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external drive

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external drive

Typically refers to a stand-alone magnetic disk or optical disc drive that is housed in its own case and plugs into the computer via a USB cable. Compact external drives, which are designed for transportability, derive their power directly from the USB port (see pocket hard drive). For stationary use, larger external drives plug into a wall outlet.

The term may also refer to external SCSI disks and tapes, which plug into the SCSI controller in the computer and were more common in the 1990s. Contrast with internal drive. See USB drive and portable hard drive.



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Even if the computer should fail, the data on the external drive will be accessible--all you have to do is unplug the drive and plug it into another computer.
Skip this article: (if you don't back up your computer): a few mouse ... by Petravick, Simon / Journal of Accountancy
Single external drives can be aggregated as one large external drive with an interface rate up to 300MB/s or these same drives can be integrated as a RAID 0, 1, 5 or even 3 to provide continuous data protection with absolutely no end-user interaction.
The fast, reliable, economical external SATA by Clark, Joni / Computer Technology Review
Understandably, however, you'll need to use an external drive for access to CDs and DVDs.
NEC VersaPro VY11F/GL-R by Japan Inc.
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