External Hard Drives

[z21rhd]

I have External Hard Drive Case ( containing a 80GB partitioned hard drive - works well ) this is connected to my PC via USB port socket - I have 4 other sockets free .

Question ? :- How many external hard drives can be USB connected ??

[Khun Jean]

If i remember correctly USB can support a maximum of 256 devices.

In practice it is probably what kind of USB hub you can find and how much cable clutter you want. You can connect one USB hub to another creating more connections.

I recently bought a 300Mb shared storage from Maxtor. It has an ethernet 100 Mbit connection and i access it with Wifi. For me that was the best solution. Kids and cables are not a good combination.

[paulfr]

I often have two external Hds and a usb flash card plugged in. I doubt there is much of a limit in Windows XP or XP Pro. Certainly your 4 port USB hub can fill up with 4 drives no problem I would guess.

JMO

[calibanjr.]

How many ext. hard drives are you gonna need? I just got a 350 gig USB at Icon in Chiang Mai for 4000 THB, paid about the same 1 year ago for 100 gig. All I need till next year when they start doing 1 terabyte for 4k!

Edited July 26, 2006 by calibanjr.

[Crossy]

No real limit, particularly if the drives have their own power supplies.

Even if you run out of drive letters XP-Pro will allow you to link drives the share the same letter.

[Tywais]

I have External Hard Drive Case ( containing a 80GB partitioned hard drive - works well ) this is connected to my PC via USB port socket - I have 4 other sockets free .

Question ? :- How many external hard drives can be USB connected ??

Without a port expander (USB Hub) only four more. However for a small amount of money you can buy port expanders that will expand one of your ports by 4, 5, 8 or more so you don't need to worry about not having enough ports. I have 2-300GB external USB drives (.6 Terabyte) so your 80GB drive is pretty tiny. My mainboard supports 10 USB ports and they are all being used for various things, but not all at the same time.

Edited July 26, 2006 by tywais

[opalhort]

No real limit, particularly if the drives have their own power supplies.

"own power supplies" is the key phrase here!

Yes you can connect up to 256 USB devices using hubs on WIN-XP but be aware of their power requirement. HD's are very power hungry! An overload on your USB ports can kill your main board and/or power supply.

opalhort

[ZZZ]

The power is the main problem. My laptop can handle two USB drives but with three they don't work.

If you have external drives with external powersupply this should be no problem.

[fisherd3]

Yes evrey hard drive will need power either from it' s own power supply, or from a 'powered Usb hub' that is a hub that has its own mains power supply(if the 500mw they deliver per socket is enough).

Plus every USB device that is connected to the basically the same USB input degrades the performance of that input, so although you might plug in 250 drives they won't perform very well, to say the least, if they are being used at the same time.

[z21rhd]

No real limit, particularly if the drives have their own power supplies.

Even if you run out of drive letters XP-Pro will allow you to link drives the share the same letter.

Crossy thanks, a definative answer ! particularly if the drives have their own power supplies.

[z21rhd]

I have External Hard Drive Case ( containing a 80GB partitioned hard drive - works well ) this is connected to my PC via USB port socket - I have 4 other sockets free .

Question ? :- How many external hard drives can be USB connected ??

Without a port expander (USB Hub) only four more. However for a small amount of money you can buy port expanders that will expand one of your ports by 4, 5, 8 or more so you don't need to worry about not having enough ports. I have 2-300GB external USB drives (.6 Terabyte) so your 80GB drive is pretty tiny. My mainboard supports 10 USB ports and they are all being used for various things, but not all at the same time.

TYWAIS, absolutely correct "so your 80GB drive is pretty tiny" True but, that was not the important data in the question. It is apparent from your answer that you are greatly concerned about the size of your hardware - does this indicate some early childhood trauma?

My grandma reminded me "not to keep all my eggs in one basket" - this could be a reasonable mantra for us to keep in mind when stuffing our computers with evermore ....

[Tywais]

TYWAIS, absolutely correct "so your 80GB drive is pretty tiny" True but, that was not the important data in the question. It is apparent from your answer that you are greatly concerned about the size of your hardware - does this indicate some early childhood trauma?

Hmm, not sure if you are kidding or not - I was. What I didn't mention in that, and should have, is that the external box has to have sufficient power to support the drive you are using. I have two external USB boxes that work fine with 80GB drives but not with my 300GB due to the box being underpowered. So, if you do elect for a larger drive (external) be aware that all external USB boxes are not alike.

Edited July 29, 2006 by tywais

[z21rhd]

TYWAIS, absolutely correct "so your 80GB drive is pretty tiny" True but, that was not the important data in the question. It is apparent from your answer that you are greatly concerned about the size of your hardware - does this indicate some early childhood trauma?

Hmm, not sure if you are kidding or not - I was. What I didn't mention in that, and should have, is that the external box has to have sufficient power to support the drive you are using. I have two external USB boxes that work fine with 80GB drives but not with my 300GB due to the box being underpowered. So, if you do elect for a larger drive (external) be aware that all external USB boxes are not alike.

Tywais , it was just a small yank on your chain whilst rattling the cage. Thanks for the info . My objective at this time is to have only one internal hard drive running op.sys and programs that are in frequent use. The external drives with relatively small capacity are for data retention and short-term backup. Over the last few years I have had connection problems with hard drives in tandem on the same cable, also the issue of increased heat from the additional internal hard drive is part of the objective.