The external hard drive is a storage device that can be moved.
An external hard drive is a storage device that operates outside of your computer for easy transportation. That's why it is also called a portable hard drive .
Hard drives (known in some countries as rigid drives ) are computer elements that allow data to be stored that computers ( computers ) use during their operation. It is an element equipped with at least one disk that is joined to others from the same structure or axis where there are, among other pieces, reading and writing heads.
Most hard drives are internal (that is, they are located inside the structure or frame of the computer), which makes them difficult to remove and move. The external hard drive usually connects to the computer via USB or Firewire , although there are some that maintain the SCSI or SATA connections of internal hard drives.
Feature of an external hard drive
It is interesting to mention that there are small external hard drives with little storage capacity (about 2 GB) known as microdisks , while others are traditional hard drives with a casing that allows them to be adapted to external use and can store hundreds of GB.
USB flash drives , CD-Rs and CD-RWs provide competition for external hard drives, as they also allow the storage of digital files and the exchange of information. The advantage for external hard drives is their greater capacity and the possibility of taking advantage, depending on the model, of some added functions , such as recording videos directly from a television or a MiniDV camera.
When the external hard drive can be connected to the TV to view its multimedia content, it is called a multimedia hard drive . This device has a connection with audio and video input and output cables.
External hard drives can accept different types of connections.
Its relationship with piracy
One of the applications of external hard drives whose popularity has grown exponentially in recent years is their connection with current generation video game consoles ( Nintendo Wii , Xbox 360 and Playstation ) to expand their internal storage capacity, allowing Save countless titles in digital format. With the importance that game downloads are acquiring, as opposed to the traditional way of purchasing them, these peripherals have undoubtedly become the best friends of many players who do not want to keep stacks of boxes in their closets.
However, like any technological advance, there is always a door that gives access to hackers so that they can modify the rules to their liking and opinion, turning what at first was a proposal to enter a new era, into a more to carry out crime. In other words, external hard drives contribute immensely to the proliferation of piracy , since it is much easier for a person to download dozens of titles and store them on a peripheral that can be rewritten millions of times than to make a copy of each game on a computer. a DVD or, in the case of Sony and Microsoft consoles, several of them or on Blu-ray.
The crisis threatens all market sectors, and graphics engines evolve and the possibility of creating games with impressive realism is presented, which will inevitably be reflected in an increase in their prices. However, with such a high percentage of piracy, it is riskier than ever to embark on the development of a high-budget title. Various options to prevent illegal copies have been launched in recent years and companies continue to develop new strategies; But barriers are bait for hackers, who will always find a way to break through them.