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

[Mickeymaus]

5 minutes ago, steven100 said:

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.  

 

You could move the desktop folder to a different drive. But since it is removable I wouldn't do this. You simply create a shortcut to a folder on the external drive and you are there with one click. 

[steven100]

28 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

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. 

 

anyway do they make 128GB & 256GB   ?   

[Roger That]

5 minutes ago, steven100 said:

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.  

 

 

I'm tapping out at this point...

[steven100]

2 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

You could move the desktop folder to a different drive. But since it is removable I wouldn't do this. You simply create a shortcut to a folder on the external drive and you are there with one click. 

I'll investigate the sd card option as well as the Ext HDD .....  the sd might be the way to go. 

 

 

[steven100]

Thanks everyone for your valuable input .... I've learnt a couple of more things about HDD's and computers today.   I think i'm all computered out for now.   I'll let you know what eventuated later ..... 

 

 

[Mickeymaus]

11 minutes ago, steven100 said:

anyway do they make 128GB & 256GB   ?   

No problem. Here is one I bought long time ago. Just look that you buy a SD Card reader that can handle SDXC (up to 2000 GB) and not only SDHC (up to 32 GB only). They are very cheap. 

 

Just a hint. If you buy such an SD Card keep for the warranty the receipt and the package. 

 

[Salerno]

14 minutes ago, steven100 said:

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.  

Small issue, sounds like you have a bunch of files on your desktop - you need to move them to free up space. As @Mickymau mentioned, move into a "desktop" folder on your new storage, set folder view to icons, add shortcut to you desktop to that folder, double tap and you have virtually what you have now.

 

11 minutes ago, steven100 said:

anyway do they make 128GB & 256GB   ?   

Yes.

 

7 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I'll investigate the sd card option as well as the Ext HDD .....  the sd might be the way to go. 

Cheaper fix.

 

5 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I'll let you know what eventuated later ..... 

Happy shopping ... if there is such a thing ????‍♂️ (Have to admit though. I enjoying shopping for new tech toys)

[MJCM]

I have not read the whole thread, but are you seriously considering to use a SD card for your Documents instead of a External HDD?

 

omg

 

If for backup then no issues, but as your "external" drive I would advice against it.

 

As I said earlier, go for an External HDD (with it's own power supply).

 

Examples:

 

This for HDD

http://i.nvade.it/7ra

 

This for the Enclosure

http://i.nvade.it/8mR

 

But Up 2 U!

 

 

[Mickeymaus]

12 minutes ago, MJCM said:

I have not read the whole thread, but are you seriously considering to use a SD card for your Documents instead of a External HDD?

 

omg

 

If for backup then no issues, but as your "external" drive I would advice against it.

 

As I said earlier, go for an External HDD (with it's own power supply).

 

Examples:

 

This for HDD

http://i.nvade.it/7ra

 

This for the Enclosure

http://i.nvade.it/8mR

 

But Up 2 U!

 

What is the problem with SD Cards? They are faster than your Seagate HDD - I have them too. In total I have 11 harddisks. One died after a week. Some later. But I got them all replaced because of the warranty. I have about 15 SD Cards. One of them died. I still can read everything but not write to it anymore. 

 

Backups you need in any case if the data are important. And for instance the SD in my tablet has been working problem free for years and since I (legally) download movies almost every day there are several GB of data written to it every day. Afterwards they are moved to my PC (to the many harddisks there). 

[MJCM]

I have a pi running a wireguard server (only) so the sd card isn’t stressed at all, in 2 years time I already had to replace the sd card 2 times, which is easy as I have an image, write it the new sd and after booting and updating the server is running again.

 

and I do buy the good Sd cards (not cheap approx 600+ (only need 64 GiB max can go lower)

 

I am going now the other way and boot from an SSD (with its own power supply) and Sata -> Usb3 and absolutely ditch the sd cards.

 

however ymmv

 

https://shopee.co.th/USB-3.0-SATA-3-สาย-SATA-TO-USB-3.0-อะแดปเตอร์-6-Gbps-สนับสนุน-2.5-นิ้วฮาร์ดดิสก์ภายนอก-SSD-hard-Drive-22-PIN-SATA-III-i.32478429.3619676287

[Mickeymaus]

One final advice. I would not by USB Sticks anymore. These here were advertised with very high read speeds. Yes. But the write speed is a nightmare. In addition they get very hot. And you can't use them in a phone or tablet. Better buy an SD Card + card reader. 

 

[steven100]

12 hours ago, MJCM said:

As I said earlier, go for an External HDD (with it's own power supply).

 

Examples:

 

This for HDD

http://i.nvade.it/7ra

 

This for the Enclosure

http://i.nvade.it/8mR

yes .. it will be,  but not sure can have it's own power supply,  isn't that provided via the USB cable.

[KhunHeineken]

OP, do yourself a favor and upgrade to a new device.    I had a look at the specs of your device, and not only does it have small storage, but the processor is only 1.1Ghz, and must struggle with Windows 10.   

 

I know you will say that it works fine for you, but your internet experience can be so much better for so little outlay these days.  Coming form that device, no need for an expensive high end device for you to see the benefits.  Even a base model new device will outperform your current device by a big margin.    

 

If times are tough, buy secondhand. 

 

I am sure your device has served you well, but like all other machinery and electronics, they reach End of Life. 

 

Go to one of the big electronics shop and have a play with the cheapest device they have on display and for sure you see a big difference. 

[MJCM]

2 hours ago, steven100 said:

yes .. it will be,  but not sure can have it's own power supply,  isn't that provided via the USB cable.

If you use a 3,5" HDD then USB can't power that thus you need an external power supply, what External Drive do you have in mind?

 

 

 

 

 

[MJCM]

45 minutes ago, KhunHeineken said:

OP, do yourself a favor and upgrade to a new device.    I had a look at the specs of your device, and not only does it have small storage, but the processor is only 1.1Ghz, and must struggle with Windows 10.   

Agree.

 

Here new All-in one Pc's (sorted price Low -> High)

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/all-in-one-pcs/sort/price/asc/

[steven100]

4 minutes ago, MJCM said:

If you use a 3,5" HDD then USB can't power that thus you need an external power supply, what External Drive do you have in mind?

 

 

 

 

 

probably that seagate barracuda you posted before ...  invade.it

[steven100]

3 minutes ago, MJCM said:

Agree.

 

Here new All-in one Pc's (sorted price Low -> High)

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/all-in-one-pcs/sort/price/asc/

This looks interesting ...

 

[MJCM]

2 minutes ago, steven100 said:

probably that seagate barracuda you posted before ...  invade.it

Thus you need an enclosure as well, and thus external Power Supply (link to enclosure is in same post). USB won't power that.

[JayClay]

57 minutes ago, MJCM said:

If you use a 3,5" HDD then USB can't power that thus you need an external power supply, what External Drive do you have in mind?

 

 

 

 

 

For the OPs storage requirements a 3.5 inch drive is overdrive.

 

A usb-powered 2.5 inch drive would be much more appropriate.

[MJCM]

1 minute ago, JayClay said:

For the OPs storage requirements a 3.5 inch drive is overdrive.

 

A usb-powered 2.5 inch drive would be much more appropriate.

I tend to agree, but then he must get a good one with enough cooling because he will be running that 2,5" USB drive all the time when his computer is running because he MOVES his Documents Folder over to that Drive.

 

Cheap models tend to have problems with HEAT especially when running longer periods of time.

 

[BE88]

57 minutes ago, steven100 said:

This looks interesting ...

 

I have had this model for about 8 months and I am satisfied.????

 

[JayClay]

Just now, MJCM said:

I tend to agree, but then he must get a good one with enough cooling because he will be running that 2,5" USB drive all the time when his computer is running because he MOVES his Documents Folder over to that Drive.

 

Cheap models tend to have problems with HEAT especially when running longer periods of time.

 

I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never heard of drives suffering with heat issues.

 

Also, while it will be plugged in all the time, it's only a document store. So unless he's doing some majorly intensive tasks such as video editing, database manipulation, or running torrents 24/7 (which is highly unlikely due to his computer spec), drive access by the system will actually be pretty minor.

[sandyf]

17 hours ago, Mickeymaus said:

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. 

Apples and oranges.

You cannot compare tablets/phones with a computer, different file systems. An external drive would normally be NTFS which is faster than FAT but cannot be used on most mobile devices.

[Mickeymaus]

23 minutes ago, sandyf said:

Apples and oranges.

You cannot compare tablets/phones with a computer, different file systems. An external drive would normally be NTFS which is faster than FAT but cannot be used on most mobile devices.

You can format every SD Card in any format you want. An external drive can depending on the storage size be FAT, FAT32, exFAT or NTFS. Since this is on partition level you could even use all formats on 1 external drive at the same time. But you have to create partitions and format them accordingly. 

 

In respect of performance of FAT32, exFAT and NTFS below a link where extensive tests were done. But in the end there is not much performance difference when you use it.

 

In respect of NTFS. If you format it to NTFS then yes - there will be problems with mobile devices and perhaps also with some TVs. Bigger SD Cards are pre-formated with exFAT. This works on all mobile devices. No need to change the file system to NTFS then. 

 

https://www.flexense.com/fat32_exfat_ntfs_usb3_performance_comparison.html

 

[sandyf]

21 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

You can format every SD Card in any format you want. An external drive can depending on the storage size be FAT, FAT32, exFAT or NTFS. Since this is on partition level you could even use all formats on 1 external drive at the same time. But you have to create partitions and format them accordingly. 

 

In respect of performance of FAT32, exFAT and NTFS below a link where extensive tests were done. But in the end there is not much performance difference when you use it.

 

In respect of NTFS. If you format it to NTFS then yes - there will be problems with mobile devices and perhaps also with some TVs. Bigger SD Cards are pre-formated with exFAT. This works on all mobile devices. No need to change the file system to NTFS then. 

 

https://www.flexense.com/fat32_exfat_ntfs_usb3_performance_comparison.html

 

The OP has a Windows computer, not a mobile device.

NTFS is a more flexible and reliable file system than FAT and a hard drive is more robust and reliable than a flash drive.

End of story.

[billd766]

On 1/31/2023 at 11:38 AM, steven100 said:

So I think it's buy a 512GB external HDD and shift all my stuff over onto that ...  and continue using that 512GB for anything I want to keep,,, and let the 57GB PC system run the WIN 10 ..  ?

Can I suggest that you buy a 1TB external HDD which will probably be not that much more expensive an all plenty of room for expansion in the future if you should require it.

 

I have an ACER AIO with a 1TB internal HDD partitioned around 50/50 as C and D drives plus a 1TB external HDD as a spare plus a 4TB in use HDD as my backup drive.

 

https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-ssd/ssd-vs-hdd

 

https://www.pcmag.com/news/ssd-vs-hdd-whats-the-difference;

 

[NextG]

5 hours ago, steven100 said:

This looks interesting ...

 

Better to stick with yours in that case. 

[MJCM]

5 hours ago, JayClay said:

I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never heard of drives suffering with heat issues.

 

Also, while it will be plugged in all the time, it's only a document store. So unless he's doing some majorly intensive tasks such as video editing, database manipulation, or running torrents 24/7 (which is highly unlikely due to his computer spec), drive access by the system will actually be pretty minor.

Have a look in Google and see about external drives (I mean with external drives the ones that are connected via USB and don't have their own power supply) and over heating.

 

But there is a simple remedy for that and which I use when I have lots of Data to Copy to my External's

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/youda-14-led-y-v19-notebook-cooler-pad-i2082460884-s6853912178.html

[NextG]

Let’s not beat about the bush… these AIO are very poor, in performance and value. 
If I were replacing with space at a premium, I would look at a Micro PC and monitor. 
Even a basic second model would outperform the current AIO and the ‘interesting’ considered replacement. 
Example: https://www.lazada.co.th/products/dell-optiplex-3060-mini-core-i3-8100t-i4277550115-s16972833060.html paired with a nice monitor. 

 

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3304vs3777vs2895/Intel-i3-8100T-vs-AMD-Athlon-Gold-3150U-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3350

 

Compare the benchmark figures to the ‘new’ AIO and the current AIO respectively. Current is like a PC from fifteen years ago. 

 

[NextG]

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/bmax-b3-plus-mini-pc-intel-11th-gen-n5095-ram-8gb-16gb-ssd-256gb-window-11-1-i3346863493-s12411597635.html

 

has a accompanying video that shows how unobtrusive these things can be. 
You could pair it with a 27” 4K resolution monitor or a wide colour gamut Full HD monitor for another instance and still have change as compared to the cost of the 22” HP AIO.