Can you use multiple external hard drives on a single device (e.g., 2 1 TB Seagates on a Macbook Pro)?
Most certainly. Most likely you will be using USB, and USB is designed to handle up to 255 devices per controller if memory serves me correctly. USB2 has a theoretical bus speed of 480 mbps; no single device is going to use all of that bandwidth, and even several devices won't saturate the bus. Keep in mind that USB is highly CPU-dependent, so your computer may slow down a tad when performing large file transfers. My primary computer is a 2009 Mac mini, which is essentially the guts of a notebook in a desktop case. I've run as many as 15 drives connected to this little machine at one time, and could certainly have added more. On my MacBook Pro I've only connected about four or five drives at once, but adding a few more would not be a problem. USB works, but there are faster ports to use if speed is critical. I've got an eSATA card installed in my MacBook Pro for times when speed is the utmost concern. On the mini I've removed the optical drive and have added another hard drive to the secondary SATA port. Another concern with USB is the quality of the bridge board; the bridge board is the component that goes between the hard drive and the USB port on your computer. Lower quality ones may have speed and stability issues which can lead to low performance and possible data corruption/loss. Using eSATA or SATA ports directly improved reliability by eliminating this bridge. Another thing to keep in mind with USB is the power that the drives require. If the are powered by the bus alone, you may require a powered hub in order to get multiple drives to work. If the drive has an external power supply, as would be required by anything with a 3.5" drive, this won't be an issue. Conventional drives with a spinning platter will require considerably more power than an SSD (solid state drive), yet another variable in this equation. FireWire was a great interface back in the day, and one I used frequently, but it has been supplanted by Thunderbolt, a newer interface which has plenty of bandwidth, speed and reliability. If your computer supports it and you can find and afford Thunderbolt peripherals they will provide you with high performance and solid reliability. TL;DR - yes, running multiple external drives on a MacBook Pro is certainly possible and can be done a number of ways, with USB being the most common method. Pay attention to power requirements for optimal results.
Can you use external archive hard drives as NAS storage?
You can install expensive, mission-critical drives in your NAS box, but they may not be cost-effective for your SMB. And a large capacity, low-power profile 8 TB archive HDD isn't optimised for NAS, leaving you disappointed with data access time. ... That's where NAS-optimised HDDs come in. Choosing the right hard disk drive (HDD) can make a huge difference when building a reliable NAS solution. Like hammers, wrenches and drill bits in toolboxes, hard drives are designed for specific jobs.You can build multi-chassis NAS with a low-cost desktop drive, but performance and user access will decrease over time. You can install expensive mission-critical drives in the NAS box, but these drives may not be cost effective for your SMB. The high-capacity, low-power 8 TB archived hard drive is not optimized for NAS, giving you a disappointment with data access time.
What is an external hard disk?
An external hard disk is an external storage medium for computer systems:The main benefit / primary reason for using an external hard drive / hard disk is:PortabilityEasy to use / plug and play (USB)Extra storage space for computers with low amount of storage.There are other types of storage devices that computers use. Internally a computer will have an internal hard drive that looks like this:These are not intended to be portable and are meant to be installed internally inside a computer.There are two flavors that a external/internal hard drive can come in:Solid State DriveHard Disk DriveA Solid State Drive (SSD) is the latest technology for storage and is the fastest. They are the most expensive type of drive on the market. These can come in external form as well as internal. All data is stored electronically inside a SSD. More information on how these drives work can be found here:How Do SSDs Work? - ExtremeTechA Hard Disk Drive (HDD) has been around for a long time and is still widely used. These types of drives are cheaper but do not perform as fast as the (SSD). All data is stored mechanically on platinum platters (much like a stack of DVD disks but metal). Hard Disk Drives are prone to mechanical failure because they use moving parts. More information on how these drives work can be found here:How does a hard drive work?
Internal hard drive vs external?
For pure storage, external is probably the way to go. It'll be just as durable as an internal (I've had an external drive since 2007 and it still works like a charm, even though a dozen moves), and it's easier to connect and disconnect when you decide to back something else onto it. The primary advantage an internal drive has over external is the data transfer rate, but this is kind of pointless since you're just transferring files at one time. Even if you're going to use it for movies and TV Shows, regular ole USB is fine for that. Now if you're going to be accessing it all the time, you might want internal, just so you don't have to deal with the extra cables on the outside. That's more of an aesthetic thing, though.
What is the difference between a pen drive and a hard disk?
Hard disk - It has mechanical rotating parts (a disk actually) which spins inside it when in use.Pen drive - It has a flash memory (built into a chip) and doesn’t have a rotating part.Pros of Hard Disk:It can store more data for a less amount of money (lower in cost).It is the main-stream memory of current gen laptopsIt can be easily partitioned according to your need(suitable for dual booting).Pros of Pen Drives:Sometimes faster than Hard Disks.Mobility - You can carry your data in a very small chunk.Lighter than Hard disk, survives occasional fallsCons of Hard Disk:May break the disk inside if fallen from a height.Might stop working if too much pressure applied.Corruption of data may occur if not maintained properly.Cons of Pen Drive:Hardware failure = loss of data.Might short circuit your usb drive.
Can I transfer a game from PS4 to another using hard drive?
Yes, but…. (and there’s always a but)…Digital PurchasesIf you’re asking about a digital game that you bought on the PlayStation Store, then you’ll need a license to run the software. The license database is stored with your PlayStation network ID when logged into your home PS4. This means that while you can copy the games to an external HD and while you can connect that drive to another PS4, the game won’t run unless the logged in account has a license to run it.If you log in with your PSN account on another PS4 and you run Restore Licenses from settings, the game on the external HD should run just fine on any PS4. If you are at a friend’s house and logged in with their PSN ID and they haven’t purchased this game digitally, then the game won’t run because they won’t have a license.Instead, you’ll need to log into their console with your PSN ID to authorize play of that game on that console. You’ll also need to remember to log out of that console before you leave it. Otherwise, anyone with access to that other console could do things with and to your account.Physical Game DiscsWhile you can also copy these over to an external hard drive, you’ll need to insert the physical media to play the game. The physical media is the license. This means you need to have the game disc with you. The only benefit to copying over a game-disc-installed game is some time saved not copying the game to the other PS4’s hard drive or downloading potentially large patches. This can be worth it for games with 40GB sized patches.In reality, with physical media, you can insert the media and let it install, then update it on any PS4 console. It’s not really necessary to copy the HD installed game over as long as you have the game disc in hand. Physical game disc games don’t rely on the license database to function. Only digitally purchased games use licenses to verify ownership of the game… and those licenses are tied to a specific PlayStation network ID.