External hard drives
I'm looking into getting a 300 or 400 GB external drive, and I was wondering if they're meant to be used only as a portable drive (like the 40GB drive I currently use) or can they be left continuously hooked up to the computer? What I envision is having a place for a lot of the files I need quick access to but don't want cluttering the main drive on the computer, as well as having a safe place for files without having to constantly be burning discs for fear of yet another DVD burner failure.
For example, I'd like to move my music files all to iTunes and take advantage of the large amount of space on the external drive I'm planning to get.
You can do it either way -
You can do it either way - I've left drives connected and I've had drives where I plug them in just to use them, then unplug afterwards.
The only issue I can see is when your machine disconnects the drive for whatever reason - a shutdown, crash, etc - and the computer complains "A Connected Device was not removed properly..." or words to that effect.
So, as long as you have a backup of that connected drive too, you shouldn't have any serious concerns.
--
Shawn King
Host/Executive Producer
Your Mac Life
http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com
DROBO much?
Try looking into a DROBO. Multi drive enclosure, firewire 800/ USB 2.0, hot swappable drives up to 16 Terabytes. You can mix and match your drives too if you want or order from the factory with drives already installed. Your choice. They range from $499 with no drives and $1099 with 4TB drives installed. Hope this helps.