Tx-Data-Backup.com

External Backup Hard Drive

The internal structure of external hard drives is similar to normal hard disk drives; in fact, they include a normal hard disk drive which is mounted in a disk enclosure typically with capacities ranging from 160 GB to 4TB. As external hard drives retain the platters and moving heads of traditional hard drives they are much less tolerant of physical shocks than flash-based technology.

Modern external hard drives are compatible with all operating systems supporting the relevant interface standards they operate with, such as USB MSC or IEEE1394. These standards are supported by all major modern server and desktop operating systems and many embedded devices. Obsolete systems such as Windows 98 (original edition), Windows NT (any version before Windows 2000) old versions of Linux (older than kernel 2.4), or Mac OS 8.5.1 or older do not support them out-of-the-box, but may depend on later updates or third party drivers.

Many of the newer external hard drives come with pre-installed backup software making them virtually a plug and play backup system and a very inexpensive choice for the home user or small office.