213_usb-flash-drive.html#ixzz2CDcJu719

Memory Cards

0 also known as flash memory cards or flash drives 0 have revolutionized the way data is saved, stored and exchanged

among digital devices. 0 Originally designed for the laptop computer, 0 Has now evolved into a more reliable and resilient storage device

than disk drives. Memory cards are now used in every digital product

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5113461_memory-card.html#ixzz2CEAof4ex