You can right-click on Start and select Device Manager.
In "Disk devices" you need to select the connected USB flash drive and double-click on it with the left mouse button to launch "Properties".
Open the downloaded file from the archive using notepad. Right-click on it and select "Open with ...".
Choose Notepad.
Go to the section:. Delete the first four lines from it to% attach_drv% = f2d_install, USBSTORGenDisk.
Then paste the copied value from the "Device Manager" to the place of the remote one. Before each line that will be inserted, add% attach_drv% = f2d_install.
Save the modified text document. Next, switch to the "Device Manager" and right-click on the flash drive, and then select "Update drivers ...".
The best practice is to search for drivers on this computer.
Click on "Browse" and indicate the location of the file that has been edited.
Confirm your actions and click "Continue installation". When the installation is complete, open Explorer, where the flash drive will be displayed as "Local Disk".
For Windows x86 (32-bit)
Download and unpack the Hitachi_Microdrive.rar archive. Do everything in the same way as described above. Then select the tab "Details", and in the line "Property" insert "Path to the device instance". In the line "Value" copy the line that is displayed.
From the downloaded archive, open the cfadisk.inf file using Notepad. How to do this is also described above. Find the section and reach the line% Microdrive_devdesc% = cfadisk_install, USBSTORDISK & VEN_ & PROD_USB_DISK_2.0 & REV_P.
Introduction.
Most laptop owners sooner or later face the problem of lack of space. As a rule, laptops with screen sizes up to 15 "do not have a free second slot for a 2.5" device. Therefore, the owners are forced to think about either replacing the laptop itself, or replacing its hard drive. After replacing the hard drive, there is always an old drive that can be easily turned into an external USB drive for data transfer.
Naturally, you can purchase a 2.5-inch mobile hard drive and convert it into an external drive. Fortunately, the cost of external storage allows it. For example, at the time of this writing, they ask for $ 40 for a 250 GB mobile hard drive, and for a 500 GB device from WD they ask for only $ 45.
We decide on the type of hard drive.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that an ordinary desktop 3.5-inch hard drive can also be turned into an external drive - you simply cannot call it mobile. If you have an unused 2.5 or 3.5 inch hard drive available, then first of all you need to decide on the type of its interface.
The following interface types exist on the market today: IDE (ATA) and various SATA options. As a rule, all SATA interfaces are backward compatible with each other, and we will not dwell on their variations. The situation is quite different between IDE and SATA interfaces, which are absolutely incompatible with each other and have different connectors.
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The figure shows you two hard drives with different interfaces. Winchesters have a mobile format of 2.5 inches. On the left is a SATA hard drive, on the right is an IDE hard drive.
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We have in our hands a 250 GB hard drive from Western Digital, Scorpio Blue series with a SATA interface. This drive was used for a long time in the Acer laptop, but its capacity was not enough, and it was replaced by a more spacious 500 GB solution.
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Despite the long-term use, the work of the hard drive did not cause any complaints, so it was decided to use it as an external mobile drive. To do this, we had to find an external case for him, which we did. External AGESTAR case for a 2.5-inch mobile hard drive.
In hardware stores, there are many different external cases for 2.5-inch hard drives. Their key difference is as follows:
- body material,
- type of external port (interface),
- cost.
As a rule, various cases with a USB 2.0 interface are presented in stores, cases with an eSATA interface are presented in a much smaller number, and even fewer cases with their combination of USB 2.0 & eSATA. Several cases with a modern USB 3.0 interface were found on sale, but their cost exceeded the cost of the hard drive itself, so we did not consider them.
The key difference between USB 2.0 and eSATA is data transfer speed. Using the USB 2.0 interface allows for maximum compatibility, since these ports are available on all computers. A significant disadvantage of the USB 2.0 interface is the low data transfer rate, which will not allow you to unleash the full speed potential of your hard drive.
The eSATA port is more promising, but it is not widely used and is found only in expensive versions of motherboards, cases and laptops. The eSATA interface allows you to fully unleash the potential of SATA devices.
The material of manufacture can also be very different. In the simple case, it is plastic. In more expensive versions, an aluminum case with a leather case is included.
The cost of external cases also varies. The cheapest option will cost the user $ 3, the expensive versions will cost more than $ 100.
Buying a $ 100 hard drive case that costs less than $ 40 when it's new and half the price once it's started is wasteful, to say the least. Therefore, for testing, we were provided with a case worth a symbolic $ 3 - AgeStar SUB2P1. Completion and external examination of AgeStar SUB2P1.
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We didn’t expect any miracles from the $ 3 device, both in terms of equipment and in terms of performance. The device comes modestly packed in a bag. The front wall of the device is covered with a cardboard box listing the key characteristics of the device. This is support for 2.5-inch mobile hard drives or solid-state drives with a SATA interface, the presence of a USB 2.0 data transfer interface and various color options.
In fairness, it should be noted that our suppliers have confirmed that they have not seen anything other than the black color of this case.
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After opening the package, we were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the set contains an operating manual completely in Russian.
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The case is completely made of plastic. On the front wall there are paper stickers indicating the model, which in any case will be erased, therefore we recommend that they be removed from the surface of the device immediately.
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The case is made of soft black plastic, which does not smell, it is homogeneous throughout its structure.
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The device covers open in two different directions, which provides easy removal and installation of the hard drive in an external case.
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The two sides of the outer case are fixed with a plastic latch made of case material. Thanks to the recesses on the walls of the lid, they are securely fixed and pouring a glass of liquid, or leaving the device in the rain, will hardly lead to any problems.
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The device is designed for SATA hard drives, which we have repeatedly emphasized. Controllers with SATA ports for power and data transfer are soldered inside.
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A mini USB port for data transfer and power supply to the hard drive is soldered on the side wall. There is no additional port to provide power to the drive, which may cause some problems for users. With a weak power supply that lowers the voltage on the 5 volt line, you often have to face problems with starting the hard drive. As a rule, connecting the drive directly to the port on the motherboard, and not on the case of the system unit, using a high-quality USB cable allows you to forget about this problem.
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Sellers of computer components often, as an advantage of one or another external case, talk about the presence of a USB data cable in the kit or offer to purchase it separately if it is not available. We advise our users not to pay attention to this, since a mini-USB-USB cable is usually available in almost every family and is often supplied with mobile phones. In our case, we successfully used a stale data cable from a Nokia mobile phone.
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The next step is to install the hard drive in the case. This is done quite simply - by lightly pressing. The most important thing is to first correctly rotate the hard drive according to the SATA power and data ports located in the case.
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The absence of any protruding elements on the hard drive controller circuit allows you not to worry about its back surface during transportation and use of the device.
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Some users may argue that the plastic case does not provide adequate heat dissipation from the hard drive. Naturally, external cases made of aluminum are much more efficient in this task. At the same time, one should not forget that mobile hard drives do not have such a high power consumption to suffer from overheating, and in laptops, as a rule, they are not additionally cooled by anything.
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After the end of the assembly of the device, the stage of testing and using it begins. Applying voltage to the device is accompanied by the glow of a blue LED, which also symbolizes the user about the data transfer process. It should be noted that not everyone will start working with the created external drive smoothly. If the hard drive has already been used, formatted and partitions have been created on it, you will not have any problems getting started. It is defined as an ordinary USB flash drive using the Plug & Play method. But those users who have purchased a new hard drive without formatting and with no partitions will have a problem associated with the absence of a drive letter in the "My Computer" tab.
To do this, you need to create partitions on the hard drive and format it. This can be done through various boot disks, but it is better not to bother and do it in the Windows operating system itself.
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To do this, you need to go to the "Control Panel" through the "Start" section, then visit the "Administrative Tools" section. In this section, select "Computer Management", where in the "Disk Management" tab you can mark and format the newly connected external drive. After creating partitions, formatting them, you will have access to them through the "My Computer" tab and you will be able to exchange with the drive, as with a regular hard drive. Test configuration.
The assembled external drive was tested both on a desktop computer based on a modern Core i7 processor and an equally modern motherboard, and on an Acer Aspire 7730 laptop based on a Core 2 Duo processor. It should be noted that the level of performance on two different systems turned out to be comparable.
1. Data reading speed was tested in HD Tach 3.0.4.0 software
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It is pleasant to note that the external drive we assembled shows a much higher level of performance than the WD My Passport Essential external hard drive we tested earlier. The maximum data transfer rate was 34.3 Mb / s, and the average latency was about 17.9 ms.
2. Speed of data reading in HD Tune 4.5.
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In the second synthetic test, we got similar data to the previous ones, which also turned out to be slightly better than the official WD My Passport Essential external hard drive.
3. Speed of recording 64 MB files in HD Tune 4.5.
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Somewhat more valuable is testing closer to practice, by writing 64 MB files. In this test, we got quite expected results, which were also limited only by the capabilities of the USB 2.0 interface.
Separately, I would like to note that during the entire test the temperature of the hard drive did not exceed 35 degrees Celsius, while a similar hard drive installed in the laptop had a temperature of about 43 degrees. Therefore, worrying about the working conditions of the hard drive in this case on the part of users will be unnecessary.
4. Boot speed of the Windows 7 operating system.
During practical testing on the speed of loading an image of the Windows 7 operating system, we obtained results similar to those for other external drives with a USB 2.0 interface.
5. Evaluation of drive performance in Windows 7 environment.
We tested the performance of the external drive we assembled using the Windows 7 operating system. To do this, call the command in the command line: "winsat disk -drive g -ran -write -count 10", where "g" is the letter of the tested disk in the system.
The test results show that the drive we assembled received a much higher rating than the factory-built WD My Passport Essential solution. 
Conclusion.
Based on the materials of this article, it can be seen that any mobile hard drive can be turned into a good external drive without unnecessary hassle. Especially for testing, we asked for the cheapest external case, worth $ 3. Three dollars allows you to get an excellent external drive from a mobile hard drive, at least for data storage. Not to mention the fact that the same external case facilitates data recovery from the hard drive of "dead" laptops.
Despite the fact that many people criticize AgeStar products for their poor quality, for many years of using it, I have only a positive impression of it. First of all, it is for a democratic cost. Defects are found in all manufacturers, even though AgeStar has a slightly higher figure than Thermaltake. But the latter has no analogue to the presented external case for three dollars and with a 6-month warranty. We present AgeStar products with a gold medal of honor for the optimal performance / price ratio.
As if installing the OS is not something difficult, and my opinion is that it is enough to be friends with the computer and have two more hands in addition to the head - one right and the other left. To install the OS on your computer, you need or.
But what if there is neither one nor the other, the optical drive does not work, or you have a netbook? After a little reflection, I remembered that I have an external usb-pocket for HDD and I also have a free old HDD 2.5ʺ. In general, if you have a pocket hard drive, you can make it bootable accordingly.
For this purpose, there are utilities that can be used to do this, but I decided to use the standard Windows tools.
There are a lot of descriptions and videos on the network, but, unfortunately, there is one problematic point, which the authors for some reason omit. Well, okay, I'll start in order.
Preparing an external HDD
Before working with a disc, be sure to transfer and save the necessary information from this disc to another medium.
All settings will be carried out using standard Windows 8.1 tools. There may be some differences from Windows in previous releases, but if there are, they are not significant.
First of all, I want to note that making an external HDD bootable is much more convenient. I divided the disk into two partitions, one contains the Windows distribution, the other is for my needs.
1. We plug in the usb pocket and go to Disk management.
Attention! All data on the disk will be destroyed!
If you have Windows 8 installed on your PC, 1 right-click: Start / Disk Management;
If Windows is earlier versions, open the Computer Management console: Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Computer Management / Expand Storage Devices / Left-click Disk Management.
2. Choose an external HDD. Be extremely careful, if you mistakenly select another disk, all information will be destroyed.
In my case, this is Disk 1. As you can see in the screenshot, the disk is divided into two volumes (partitions):
3. Delete disk partitions:
4. Create new disk partitions. One for the distribution kit, the second will remain for your needs:
Right-click on a free disk space, in the context menu, select the command Create simple volume:
5. In the window that appears, the Simple Volume Creation Wizard, press the button Further:
Specify the volume size of 4404 megabytes and click Next. Please note that the size is indicated in megabytes. And since 1 gigabyte is equal to 1024 megabytes, then 1024 × 4.3 = 4403.2 megabytes we get for the distribution section (my weight is 4.18 GB, for example);
In this dialog, you need to format a new partition (FAT 32), press Further then Ready:
6. After that, you need to make the created section active (do not forget, because the computer will boot from this section), for this:
Right click with the mouse, in the context menu, select the command Make a section active.
To a confirmation request, we answer YES.
7. In the same order, we format the second partition on the disk, best of all in NTFS, but do not make it active.
Copying Windows to an active partition of an external HDD
Copying a Windows distribution to a bootable external HDD is pretty straightforward and easy.
From a bootable DVD:
Open the installation DVD in Explorer, select all folders and files, and copy to the active partition of the external HDD;
From ISO image:
Basically, an ISO image is a kind of archive. So you can open it with any archiver. You can also open an ISO image through Total Commander or Daemon Tools. Well, if you have Windows 8 or 8.1 installed on your PC, then open it with Explorer. Select all folders and files, and copy to the active partition of the external HDD;
That's it, your external HDD can act as bootable media. It is enough to reboot and set the USB HDD as the boot priority in the BIOS (depending on BIOS type).
- When you turn on the laptop, press F2, to ;
- Go to the tab Boot;
- V Boot Priority order install USB HDD;
- We press F10, and then OK.
If it didn’t work, then check out the article.
Save your changes and proceed with.
As you can see from the text, preparing an external HDD for installing Windows is quite simple. And my description will not be complete if I do not talk about one problem, which for some reason is rarely written about on the net.
Making the hard disk partition active
When I divided the hard disk into two volumes, for a reason unknown to me, none of the disk partitions could be made active. This function was not available in the context menu.
The active partition is the partition from which the computer boots.
There are two ways to make a section active:
- Using the Computer Management console. We have already considered this method, but, unfortunately, for a number of reasons, the Make section active command is not available. The solution to this problem is also not difficult. Remember how to prepare a bootable USB flash drive from the Command Prompt.
- Using the Command Line, via the utility diskpart... The second method is a little more complicated, but more efficient. You just need to do all the operations carefully and slowly.
Setting the active partition using the command line
1. Connect an external USB HDD;
2. Click on Start / All programs / Accessories / Command line... Right-click and select Run as administrator.
3.
In the window that opens, write the command diskpart and press the button Enter... A prompt will appear for working with the utility - DISKPART>;
4.
Enter the command list disk and press the button Enter... You will see all disks installed on your computer;
5.
We select the disk with which we will work. To do this, enter the command select disk 0, where "0" is the disk number in the list, ie. for my external drive there will be a command select disk 1... Click the button Enter, the message Selected disk 1 appears;
7.
We select the section with which we will work. Enter the command select partition 1, where 1 is the number of the section in the list, i.e. for the section that we make active. Click on Enter, the message appears Section 1 selected.
8.
We mark the selected section as active, for this enter the command active... Click the button Enter, the message appears DiskPart: partition marked as active.
That's all. Good luck.
When there is not enough free space on your hard drive, and you cannot free it, you have to consider various options to increase the space for storing new files and data. One of the easiest and most affordable ways is to use a flash drive as a hard drive. Many medium-sized flash drives are available, so they can be freely used as an additional drive connected to a computer or laptop via USB.
An ordinary flash drive is perceived by the system as an external portable device. But you can easily turn it into a drive so that Windows can see another attached hard drive.
In the future, you can install an operating system on it (not necessarily Windows, you can choose among the "lighter" options, for example, based on Linux) and perform all the same actions that you do with a regular disk.
So, let's move on to the process of converting USB Flash into an external HDD.
In some cases, after completing all of the following steps (for both Windows bitness), you may need to reconnect the flash drive. First, safely remove the USB drive and then plug it back in so that the OS recognizes it as an HDD.
For Windows x64 (64-bit)
- Download and unzip the archive.
- Connect a USB flash drive and run "Device Manager"... To do this, just start typing the name of the utility in "Start".
Or by right-clicking on "Start" choose "Device Manager".
- In a branch "Disk devices" select the connected flash drive, double-click on it with the left mouse button - it will start "Properties".
- Switch to tab "Intelligence" and copy the property value "Equipment ID"... You do not need to copy everything, but to the line USBSTOR \ GenDisk... You can select lines by holding down Ctrl on the keyboard and clicking the left mouse button on the required lines.
An example is in the screenshot below.
- File F2Dx1.inf from the downloaded archive you need to open it with Notepad. To do this, right-click on it, select "To open with…".
Select Notepad.
- Go to the section:
You need to remove the first 4 lines from it (i.e. the lines before% attach_drv% = f2d_install, USBSTOR \ GenDisk).
- Paste the value that was copied from "Device Manager", instead of the deleted text.
- Before each inserted line add:
% attach_drv% = f2d_install,
It should look like the screenshot.
- Save the modified text document.
- Switch to "Device Manager", right-click on the flash drive select "Update drivers ...".
- Use the method "Search for drivers on this computer".
- Press "Overview" and specify the location of the edited file F2Dx1.inf.
- Confirm your intentions by clicking on the button "Continue installation".
- When the installation is complete, open Explorer, where flash will be displayed as "Local drive (X :)" (instead of X, there will be a letter assigned by the system).
For Windows x86 (32-bit)
After that, you can split the flash into partitions, install an operating system on it and boot from it, as well as do other actions, as with a regular hard drive.
Please note that this will only work with the system on which you have completed all of the above steps. This is due to the fact that the driver responsible for recognizing the connected drive has been replaced.
If you want to run the USB flash drive as an HDD on other PCs, then you need to have the edited driver file with you, and then install it through the "Device Manager" in the same way as indicated in the article.
Have you bought a new, fast solid state drive (SSD) while your old one is lying around? Give it a new task and use it as an external data storage device. To do this, you only need a case with a SATA controller; it is available for both 2.5 "and 3.5" models. For the latter, a power supply is required, while compact drives have enough power supply through the USB port.
Labor intensity: average, costs: 600 rubles.
Mini-NAS on a router
Do you need access to the same data across your entire home network? You don't need expensive and bulky network attached storage (NAS) to do this - a USB storage device can do this task if it's connected to your router. Newer devices are equipped with a corresponding port.
First, you need to format the Windows USB drive in the NTFS file system and then simply connect it to the router. In this case, the latter must have a USB port and it must support the corresponding functionality. Now, by typing the address 192.168.1.1 (or similar) in the address bar of the browser, you will be taken to the user interface of the router.
Go to the USB Settings | Sharing a storage device "(for TP-Link routers, for other devices, the menu item names may be different) and make sure the disk starts up.
To access data on your home network, it will be enough to type an address like "\\ 192.168.1.1 \ Volume1" in Windows Explorer. A persistent connection is achieved by right-clicking on the folder to which you plan to allow access and selecting "Map network drive".
Labor intensity: low, costs: no
USB flash drive instead of password
There is also a practical use for a small USB stick. For example, when you log into Windows, you can unlock your computer without entering a password. To do this, you need the Rohos Logon Key tool (1450 rubles), Predator (650 rubles) or free USBLogon (http://www.rohos.ru/products/rohos-logon-free/).
After installation, you need to select the connected USB storage device and configure the security settings. After entering the Windows password, the flash drive is ready for use. Unfortunately, working with USBLogon is complicated by the German-language interface, but even without knowledge of German it is easy to deal with it.
Labor intensity: average, costs: no
Emergency flash drive
If your computer no longer works the way it should, a bootable USB stick comes to the rescue. The Sardu Tool (http://www.sarducd.it/) installs up to 20 different antivirus programs on the drive, and also provides various versions of Linux and other "first aid" software.
> Training: in the left sidebar, the selected software is listed by category. Check the boxes for the required programs. We recommend choosing multiple antivirus and Linux version (e.g. Ubuntu).
> USB flash drive creation: on the right side panel, click on the USB drive symbol. You can start creating a bootable USB stick.
> Emergency use: to use a bootable flash drive in the event of an "accident", you must change the boot sequence from the drives in BIOS Setup.
In this case, you should set the priority of booting from USB in relation to HDD. Then select the required program from the list. Remember to undo your BIOS changes after you "repair" your computer.
Photo: manufacturing companies, racum / Flickr.com
