Ask A Geek

Q: Is a USB hard drive a safe and secure way to store photos?

A: USB hard drives are not safe or secure by themselves. The reason USB external hard drives are not safe is because the hard drive can become corrupted causing you to lose your data. This is true for almost any media though so you always want to make sure you have your data  in at least two locations at all times. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: To save space and memory on my computer, I would like to use a USB removable disk to store photos. Is this a secure way to store photos and what memory capacity should the USB have?

Q: How can I make my external hard drive work after I mistakenly removed it whilst transferring files?

Q: I have just replaced an HP with an Emachine. I have my old hard drive in a external drive but I can not access any files. The external drive is labeled as HP recovery, but when I go into it no files are pulled up? How come I cannot access the files?

Q: My hard drive has crashed. Should I replace it or can I just hook up an external drive and continue using the PC?

Q: My FreeGate external hard drive was plugged into my computer. I ejected it but the icon never left my screen. I tried clicking on it but there was nothing so I figured that it was just disconnected as I had asked it to do. But when I took the cord out it said that I had not disconnected it properly erand that some data could have been lost. Now, my computer doesn’t recognize my hard drive anymore. What can I do to fix this?

Q: I am having problems with my USB ports. They turn on and off when a device is connected. They won’t work with my Garmin GPS, cell phone, satellite meters or portable hard drive. I bought my computer as a refurbished from tech for less last year, there is no start up disk to make it fresh again. I have a Gateway GT4024 with XP Media Center Edition 2005. I tried to roll back drivers, look for updates, driver robot, power management and system restore. The problem started when I had my portable USB drive plugged in for one week it was unplugged everyday by mistake. When I bought five new USB cords for the house it stayed plugged in and worked for two days . Now my USB ports constantly turn my devices on and off.

Q: I have an external hard drive that spins up correctly when the power cable is plugged in but once it is connected via USB to a computer it shuts off. What can I do to fix this?

A: It sounds like there is a short in the USB connection of the external hard drive. The first thing you should do is try a different USB cable. If this does not work then you should try to connect the external hard drive to a different computer. If this fails as well then you will want to figure out if your external hard drive is under warranty. If it is you will probably want to contact the maker of the drive but specifically ask them if there is a way for you to get the data off it if you send it back. Some might be able to do this while some might not. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: Okay so my external hard drive has stopped working. When I plug in the power cable in it just automatically starts. Then when I put the USB cable in it just turns it self off. What can I do to fix this and get my movies back?

Q: I have a buddy that has a huge library of MP3’s on a WD hardrive. Is there a way that I can transfer his data to my external hard drive?