Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
990,529,682 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

external drive

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia 0.14 sec.

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.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
 Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
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.
More results
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.