do you have to install drivers before using a usb external hard drive?

Question

or can you use it just as you would a usb memory stick (but a massive version)
as in just connect it up through usb and use as normal?

or is this a very bad idea!!!

do i need to connect it before i put my pc on and turn my comuter off before i remove it?

this is harder than i thought!

i was not asked to install drivers when iconnected it, and ths disk that i got with it does not want to run for some reason

Answer 1

98 you need to install drivers first. XP just plug it in. You will need to format the drive before use using the windows tools. ALWAYS use the remove hardware option before unplugging.
NOTE if the drive has a weird system like linux on it windows just might refuse to see it and you would have to format it in another machine as an internal drive

Answer 2

They are designed to be connected & disconnected at random.

When you plug it in for the first time you may be asked for drivers. Insert the CD which came with the drive, install the drivers and it will work forever without using the CD again.

If you wish to use it as a portable drive (for work or friends for example) then carry the CD around with the drive for a while until all relevant PC's have drivers installed.

Answer 3

If you are using Windows XP or Vista, both systems have native drivers for external USB hard drives. Windows 98 requires a driver, usually supplied with the external drive.

Answer 4

You can't really use it as a giant flash drive but generally you don't need to install drivers either. Plug it in before you start the computer and unplug it only after the computer is shut down.

Answer 5

i have a freecom 80gb external hard drive which i keep connected to my p.c
when you first attach it and boot up,windows xp/vista will recognize it as a new peice of hardware,as it does with all new hardware attached to your p.c,and will automatically search for drivers which xp/vista will load and then return a message "your hardware is installed and ready for use"
the external hard drive is now configured to your p.c and will run as normal every time you boot up your p.c,you can also name your external drive in the same way as you name a folder,just right click and click rename and then call it "external drive 1"or something similar
if you need to transfer folders or files from the external drive then as your external hard drive is "hot swappable"you can simply go to the "safely remove icon"in your taskbar and click it once and then click the drives name to safely remove it,once you get the notification that its safe to remove,then unplug it
then when you attach it to another p.c it will go through the same process as it did with your p.c the first time
note:if your using windows vista and your external drive is empty and formatted you can use the hard drive with vista,s "speedboost" function
so if you have a 100gb external drive and the right click the drives icon in vista,then click properties and then speedboost tab,and then enable speedboost,you can in theory have a extra 100gb of virtual memory(awesome)
good luck