So, you’ll need to think about how you plan on using your drive. Not all external hard drives are designed to leave your home, while others are intentionally made to be slim, lightweight and even weather-resistant, On Mac, the name is “Time Machine.” Both have the same result: you backup your operating system, files, photos and videos directly onto the drive for safe keeping, then you can restore the full system at a future date. For Windows machines this is known as “system image” and the process is found under the Backup and Restore settings. BackupsĪn external hard drive can also be used to back up your entire PC or Mac. Top tip: check the collective size of the items you need to store to get an idea of how much storage you need, but always add a bit more so you’ll have more space for the future. Roughly, 1TB holds about 250 movies in HD quality or 250,000 12MP photos. However, that won’t be the case if you’re using it to save a backup of thousands of your family photos and videos, plus a couple of PlayStation 5 games – for that you’ll need terabytes (TB) of space (the latest Call of Duty is at least 150GB alone). How much stuff do you need to store? If you’re just transferring a couple of photos and files between laptops, an affordable 128 gigabyte (GB) USB drive like the SanDisk Ultra Flair is more than enough. If the device is powered by USB, or another interface, test with a different cable, a different port, or on another computer as it might mean the interface cable is faulty. For other kinds of beeps and their meanings, check the specific drive model’s User Guide.What type of external drive is best for you? Here’s what you need to think about before buying one for your storage – including portability, durability and transfer speeds. If it has its own power supply, test with another supply which is compatible. In most cases, a single intermittent beep means the drive isn’t getting enough power. Another hint is that the drive no longer spins up (doesn’t whir or vibrate), and some models will also emit an intermittent but regular beep.Įxternal Hard drives will only beep if they’re experiencing an issue. If the humming is pronounced, or you can hear occasional crackles coming from it, it’s possible the power supply is no longer supplying enough power to the drive. If an external HDD has its own power supply, as mentioned earlier, it’s normal to hear a slight humming coming from it. When possible, compare to other drives known to be healthy. But if a hard clicking persists or is accompanied by any kind of repeating clunking (or grinding) sound, then there is likely a physical issue with the drive. Mentioned above, a solitary hard clicking sound can mean the heads are getting parked. A healthy drive emits mild and regular sounds of whirring. Compare multiple drives when possible to establish a normal vibration baseline. Listen for irregularities in the vibrations as well. While all spinning drives will cause a modicum of vibration, a faulty drive can experience exaggerated and abnormal vibrations. When HDDs spin, they create vibrations and vibrations from an HDD sitting on a desk may cause other objects on the desk, or even the desk itself, to emit a sound. These can also produce sounds which can be more noticeable in warmer environments where the fan will kick in sooner and more often – this sounds like the HDD whirring mentioned above. Some external drive enclosures have internal fans, especially devices with multiple hard drives. The HDD’s heads, which read and write the data, are constantly making rapid movements as well – this usually sounds like an occasional soft click during use but can sound like a hard click when the heads get parked, for example during shutdown or when entering sleep mode. While an HDD is reading or writing data, the disk’s platters are spinning rapidly – this typically emits a whirring sound and can be more pronounced when an HDD is winding up or down. Even if not actively being accessed by a user, hard drives are often used by the computer in the background, for example, during automatic indexing.
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