[H-GEN] External USB HDDs.

Carl Adams 52midnight at gmail.com
Thu Dec 16 18:44:01 EST 2010


My first is a Western Digital 1TB 'My Book Essential'. Comes with USB  
cable and wall-wart for power. As purchased it presents two interfaces,  
one the actual storage device, the other a 'fake CD' with custom software  
for the auto-backup function that is Windows-specific. This dual interface  
appears to be a 'feature' of other such devices, and is both useless for  
Lx and a nuisance (having a second unwanted device). The software is  
contained in a subdirectory in the drive storage space - another nuisance.

Fortunately, WD has available a downloadable utility for disabling it, but  
it only runs under Windows. Thanks to a friend's kindness (I don't have  
and M$ meself) I was able to download and run this. The fake CD  
disappeared, I reformatted the whole thing as a single ext3 partition, and  
it's been fast (enough) and reliable ever since.

The second is an HP 320GB 'Simple Save'. Self-powered off the USB port,  
but you'll need a powered USB hub (not the passive sort) if you don't plug  
in direct to the computer. Same 'fake CD' arrangement, but no disable  
facility that I've found, and the forums suggest it's not available, and  
HP has no interest in the Lx community. So far it's performed well, but  
the 'M$-centricity' and lack of support has decided me against HP for any  
future purchases.

Having spent engineering years in Singapore back when it made 80% of the  
world's HDDs, I developed some personal preferences that may be  
out-of-date, but WD has always been a favourite followed by Seagate (used  
to be Shugart before Al sold out), all others take your pick.



More information about the General mailing list