If you need more space than your computer offers, you can get a portable hard drive. With a portable hard drive, you can plug it into your computer to access the data you’ve stored whenever you need.

• Portable Dvd Drive For Laptop
• Smallest Portable Hard Drive
• Subnotebook Computer

These external storage drives also let you quickly create a file backup in case of emergency, or offload batches of files for simple transfer to another computer. People who use laptops love how they can work from anywhere, but they often pick up a portable hard drive that easily fits in their laptop bag and doesn’t require a power source. Shop for External Hard Drives in Computer Accessories. Buy products such as Seagate 2TB Expansion 3.0 USB Portable External Hard Drive - STEA2000400 at Walmart and save. The best portable SSDs give you that extra storage space that you can pretty much take anywhere with you while keeping your files safe. The demand for external, portable drives have grown.

1Decide what kind of portable drive you want.

Compatible with any computer, portable USB drives live inside their own little cases, and they plug into any available USB port. Some people call portable drives “external drives.” Like USB drives, portable SATA drives are also portable, living outside your PC. Instead of plugging into a USB port, though, these plug into an external SATA port, a rare feature found on some newer PCs. Because few computers come with an external SATA port, portable USB drives are much more versatile.

2Figure out what features you need (or want) and are willing to pay for.

The higher the capacity of an external hard drive, the more information a drive can store, which also raises the price. Access or seek time measures the amount of time the drive takes to locate stored files, measured in milliseconds (ms). DTR (data transfer rate) measures how quickly your computer can transfer the files after it finds them. And your drive stashes recently accessed information in a special, extra-speedy spot called a cache, where it can dish it out quickly if you need it again.

3Before settling on a particular make and model of drive, read that drive’s customer reviews on sites like Amazon and NewEgg.

Portable Dvd Drive For Laptop

Sometimes it’s a good idea to trade some speed or capacity for reliability.

4Find the size of your Windows drive, also referred to as your C partition,by choosing Start→Computer and looking at the number beneath your C drive’s icon.

A partition is simply a sectioned-off portion of a hard drive. A hard drive can have one partition that fills the entire drive; a drive can also be divided into several separate partitions, each with a different letter.

5Buy a portable hard drive at least as large as your C partition.

For example, if your C partition is 279GB, buy a hard drive of at least 300GB, preferably 500GB.

6Plug the portable hard drive into its power adapter, if needed.

Some portable hard drives don’t require any power; others require a power adapter connected between the drive and an outlet. (Geeks call their little black power adapters wall warts.)

7Plug the portable drive’s USB cable into both your computer and the drive itself.

The cable’s large plug fits into your computer’s or laptop’s USB port (left); the small end fits into the drive’s own, smaller USB port (right).

8Double-click the new drive’s icon in Computer to see the drive’s contents.

That’s it. After you open its window in Computer, you can start moving files to and fro, just like with any other drive.

Smallest Portable Hard Drive

A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily^[1] moved from one place to another and included a display and keyboard. The first commercially sold portable was the 50-pound (23 kg) IBM 5100, introduced 1975. The next major portables were Osborne's 24-pound (11 kg) CP/M-based Osborne 1 (1981) and Compaq's 28-pound (13 kg) 100% IBM PC compatibleCompaq Portable (1983). These 'luggable' computers lacked the next technological development, not requiring an external power source;^[2] that feature was introduced by the laptop.^[3][2] Laptops were followed by lighter models, so that in the 2000s mobile devices and by 2007 smartphones made the term almost meaningless. The 2010s introduced wearable computers such as smartwatches.^[4]

Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers.^[5] Larger portable computers were commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers. They are also called 'Portable Workstations' or 'Portable PCs'. In Japan they were often called 'Bentocom'. (ベントコン, Bentokon) from 'bento'.

Portable computers, more narrowly defined, are distinct from desktop replacement computers in that they usually were constructed from full-specification desktop components, and often do not incorporate features associated with laptops or mobile devices. A portable computer in this usage, versus a laptop or other mobile computingdevice, have a standard motherboard or backplane providing plug-in slots for add-in cards. This allows mission specific cards such as test, A/D, or communication protocol (IEEE-488, 1553) to be installed. Portable computers also provide for more disk storage by using standard disk drives and provide for multiple drives.

History[edit]

SCAMP[edit]

In 1973, the IBM Palo Alto Scientific Center developed a portable computer prototype called SCAMP (Special Computer APL Machine Portable) based on the IBM PALM processor with a Philips compact cassette drive, small CRT and full function keyboard. SCAMP emulated an IBM 1130 minicomputer in order to run APL1130.^[6] In 1973, APL was generally available only on mainframe computers, and most desktop sized microcomputers such as the Wang 2200 or HP 9800 offered only BASIC. Because SCAMP was the first to emulate APL1130 performance on a portable, single user computer, PC Magazine in 1983 designated SCAMP a 'revolutionary concept' and 'the world's first personal computer'.^[7][8] The engineering prototype is in the Smithsonian Institution.

Subnotebook Computer

IBM 5100[edit]

Successful demonstrations of the 1973 SCAMP prototype led to the first commercial IBM 5100 portable microcomputer launched in 1975. The product incorporated an IBM PALM processor, 5-inch (130 mm) CRT, full function keyboard and the ability to be programmed in both APL and BASIC for engineers, analysts, statisticians and other business problem-solvers. (IBM provided different models of the 5100 supporting only BASIC, only APL, or both selectable by a physical switch on the front panel.)^[9][10]IBM referred to its PALM processor as a microprocessor, though they used that term to mean a processor that executes microcode to implement a higher-level instruction set, rather than its conventional definition of a complete processor on a single siliconintegrated circuit; the PALM processor was a large circuit board populated with over a dozen chips. In the late 1960s, such a machine would have been nearly as large as two desks and would have weighed about half a ton (0.45 t). In comparison, the IBM 5100 weighed about 53 pounds (24 kg and very portable for that time).^[11]

MIT Suitcase Computer[edit]

The MIT Suitcase Computer, constructed in 1975, was the first known microprocessor-based portable computer. It was based on the Motorola 6800. Constructed in a Samsonite suitcase approximately 20 by 30 by 8 inches (510 mm × 760 mm × 200 mm) and weighing approximately 20 lb (9.1 kg), it had 4K of SRAM, a serial port to accept downloaded software and connect to a modem, a keyboard and a 40-column thermal printer taken from a cash register. Built by student David Emberson in the MIT Digital Systems Laboratory as a thesis project, it never entered production. It is currently in the collection of Dr. Hoo-Min D. Toong.^{[citation needed]}

Xerox NoteTaker[edit]

Xerox NoteTaker, developed in 1976 at Xerox PARC, was a precursor to later portable computers from Osborne Computer Corporation and Compaq, though it remained a prototype and did not enter production.

Micro Star or Small One[edit]

An early portable computer was manufactured in 1979 by GM Research,^[12] a small company in Santa Monica, California. The machine which was designed and patented by James Murez. It was called the Micro Star and later changed the name to The Small One. Although Xerox claims to have designed the first such system, the machine by Murez predated anything on the market or that had been documented in any publication at the time – hence the patent was issued. As early as 1979, the U.S. Government was contracting to purchase these machines. Other major customers included Sandia Labs, General Dynamics, BBN (featured on the cover of their annual report in 1980 as the C.A.T. system) and several dozen private individuals and companies around the world. In 1979, Adam Osborne viewed the machine along with several hundred other visitors at the first computer show that was sponsored by the IEEE Westec in Los Angeles. Later that year the machine was also shown at the first COMDEX show.

Portal R2E CCMC[edit]

The portable micro computer; the 'Portal' of the French company R2E Micral CCMC officially appeared in September 1980 at the Sicob show in Paris. The Portal was a portable microcomputer designed and marketed by the studies and developments department of the French firm R2E Micral in 1980 at the request of the company CCMC specializing in payroll and accounting. The Portal was based on an intel 8085 processor, 8-bit, clocked at 2 MHz. It was equipped with a central 64 KB RAM, a keyboard with 58 alpha numeric keys and 11 numeric keys (separate blocks), a 32-character screen, a floppy disk: capacity = 140 000 characters, of a thermal printer: speed = 28 characters / sec, an asynchronous channel, a synchronous channel, a 220 V power supply. Designed for an operating temperature of 15–35 °C (59–95 °F), it weighed 12 kilograms (26 lb) and its dimensions were 45 cm × 45 cm × 15 cm (17.7 in × 17.7 in × 5.9 in). It provided total mobility. Its operating system was Prolog. A few hundred were sold between 1980 and 1983.

Osborne 1[edit]

The first mass-produced microprocessor-based portable computer released in 1981 was the Osborne 1, developed by Osborne, which owed much to the NoteTaker's design. The company had early success with the design and went public but later due to small screen sizes and other devices being released found trouble selling the Osborne.

Grid Compass[edit]

The Grid Compass ran its own operating system, GRiD-OS. Its specialized software and high price (US$8,000–$10,000) meant that it was limited to specialized applications. The main buyer was the U.S. government. NASA used it on the Space Shuttle during the early 1980s, as it was powerful, lightweight, and compact. The military Special Forces also purchased the machine, as it could be used by paratroopers in combat.^[13]

Kaypro[edit]

Another early portable computer released in 1982 was the Kaypro.

Compaq Portable[edit]

In January 1983, the first IBM PC compatible portable computer (and the first 100% IBM PC compatible, or 'clone,' of any kind) was the Compaq Portable.

Commodore SX-64[edit]

The first full-color portable computer was the Commodore SX-64 in January 1984.

Apple Macintosh[edit]

Apple Inc. introduced and released the Macintosh Portable in 1989, though this device came with a battery, its weight caused many at the time to consider this a “luggable” rather than a true laptop.

Modern use[edit]

Portable computers have been increasing in popularity over the past decade,^{[citation needed][when?]} as they do not restrict the user's mobility as a desktop computer does, and do not restrict the computer power and storage available as a laptop computer does. Wireless access to the Internet, extended battery life, and more elaborate cases permitting multiple screens and even significant RAID capacity, have contributed.

See also[edit]

• Handheld PC (palmtop)
• Personal digital assistant (PDA)
• DYSEAC, 1954, housed in a truck

References[edit]

1. ^as contrasted with DYSEAC and MOBIDIC, 1950s era military systems which were Truck-based/'movable by truck'
2. ^ ^abShanna Freeman. 'What was the first portable computer?'.
3. ^'and plug in instead of relying on battery power.'
4. ^Petre, Reza Rawassizadeh, Blaine A Price, Marian. 'Wearables: Has the Age of Smartwatches Finally Arrived? January 2015 Communications of the ACM'. cacm.acm.org. Retrieved 2017-05-05.
5. ^'What is a Portable Computer? ACME Portable Machines'. Acmeportable.com. 2014-05-23. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
6. ^Freeman, Shanna (2012-09-19). 'HowStuffWorks 'What was the first portable computer?''. Computer.howstuffworks.com. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
7. ^PC Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 6, November 1983, ‘’SCAMP: The Missing Like in the PC's Past?‘’
8. ^'IBM Archives: IBM 5100 Portable Computer'. 03.ibm.com. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
9. ^This author learned this from an original IBM document for operators of the 5100 but does not recall the title of the document.
10. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2007-11-26. Retrieved 2019-03-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
11. ^'Industrial Portable Computers'. Advantech. Retrieved 2014-07-22.
12. ^'Computer History Museum'. Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
13. ^didyouknowwebsite (2020-06-14). 'The Space Age Best Inventions We use Today'. Did You Know?. Retrieved 2020-06-14.