I am a software developer and I own a desktop as well as a laptop. Mostly I use the desktop as it is better in performance and has a better configuration then the laptop. But when I have to give a demo to the customer I have to take my laptop with me. Also at night I like to use the laptop on my bed (I know this is a bad practice, but I do so only occasionally). During such times, I copy the latest version of the programs(sourcecode) and transfer it between both machines using the network. I find the regular copy paste job boring.

I am considering to buy an external harddisk (of around 160 GB capacity) and keep all me ebooks, programming tools, programming tutorials, tips collection AND ALL SOURCODES on the external drive. This will enable me to work from either the desktop or laptop without having to copy the required files between them. I will just attach the external harddisk to desktop/laptop and continue working.

Is it a good idea to use an external harddisk as a regular internal drive??

Please guide me.

Thank you.

Lalit Kumar Barik

There's no problem that I know of, except to exercise care not to mistreat the drive while moving it around.
You might find a 2.5" portable more convenient.

i suggest you use dvd disc or either thumb drive.. no problem with external hdd but as said by Hughv must be careful..mishandling the hdd will loss all your data..

but if you're dealing with files which disc, thumbdrive got limitations.. why not setup an ftp site.. but in the place you're going must have an internet access..

cool.... much better that USB drive...

I could have used a high capacity USB/Thumb/Pen Drive to hold my source codes or tutorials/ebooks collection and use it on any system (laptop/desktop/netbook) I need. But from my experience I have found that, if heavy read/write operations are performed on the USB/Thumb/Pen Drive regularly, it tends to develop bad sector over time. Hence they are not very reliable over the long run. An external HDD will solve those problems, give much more storage capacity and also can be more convenient (if proper care is taken). I think I will go with it.

Thanks for your replies.

Lalit Kumar Barik

i use a 40 GIG LAPTOP DRIVE IN A usb EXTERNAL CASE all the time to carry files/programs ,and in my opinion are more reliable than my thumbdrive i have had over time!

@"caperjack", Which one will be better in terms of performance, reliability and portability? A regular external HDD like from Seagate/Iomega etc. or a Laptop HDD in a casing? I am not asking about a particular brand or model as I will have to choose from locally available units, just comment or the difference in general.

Thanks.

Lalit Kumar Barik

Will be fine for data, just dont try and install windows on it, it wont like it.

A laptop HDD in an enclosure will be smaller and (may) not require external power.

agree !
my laptop harddrive case has 2 usb plugs one for data one for power! i paid 25$ cdn for enclosure and picked up a 40gig hdd for free !

Yeah at my old work we used to sell (it was a maxtor, wd or a seagate but dont know which). One was a full-sized 250gb usb disk and required power, the other was the same price laptop-size usb disk which drew its power from a usb port but was only 120gb

They were like £60