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General discussion

external/portable hard drives

Feb 21, 2011 1:47AM PST

My old laptop has a 20GB hard drive- if I purchase a portable

drive, will this automatically increase the capacity of my

old hard drive by the portable hard drive's capacity??

Discussion is locked

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No it will not increase the capacity of your old drive
Feb 21, 2011 2:53AM PST

but it will give you separate additional storage as a separate drive. You might also be able to install a larger drive in place of the 20GB internal and also add an external drive for backup.

Hard disk drives (HDDs) are relatively inexpensive and a 60GB, 80GB or 120GB may not be that much more than a 20GBs HDD. See products and prices at the link below.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Drives

VAPCMD

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External hard drives...
Feb 25, 2011 9:31AM PST

The main thing going on with an external hard drive is that it is much slower than your internal hard drive, and it is seen as a separate device from your C: drive. However, you could put a new hard drive (C: drive) in your laptop that's less than 137GB, and then re-install your OS. There was a BIOS limitation some time ago, and the largest hard drive I could put in my daughter's was about 120GB., and the re-install was pretty easy. If you decide to go this route, be sure to get a compatible hard disk for your laptop, download all the drivers you'll need for your re-install ahead of time (put them on a CD), and have your important stuff backed up so you can put it on your new disk. If you're using internet backup (like Mozy or Carbonite) you're all set to go now.

You may be able to put in a hard drive bigger than 137GB, but again, make sure that it's compatible with your laptop. You can also go to a larger hard drive that's an SSD, which would also make your laptop seem a good bit faster than it was.

Anyways, without a reinstall, you really can't make your laptop hard drive any bigger, sorry about that.

-Roger

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Just change the hard drive
Feb 25, 2011 10:20AM PST

I had the same issue and it was very simple to install a new larger drive and then use Acronis to clone the old to the new. I think I spent a total of 20 minutes to do it all.