USB 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 ports all look alike; however, most USB 3.0 ports I’ve seen have a special color to differentiate them. Still, the best way to determine which type of USB ports a computer has is to refer to the documentation that comes with the computer. Newer monitors have USB 2.0 ports to which you can connect devices as well. When you have USB devices connected to a monitor, the monitor acts like a USB hub device. As with any USB hub device, all devices attached to the hub share the same bandwidth, and the total available bandwidth is determined by the speed of the USB input to which the hub is connected on a computer.
FireWire (IEEE 1394) is a high-performance connection standard that uses a peerto-peer architecture in which peripherals negotiate bus conflicts to determine which device can best control a data transfer. Like USB, several versions of FireWire are currently used. FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a) has maximum sustained transfer rates of up to 400 Mbps. IEEE 1394b allows 400 Mbps (S400), 800 Mbps (S800), and 1600 Mbps (S1600). As with USB devices, if you connect an IEEE 1394b device to an IEEE 1394a port or vice versa, the device operates at the significantly reduced FireWire 400 transfer speed.
As with USB ports, the sustained transfer rate for IEEE 1394a and IEEE 1394b ports will be considerably less than the maximum rate possible. IEEE 1394a and IEEE 1394b ports and cables have different shapes, making it easier to tell the difference between them-if you know what you’re looking for. FireWire 400 cables without bus power have four pins and four connectors. FireWire 400 cables with bus power have six pins and six connectors. FireWire 800 and FireWire 1600 cables always have bus power and have nine pins and nine connectors.
Another option is external SATA (eSATA), which is available on newer computers and is an ultra-high-performance connection for data transfer to and from external mass storage devices. eSATA operates at speeds up to 6 Gbps. If your computer doesn’t come with eSATA ports, you can add support for eSATA devices by installing an eSATA controller card.
When you are purchasing an external device for a computer, you’ll also want to consider what interfaces it supports. In some cases, you might be able to get a device with more than one interface, such as one that supports USB 3.0 and eSATA. A device with multiple interfaces gives you more options.
Working with removable disks is similar to working with fixed disks. You can do the following:
■ Press and hold or right-click a removable disk, and then select Open or Explore to examine the disk’s contents in File Explorer.
■ Press and hold or right-click a removable disk, and then select Format to format a removable disk as discussed in “Formatting partitions” later in this chapter. Removable disks generally are formatted with a single partition.
■ Press and hold or right-click a removable disk, and then select Properties to view or set properties. On the General tab of the Properties dialog box, you can set the volume label as discussed in “Changing or deleting the volume label” in Chapter 2.
When you work with removable disks, you can customize disk and folder views. To do this, press and hold or right-click the disk or folder, select Properties, and then tap or click the Customize tab. You can then specify the default folder type to control the default details displayed. For example, you can set the default folder type as Documents or Pictures And Videos. You can also set folder pictures and folder icons.
Removable disks support network file and folder sharing. You configure sharing on removable disks in the same way you configure standard file sharing. You can assign share permissions, configure caching options for offline file use, and limit the number of simultaneous users. You can share an entire removable disk as well as individual folders stored on the removable disk. You can also create multiple share instances.
Removable disks differ from standard NTFS sharing in that they don’t necessarily have an underlying security architecture. With exFAT, FAT, or FAT32, folders and files stored on a removable disk do not have any security permissions or features other than the basic read-only or hidden attribute flags that you can set.
Installing and checking for a new drive
Hot swapping is a feature that allows you to remove internal devices without shutting off the computer. Typically, hot-swappable internal drives are installed and removed from the front of the computer. If your computer supports hot swapping of internal drives, you can install drives without having to shut down. After you have installed a new drive, open Disk Management, and then choose Rescan Disks from the Action menu. New disks that are found are added with the appropriate disk type. If a disk that you’ve added isn’t found, restart the computer.
If the computer doesn’t support hot swapping of internal drives, you must turn the computer off and then install the new drives. Then you can scan for new disks as described previously. If you are working with new disks that have not been initialized — meaning they don’t have disk signatures Disk Management will start the Initialize Disk dialog box as soon it starts up and detects the new disks.
You can initialize the disks by following these steps:
1. Each disk you install needs to be initialized. Select the disk or disks you installed.
2. Disks can use either the MBR or GPT partition style. Select the partition style you want to use for the disk or disks you are initializing.
3. Tap or click OK. If you elected to initialize disks, Windows writes a disk signature to the disks and initializes the disks with the basic disk type.
If you don’t want to use the Initialize Disk dialog box, you can close it and use Disk Management instead to view and work with the disk. In the Disk List view, the disk is marked with a red downward-pointing arrow icon, the disk’s type is listed as Unknown, and the disk’s status is listed as Not Initialized. Press and hold or right-click the disk’s icon and select Online. Press and hold or right-click the disk’s icon again, and select Initialize Disk. You can then initialize the disk as discussed previously.
NOTE At an elevated, administrator Windows PowerShell prompt, you can use Get-Disk to list available disks and Initialize-Disk to initialize new disks.
Understanding drive status
Knowing the status of a drive is useful when you install new drives or troubleshoot drive problems. Disk Management shows the drive status in Graphical View and Volume List view. Table 1–2 summarizes the most common status values.
TABLE 1–2 Common drive status values
| STATUS | DESCRIPTION | RESOLUTION |
|---|---|---|
| Online | The normal disk status. It means the disk is accessible and doesn’t have problems. Both dynamic disks and basic disks display this status. | The drive doesn’t have any known problems. You don’t need to take any corrective action. |
| Online (Errors) | I/O errors have been detected on a dynamic disk. | You can try to correct temporary errors by pressing and holding or right-clicking the disk and selecting Reactivate Disk. If this doesn’t work, the disk might have physical damage or you might need to run a thorough check of the disk. |
| Offline | The disk isn’t accessible and might be corrupted or temporarily unavailable. If the disk name changes to Missing, the disk can no longer be located or identified on the system. | Check for problems with the drive, its controller, and cables. Make sure that the drive has power and is connected properly. Use the Reactivate Disk command to bring the disk back online (if possible). |
| Foreign | The disk has been moved to your computer but hasn’t been imported for use. A failed drive brought back online might sometimes be listed as Foreign. | Press and hold or right-click the disk, and then tap or click Import Foreign Disks to add the disk to the system. |
| Unreadable | The disk isn’t accessible currently, which can occur when disks are being rescanned. Both dynamic and basic disks display this status. | With FireWire and USB card readers, you might get this status if the card is unformatted or improperly formatted. You might also get this status after the card is removed from the reader. Otherwise, if the drives aren’t being scanned, the drive might be corrupted or have I/O errors. Press and hold or right-click the disk, and then tap or click Rescan Disk (on the Action menu) to try to correct the problem. You might also want to restart the system. |
| Unrecognized | The disk is of an unknown type and can’t be used on the system. A drive from a system that is not based on Windows might display this status. | If the disk is from another operating system, don’t do anything. Normally, you can’t use the drive on the computer without initializing and formatting it, so try a different drive. |
| Not Initialized | The disk doesn’t have a valid signature. A drive from a system not based on Windows might display this status. | If the disk is from another operating system, don’t do anything. You can’t use the drive on the computer, so try a different drive. To prepare the disk for use on Windows Server 2012 R2, press and hold or right-click the disk, and then tap or click Initialize Disk. |
| No Media | No media has been inserted into the DVD or removable drive, or the media has been removed. Only DVD and removable disk types display this status. | Insert a DVD or a removable disk to bring the disk online. With FireWire and USB card readers, this status is usually (but not always) displayed when the card is removed. |