Can I add an external USB Hard Drive to an All-in-one PC to free up space on C/: DRIVE

[Salerno]

  

2 minutes ago, steven100 said:

so maybe I need to confirm with that guy even if it's possible to add an external HDD ?

No, external is not an issue, you have multiple USB3 ports (allegedly at least, never heard of this brand and hard to find out anything about it).

 

From the looks of it, unlikely to be able to install an internal drive.

[steven100]

3 minutes ago, Salerno said:

  

No, external is not an issue, you have multiple USB3 ports (allegedly at least, never heard of this brand and hard to find out anything about it).

 

From the looks of it, unlikely to be able to install an internal drive.

yes ... I doubt it allows.  But is the SATA connection internal any issue ?   I'm not familiar with SATA ...  it's not mentioned in the specs here ...

[Salerno]

Just now, steven100 said:

But is the SATA connection internal any issue ?

Nope, it was only mentioned as it's a type of connection for hard drives - inside the machine looks pretty empty on the video so unless missed a connection somewhere in the video an external upgrade is off the cards. It doesn't impact using an external drive.

[steven100]

oh .... SATA is needed if I was installing an internal SSD / HDD  ?  right ..

[Salerno]

2 minutes ago, steven100 said:

oh .... SATA is needed if I was installing an internal SSD / HDD  ?  right ..

There's various types of connectors but yes, given the spec, I doubt there is any of them in your comp. You should be able to upgrade the RAM but to be honest, not sure it would be worth the bother. I'm guessing you're not doing any heavy/intensive work on it.

[Woof999]

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

oh .... SATA is needed if I was installing an internal SSD / HDD  ?  right ..

SATA is mostly internal (but not always) - it doesn't look like your PC has one.

E-SATA - external SATA, but not on your PC.

IDE - internal and old school. No motherboard typcaily offers this any more.

M.2 - internal and what pretty much everyone goes for now as it's amazingly fast - your PC definitely doesn't have this.

There are others too but they definitely don't affect you.

USB - almost always external - your only real choice (so not really a choice at all).

[steven100]

6 minutes ago, Salerno said:

Nope, it was only mentioned as it's a type of connection for hard drives - inside the machine looks pretty empty on the video so unless missed a connection somewhere in the video an external upgrade is off the cards. It doesn't impact using an external drive.

2 x 256GB external HDD's  ( one to backup my pics,vids,files,etc ..)  and the other to store my stuff and run on the PC daily.    That's it ... the easiest way to gain more C/: drive space and virtual memory ( adjust needed )    

[Woof999]

Just now, steven100 said:

2 x 256GB external HDD's  ( one to backup my pics,vids,files,etc ..)  and the other to store my stuff and run on the PC daily.    That's it ... the easiest way to gain more C/: drive space and virtual memory ( adjust needed )    

I wouldn't bother with the backup USB drive. Use "the cloud" such as Google Drive or One Drive instead. Then you can access these files from anywhere.

 

Relying on a USB drive for more virtual memory (pagefile) would be a REALLY bad idea. Way too slow, unless a significant pregnant pause while swapping between apps is something you're happy to live with.

[steven100]

3 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

Relying on a USB drive for more virtual memory (pagefile) would be a REALLY bad idea. Way too slow, unless a significant pregnant pause while swapping between apps is something you're happy to live with.

but moving my stuff over to an external would free up space on the internal C/:  thereby increasing virtual memory ( after recalculation done )    ?     would not affect the speed at all  ..

[Salerno]

3 minutes ago, steven100 said:

2 x 256GB external HDD's  ( one to backup my pics,vids,files,etc ..) 

Cheap enough nowadays and drives do fail (had one go just over a month ago actually!) so yes, a backup always advisable but as @Woof999 just mentioned, if you have decent internet perhaps cloudbased would be more advisable for important things (a backup in the same location as your PC really isn't a backup unless stored in a serious fireproof "safe").

 

If worried about data on a 3rd party you could always set up your own pretty damn cheaply with minimal fuss.

 

6 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

That's it ... the easiest way to gain more C/: drive space and virtual memory ( adjust needed )  

Yes, but as mentioned doubt you'll need to mess with the virtual memory once space reclaimed.

[Salerno]

11 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

Relying on a USB drive for more virtual memory (pagefile) would be a REALLY bad idea.

Virtual memory has only been discussed as OP has been seeing errors (due to running out of space I believe). Reclaimed space on the internal existing drive should fix the issue - setting it up on the external was not on the cards.

[tomazbodner]

1 hour ago, NextG said:

Personally, if possible, I would have the SSD fitted internally and scrap the eMMC partition altogether. 

eMMC (embedded MultiMedia Card) generally can't just be replaced. It looks like this, and without professional equipment you're stuck with it:

 

 

That board also doesn't seem to have any SATA or NVM sockets so... I think external USB 3.0 is the only option. Now good news - Windows 10 supports boot from USB, so a large external drive could well be used for OS as well. Would just need to open BIOS and select external drive as a boot drive, and install Windows on it. If computer came with genuine Windows, it should apply digital license automatically upon installation. Or else it could be cloned to larger drive.

[Mickeymaus]

2 hours ago, Salerno said:

  

No, external is not an issue, you have multiple USB3 ports (allegedly at least, never heard of this brand and hard to find out anything about it).

 

From the looks of it, unlikely to be able to install an internal drive.

I am not sure. The video isn't very clear. But isn't this a SATA connector on the first picture and a power connector on the second picture? 

 

But anyhow. If he can live with an additional external hard drive perhaps it is a simpler solution. Just look that it uses USB 3. And if you don't want to be annoyed that the disk goes always into sleeping mode after a short time look for one that doesn't do this. 

 

[steven100]

2 hours ago, MJCM said:

You do have USB connectors so you could connect an External USB drive.

so if I store all my stuff on this ....  it will still show as normal my files, my pics, my videos etc all on the desktop as normal operation,  only difference is they are stored on the ext 250GB ...  ?    And I should gain that space on my internal C/:  drive     ?  

[Mickeymaus]

4 minutes ago, steven100 said:

so if I store all my stuff on this ....  it will still show as normal my files, my pics, my videos etc all on the desktop as normal operation,  only difference is they are stored on the ext 250GB ...  ?    And I should gain that space on my internal C/:  drive     ?  

This is a fake. Don't buy. You don't get 1TB for this price. Buy at a known seller like Advice or JIB. Sorry just see that you selected 250 GB. But better buy a known brand. There is a lot of fake. 

 

[Mickeymaus]

Just an other idea. You don't need much storage. Why not use an SD Card? My tablet uses one in addition to the normal internal storage. No problems. But look that the SD Card reader can handle the bigger size and is USB 3. More infos if you are interested. 

 

[Roger That]

Harsh truth:

This PC is now pretty much e-waste. You've had a few years out of it (I guess?) which for the price you paid is probably pretty good.

 

Time to replace. You can go used if money is tight. You can probably pick up a used 24" monitor for ~2000 THB (maybe less!) and an ex-business Lenovo, Dell, HP etc. PC in a compact case from Shopee, Lazada etc. for perhaps 6000THB. That'll be significantly better than what you have now. Make sure it has at least 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD.  That should keep you going for a few years with the potential to upgrade after that.

 

Use an external hard drive (a branded one, Toshiba, Seagate, WD etc., not the trash one from Lazada above) or a USB flash drive to copy any important files from the old PC to the new one.

 

It would make far more sense to do this now rather than waste any more time or money on this device.

 

My 2c!

[dingdongrb]

4 hours ago, steven100 said:

so your saying,  buy an external USB hard drive ... transfer all non-system files, photos, videos, my stuff  over to the external to free up some 40GB or whatever and then increase the Virtual memory value setting. ??   thanks

You should do that regardless of your current issue....  It's called generating a back-up.

 

I find it humorous (and sad) when I hear that someone lost all their personal data due to their hard drive crashing and they had no back-up.

 

I use Syncbak and generate two back-ups, one to an external HDD, and another (off site) to my NAS.

[Salerno]

6 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

The video isn't very clear. But isn't this a SATA connector on the first picture and a power connector on the second picture? 

Doesn't look like one to me, but I'm certainly no expert on hardware, have only swapped out laptop drives a few times and had a couple of docks/external enclosures so I'd expect wider and shorter than shown in the image.

 

Just did an image search and vast majority of images look like I was thinking but saw the below which looks similar ????‍♂️

[steven100]

18 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

This is a fake. Don't buy. You don't get 1TB for this price. Buy at a known seller like Advice or JIB. Sorry just see that you selected 250 GB. But better buy a known brand. There is a lot of fake. 

 

I'll probably go over to JIB at Central Eastville and see what they have.  tks.

[Mickeymaus]

1 minute ago, steven100 said:

I'll probably go over to JIB at Central Eastville and see what they have.  tks.

Think about the SD Card. It is much faster than a Harddisk. Easier to handle and the system will not notice any difference. 

[NextG]

32 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

I am not sure. The video isn't very clear. But isn't this a SATA connector on the first picture and a power connector on the second picture? 

 

But anyhow. If he can live with an additional external hard drive perhaps it is a simpler solution. Just look that it uses USB 3. And if you don't want to be annoyed that the disk goes always into sleeping mode after a short time look for one that doesn't do this. 

 

Yes, could be, but I wasn’t sure so asked for a second opinion. 
In that case, you would need the SSD and one of these kits: https://m.th.aliexpress.com/item/32828637474.html

If you can boot from it, then I would bypass the eMMC drive altogether. 

[steven100]

5 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

Think about the SD Card. It is much faster than a Harddisk. Easier to handle and the system will not notice any difference. 

and it just plugs into the USB port extender I have now ....  everything stays the same on the desktop etc .... ? and all my stuff is on the sd card .. right ? 

[Salerno]

17 minutes ago, steven100 said:

so if I store all my stuff on this ....  it will still show as normal my files, my pics, my videos etc all on the desktop as normal operation

What have you got on your desktop now? We all use our "tools" differently e.g. on this laptop I've only got three items on my desktop, on another I've probably got a couple of dozen.

 

Your external drive will be given a different drive letter through which you will navigate to files e.g. at the moment you'll only have C drive whereas on this lappie I have:
 

 

Same would be the case if you went with an SD card.

 

As mentioned before, if you want something on your desktop (e.g. specific folders) you can easily create shortcuts to them, depending on what is on your desktop now, chances are you wouldn't be able to use at least some of the current shortcuts.

[Mickeymaus]

16 minutes ago, steven100 said:

and it just plugs into the USB port extender I have now ....  everything stays the same on the desktop etc .... ? and all my stuff is on the sd card .. right ? 

It is like an external hard drive. It is faster and does not break if it falls down. It doesn't go into sleeping mode. It doesn't make noise. You can use it also in many phones or tablets. If you buy one look that you buy an SD Card reader that is USB 3 and can handle more than 32 GB storage. I have many for my TV and also for my phone and tablet. 

 

Here are only some. I have many. 

 

[sandyf]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

2 x 256GB external HDD's  ( one to backup my pics,vids,files,etc ..)  and the other to store my stuff and run on the PC daily.    That's it ... the easiest way to gain more C/: drive space and virtual memory ( adjust needed )    

I would  suggest you have a look at something like Seagate Backup Plus. Mine is a 1TB drive and the backup facility only takes up about a third of the disk leaving the rest for storage. Comes with all the relevant software for backup and restore, to a new computer if necessary.

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/seagate-1tb-2tb-backup-plus-slim-hard-drive-hdd-portable-hard-drive-transcend-external-hard-drive-i4371631135.html?spm=a2o4m.store_product.list.102.799387d9N4tKj0

[Salerno]

10 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

It is faster

What brand do you have that is faster than a decent SSD?

[Mickeymaus]

4 minutes ago, Salerno said:

What brand do you have that is faster than a decent SSD?

No - I wrote that they are faster than a conventional external hard drive. I wouldn't buy an external SSD. The reason is that I can put SD Cards in my tablet and phone. Try this with an external SSD ????. They are fast enough for many things and small. 

[steven100]

24 minutes ago, Salerno said:

What have you got on your desktop now?

I like to have preview and immediate access to photos, files etc .....  I am using WIN 10 but with Powershell desktop appearance as XP.    I don't like to go seaching for docs or folders or photos ,   hence I like them on my desktop.  

 

[Salerno]

3 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

No - I wrote that they are faster than a conventional external hard drive.

And this is why we need to ask questions and why I edited to add the "decent SSD" before you replied 555

 

For me, a "conventional" external never even entered my head in the discussion during this whole thread before I initially posed that question due to what I use computers for. Wasn't until I posted the question I thought "Wait a minute, he must be talking about old school disks" ????