Is it worth getting an external hard drive with USB 1.0 ports?

isofa

That's a pity, have you tried the notebook card manufacturers website for updated drivers? I have a 5 and a half year old Dell Latitude with one I, works perfectly.

I suggest you try and return it as it won't work with your laptop.

espresso

Assuming that she actually installed the expansion card, rather than just plugging it in?

Leopard

It's important to differentiate between a Cardbus device and the older version, called PCMCIA.

An older laptop may have a PCMCIA slot, not a Cardbus slot. They look the same (externally) but they aren't. A Cardbus device won't work in a PCMCIA slot.

(Both have now been superseded by the ExpressCard).

It's worth buying an expansion card (of the right type) if it will give you USB2: not only will you be able to transfer files 40 times faster to a hard drive, it will also enable you to use other USB2 devices as well - for example, media card readers (for your digital camera) and the data leads for your mobile 'phone, your SatNav and many other things.

The advantage of the Belkin USB Cardbus and PCMCIA expansion cards is that they come with an external mains power supply, which may be needed with some unpowered external devices. The cheap ones don't.

I used to use a Belkin Cardbus USB2 expansion card with an Apple G4 Powerbook and it worked a treat - but some devices did need it to use its mains power supply. Anyone who isn't getting results with a Belkin card should try connecting its power supply before doing anything else.

I also had a Sandisk media card reader and (before I had a mobile 'phone with Bluetooth) an Orange GSM card - both of which worked fine in the Cardbus slot.

Latterly, I put an 802.11g wireless networking card in it (mainly because its 802.11b Airport card was slowing down my wireless network at home).

Not to use the expansion slot in a laptop seems a waste of a useful and excellent facility - and it can extend the working life of the laptop as well.

I've got a (Belkin!) media card reader in the ExpressCard slot of my current travelling laptop at the moment but in a year or two I expect it will be used to add eSATA to it.