EXTERNAL HARD-DRIVE PROJECT

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This website of ours is a really big one ...in the scale of personal ones that is.... It hasn't been unusual for me to have to dump the whole thing and start over. Sometimes it's because I don't like the structure or backgrounds ...other times I'll find some FrontPage error , that has no simple fix ,so I'm forced to start over from square one again.

And let me tell you , its NO Fun at all to work on a site that's approx. 200 MB's and growing...and having to Delete the Saved Changes on a Zip-Disc everyday and replace that with the newest version.

Even more of a pain , is the real possibility of a fatal computer Crash during the process of deleting the Whole website file off the Zip-Disc and replacing it with Today's changes...UGGH ! That would be Terrible!

Some folks just set their Iomega Zip drives up to replace the newest changes ...but, I've never been happy with how this works. And FrontPage , being a wonderful but sometimes Glitchy Editing program...never seems to like what Iomega does to its format and file paths.
It tends to create copies instead of just saving and integrating the newest changes...and no matter how many tweaks I do , I'm never happy with the changes.
So...I wind up going through the tedious process of deleting the site off the disc and replacing it again.

So for a little extra peace of mind and to help make my life easier in maintaining this website...I bought an 80 Gig hard-drive and a Belkin External Drive enclosure to house the drive in.
With this setup I'll be able to easily send the site to the external drive ...make changes ...etc. etc.
I wont have to mess around every morning while I'm half asleep and rushing off to work...searching for the 'right' Zip Disc , popping it into the drive...deleting and re-sending the site anymore.

No Drive is Fail Safe , they do crash ...with the real possibility of loosing everything . So you still have to save stuff on regular basis...which I'll do. But with a system like this I wont have to do it so frequently.
 This is WAY COOL

Why did I go for a drive enclosure and a hard-drive instead of just buying a factory made external setup?
For a couple of reasons....
One is ,ever since I built my own PC , I feel pretty comfortable with getting in there and doing stuff for myself...
Then there's the reparability & warranty issues.
With a setup like mine...if the drive fails ...all I need to do is open up the drive enclosure , pull out the broken drive and pop a new one in.
I'm not messing up Warranties like I would if I popped opened a Factory made External drive...they don't like you to do that sort of stuff. So you're forced to send the Drive back to the manufacturer for repairs. Which takes time and often you have to pay the postage .
Plus the Fans they install in the little micro-external drives leave a lot to be desired , so I'd much rather have a larger fan . 
So if you're the type who doesn't mind messing about with stuff...Here's how you put one of these things together.

Here's a pic of the Belkin Drive case out of the box...it measures around 6-1/2 inches wide by 10 inches long by 3 inches high and cost me $59.00 . I picked it up through Dell when I ordered the Maxtor 80 gig hard drive.

It comes with Drive mounting screws and all the stuff you'll need to put whatever drive you want into the enclosure...plus Belkin includes software with the Drivers necessary for this to work on older operating systems.
Folks running Windows XP don't need to install any drivers because XP includes them already...

Installing my Hard Drive...
Once you take the enclosure out of the box you'll pull off the top section...exposing the interior.
Now set the jumper configuration to 'Master' on the back of the Hard Drive...plug in the power to the drive and also the data cable.
Here's a pic


After you've got things plugged in correctly ....hold the Hard Drive in place and turn the enclosure over .
Move the hard drive around until you get the mounting holes lined up with the enclosures holes and use the screws supplied to secure the drive to the enclosure.


Now that you've got the Drive installed ...pop the top back on the enclosure and install the locking side pieces and the front piece. ...And you're done.
Here's a pic of the completed drive enclosure


Now plug the power supply cord and USB cord into the enclosure....

If you're running older versions of Windows ....at this point you'll need to install the Drivers off the CD that's included
And then plug the USB cord into your computer and power up the drive...
But If you're running Windows XP you can power it up without any software.
Windows should recognize the drive telling you so with a 'New Device Found' alert...and take over from there.

Since the Hard Drive I bought was just you're garden variety one...it needed to be Initialized , partitioned & formatted before I could use it.
Bear in mind I'm running Windows XP ...earlier versions of Operating systems will have a different 'Route' to take to do this....The Install manual that came with the enclosure covers that well.

Anyways here how to do it with Windows XP...
Click 'Start'...settings....and then click on the Control Panel option.


Once you're in Control Panel...double click on 'Administrative Tools'
 

This will bring up a Window where you'll want to click on 'Disc Management' (on the left side of the window)
Once you click on 'Disc Management' ... the Right hand side of this Window will list all of your Drives and their 'Condition'. The first one probably will be you main drive ( C:)
Scroll down till you locate the new Storage Drive....and right click on the Drives name. This will bring up the option to 'Initialize' the Drive....click on that and Windows will take care of this.
Here's a pic ... I already 'Initialized' my new Drive before I snapped off this Screenshot...so you wont see that option in the menu.
It will be there when you do this process...


Now that the Drive is 'Initialized'...its time to partition & format the drive.
What you do here is instead of right clicking the drives 'Name'....right click on the Colored bar to the right of the 'Name' ( it should be Black at this point ...but will turn Blue when the formatting is done )
Choose partition from the menu (click on it) ....



Now a Wizard will guide you through the process of partitioning & formatting the drive...
Once the Drive is finished Formatting itself...close out of everything and re-start the computer .
Once she's up and running again...open up 'My Computer' and you'll see the new external storage drive listed there.
To use the drive ...right click on Folders ,Files or even programs and send them to the external drive. To view what's in the drive double click on it to open it.
 

SITE CATEGORY - PROJECTS -  EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE PROJECT