External hard dirve compatible with windows 7

[LaTrucha]

Are there any? We don't have windows 7, but as it's a fair whack of money, we don't want to buy a hard drive that's going to be obsolete very quickly (I dream, I know).

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Any external hard drive will be compatible with Windows 7, and any future version of Windows.

It is important to ensure that it is compatible with your computer hardware though. There are 3 main ways of connecting an external hard drive:

USB2
Firewire
eSATA

For best performance, if your computer has Firewire (or even better eSATA), get the appropriate drive. But for maximum compatibility, get one which has USB2 as well.

If your computer does not even have a USB2 port you don't need a new hard drive, you need a new computer.

Thanks MrAnchovy. I do have a USB, though the computer is limping towards obselesence.

If it is very old you might want to check that it has USB 2 - google came up with this way to check. USB 2 is 40 times faster than the original USB standard which is too slow for a hard disk.

For a fiver (or so) it is possible to get a USB 2.0 card (PCI card that slots into the PC) to provide a suitable connection.

A number of USB v2 devices (eg external drives) that I have tried are not compatible with v1.1 which was common with machines from late 90s onward, until the last 3-4 years.

I took a quick look on Amazon and found "NISIS 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card" for under 8 quid including delivery - seach for "USB 2.0 PCI" and you may find cheaper options.

You might equally spend a tenner or so on a USB stick and unless you're using Windows 95 or Win 98, you should be able to copy files onto that.

Seems like the money might be better spent on a new PC, and most come with 160 GB or larger drives these days, so an external might be something to buy closer to Easter!

Thanks for that link to check. We do have USB2, so we're going ahead with this. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for that link. It seems a pretty good price for an external drive, given amount of storage (and that JL is not always the cheapest of places, at least for items I have looked for).