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Advantages of External Hard Drive

More Information About the Advantages of External Hard Drives

An external hard drive has become indispensable because there are potential security threats to our computers like virus due to Internet access even after employing anti-virus programs and firewalls.

Apart from this, inadvertent corruption of sensitive documents and additional space required for multimedia storage are some of the problems and one single solution to all such problems is the external hard drive.

The external hard drive is enclosed in an enclosure outside the main computer and is slightly larger than the hard drive itself and sometimes has a cooling fan. The external hard drive is connected to the computer through a high-speed interface cable, which enables the external hard drive to communicate with the computer by means of interfaces like USB and Fire Wire.

An external hard drive is a very constructive piece of equipment in the sense that it allows the user to back up or store important information detached from the main internal hard drive, which could be affected by on-line or off-line activities. An external hard drive can hold sensitive documents, DVD images, disc images, large music files, movies and also a back up of the contents of the main internal hard drive safely and securely. When on line, external hard drive can even be left turned off.

An external hard drive has another advantage it is portable and operates on plug and play basis. The external hard drive can be used as a storage device for any computer with a USB or Fire Wire capability.

Hard drives are available in two basic formats: SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) and IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). IDE drives use a 40-pin connection and are cheaper and SATA hard drives are faster and transfer data at six times the speed of IDE external hard drive.

An external hard drive is basically composed of the Platters, the Spindles and Spindle Motor, the Read/Write Head and the Head Actuator.

The Platters are the actual discs inside the external drive that store the magnetized data. Platters made of glass or ceramic are used because they are thinner and are more heat resistant. Generally, the external hard drives have at least two platters and the larger the storage capacity of the hard drive the more the platters. The Spindle Motor is built right into the Spindle and spins the Platter at a constant set rate ranging from 3600 to 7200 rpm. The Read/Write Head reads and writes the data to the Platter. There is necessarily one head per platter side and each head is attached to a single actuator shaft. Only one of the heads is active at a time reading or writing the data. All the heads are attached to a single head actuator, which moves the head around the Platters. The platters spindle, spindle motor, head actuator and the read or write head are all contained in a chamber called the Hard Disc Assembly (HDA)

We can even buy several hard drives and barter them in and out of the same enclosures, using one for work, one for back up, and one for multi media and song and so on and thus there are boundless reasons to use an external hard drive.

Lesley Lyon



Suggested Reading:
The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists +DVD [AUDIOBOOK]
by Christian Bloch
The HDRI Handbook: High Dynamic Range Imaging for Photographers and CG Artists +DVD [AUDIOBOOK]HDRI emerged from the movie industry, and was once Hollywood's best kept secret. It is now a mature technology available to everyone. The only problem was that it was poorly documented until now. The HDRI Handbook is the manual that was missing.

Rocky Nook (November 2, 2007)
Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher's Review:

The HDRI Handbook reveals the secrets behind High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI). This cutting-edge imaging technology is a method to digitally capture and edit all light in a scene. It represents a quantum leap in imaging technology, as revolutionary as the leap from Black & White to Color imaging. If you are serious about photography, you will find that HDRI is the final step that places digital ahead of analog. The old problem of over- and underexposure in analog photography, which was never fully solved, is elegantly bypassed here. A huge variety of subjects can now be photographed for the first time ever.

Many questions remain open even for the computer graphics gurus that have been using HDRI for years. This is where The HDRI Handbook comes in. Included here is everything you need to build a comprehensive knowledge base that will enable you to become really creative with HDRI. This book is packed with practical hints and tips, software evaluations, workshops, and hands-on tutorials. Whether you are a photographer, 3D artist, compositor, or cinematographer, this book is sure to enlighten you.

Topics include:
  • Understanding the foundation of HDRI
  • Tools for a High Dynamic Range Workflow
  • How to capture HDR images: now and tomorrow
  • Tone mapping for creating superior prints
  • Image processing and compositing
  • All 4 ways to shoot panoramic HDRIs
  • Image based lighting and CG rendering
  • World premiere of the Smart Dynamic Range toolkit
  • Creative uses and unconventional applications
About the Author:

Christian Bloch is a highly acclaimed Visual Effects Artists who has been working professionally in the field for years. He speaks the language of an artist, and he understands that a hands-on tutorial is a thousand times more valuable to the learning of HDRI than scientific formulas.

A native of Germany, he works and lives in Hollywood, California. His work can be seen in StarTrek:Enterprise, Smallville, Invasion, and a growing number of movies. He has been a pioneer in the practical application of HDRI in post-production, especially on a TV budget. Years of research and development went into his diploma thesis about HDRI, which was honored with an achievement award. Since that thesis was put online in July 2004, it has been downloaded more than 10,000 times, and has been established as the primary German source of information on HDRI. The HDRI Handbook is the successor of Bloch's diploma thesis, rewritten completely from the ground up in English, and heavily expanded and updated.

©2004 - 2010




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