Which external hard drive?

Samsonite1

John_Gray wrote: »

The only real difference between the USB 2.0 sockets at the front of a computer system unit and the back is their physical location. 'Stuff' plugged into the front is more likely to be knocked by errant feet, vacuum cleaners, inquisitive children, and so on.

In practice ALL USB 2.0 sockets provide exactly the same voltage and other characteristics.

I do not wish to argue, but USB front ports are not even part of the computer as such, they are just sockets on the case - you can change the innards (motherboard) and you have to manually connect them to USB headers. More importantly these are two useful facts about front USB ports (actually any USB port that is part of the case rather than the motherboard, e.g. top ports also):

- USB 2.0 front ports will not work with USB 3.0 headers, but a large amount of motherboards have USB 2.0 headers for this reason (otherwise many people would not be able to use the ports at all).

- USB 3.0 front ports will work on either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 headers.

You can Google this information if you want to do your own research.

I can pretty much guarantee that based on the OP's computer being at least 5 years old that the front USB ports are USB 2 and so are the headers on the motherboard - so that is ok. Not sure if the back ones are USB 3 as it was available 5 years ago, so a possibility.

The important thing would be that if you have USB 3 on the back, you really do want to use that for external hard disks because it is so much faster than USB 2.

enfield_freddy

- USB 3.0 front ports will work on either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 headers.?




are the plug running from the case the same? no , usb2 will be two sets of pins , and usb 3 will be one x much larger pin block on the motherboard

Samsonite1

enfield_freddy wrote: »

- USB 3.0 front ports will work on either USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 headers.?




are the plug running from the case the same? no , usb2 will be two sets of pins , and usb 3 will be one x much larger pin block on the motherboard

You can wire it up actually, but the main point I was making is that front USB 2.0 ports are not the same as USB 3 ports in any way. A point which you have confirmed - thank you.

You just need one of these to wire up a USB 2 front port to a USB 3 header:
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/12-162-025-TS?$S300W$

Cycrow

Samsonite1 wrote: »

I do not wish to argue, but USB front ports are not even part of the computer as such, they are just sockets on the case - you can change the innards (motherboard) and you have to manually connect them to USB headers.

It doesn't matter if the ports are connected directly to the motherboard, or plugged in via headers, they are functionally the same.

The ones on the motherboard are connected in the same way, but they may not a physical cable

Samsonite1

Cycrow wrote: »

It doesn't matter if the ports are connected directly to the motherboard, or plugged in via headers, they are functionally the same.

The ones on the motherboard are connected in the same way, but they may not a physical cable

The ports themselves are not functionally the same! USB 2 ports do not have enough pins/wires needed for USB 3. I strongly suggest reading up on the differences between USB 3 and USB 2 internals - I can probably dig some information out if you cannot find it, but this information is out there to read. I actually found out by trying it myself when I last built a computer. USB 3 has 19 pins to USB 2's 9 pins, you need a USB 3 port to plug into USB 3 motherboard connections.

Cycrow

Samsonite1 wrote: »

The ports themselves are not functionally the same! USB 2 ports do not have enough pins/wires needed for USB 3. I strongly suggest reading up on the differences between USB 3 and USB 2 internals - I can probably dig some information out if you cannot find it, but this information is out there to read. I actually found out by trying it myself when I last built a computer. USB 3 has 19 pins to USB 2's 9 pins, you need a USB 3 port to plug into USB 3 motherboard connections.

perhaps you need to re-read my post, no where did i mention that usb2 and usb3 are the same.

i said that it doesn't matter if the ports are on the back of the motherboard, or the front of the case, they are functionally the same

Samsonite1

Cycrow wrote: »

perhaps you need to re-read my post, no where did i mention that usb2 and usb3 are the same.

i said that it doesn't matter if the ports are on the back of the motherboard, or the front of the case, they are functionally the same

It DOES matter if the ports are on the back of the motherboard or the front of the case, they are NOT functionally the same. It is common for front USB ports to be USB 2, but rear motherboard USB ports to be USB 3. The computer I am on right now has this - the front are USB 2 and the back are USB 3. The only reason my front ports work is because there are USB 2 headers on the motherboard to connect them to. This is very common.

You have to remember that motherboards are not designed for a specific case. Cases usually have some USB 2 ports in to widen their market, knowing that motherboards will probably have USB 3 on the rear.

Cycrow

Samsonite1 wrote: »

It DOES matter if the ports are on the back of the motherboard or the front of the case, they are NOT functionally the same. It is common for front USB ports to be USB 2, but rear motherboard USB ports to be USB 3. The computer I am on right now has this - the front are USB 2 and the back are USB 3. The only reason my front ports work is because there are USB 2 headers on the motherboard to connect them to. This is very common.

You have to remember that motherboards are not designed for a specific case. Cases usually have some USB 2 ports in to widen their market, knowing that motherboards will probably have USB 3 on the rear.

If the ports on the back are usb2 and the ones on the front are usb2, they are the same
if the ports on the back are usb3 and the ports on the front are usb3, they are the same.

a usb2 port is a usb2 port, regardless if its directly on the motherboard, or connected via the header

a usb3 port is a usb3 port, regardless if its directly on the motherboard, or connected via the header.

of course if you are comparing different ports, then they will be different.

and many motherboards have both usb2 and usb3 ports on the back, as well as both usb2 and usb3 headers

Samsonite1

That is correct - that is saying what I have been saying - different ports on the back and the front meaning that it does matter where you plug an external drive in.

Anyway, for the OP - they need to confirm which ports they have on the back (e.g. are they blue or are there any blue ones). That will then confirm whether it matters for the OP, if they plug their new USB 3 back-up drive in the front or the back of the computer.

Obviously, they should purchase a USB 3 drive in any case so that it has the potential to run faster. If I did not have USB 3 on the back, I would buy a little USB 3 card to get that extra speed.

Double_V

WD USB3 are very good drives.

How many ports do you have at front ?
If there are 4, then 2 will be USB2.0 and 2 USB3.0.

Also how old is your PC.