Are external hard drives usable for installing programs?

Greetings all,

I am running out of space on my notebook computer at work. I would
like to avoid the (huge) corporate hassle of trying to get a new
internal HD to replace (and everything on) it if I can, so I was
looking at (expensable) external USB 2.0 HDs in the $100-150 range. I
figure even if I have to eat it, it's not all that much.

Can these devices be used "just like" any other hard drive, IE can you
install to them, run programs -- whatever -- as you would any other
internal HD? Or are there caveats to this type of storage that aren't
in the brochure? Any promo lit I see about them refer to the number of
MP3, photo or other digital data file they can hold, but nothing about
the usefulness as a general purpose add-on drive. I don't need blazing
speed, but neither do I want to rotate my tires while I wait for a
program to load.

What say the experts?

smrybacki.DeleteThis@gmail.com wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> I am running out of space on my notebook computer at work. I would
> like to avoid the (huge) corporate hassle of trying to get a new
> internal HD to replace (and everything on) it if I can, so I was
> looking at (expensable) external USB 2.0 HDs in the $100-150 range. I
> figure even if I have to eat it, it's not all that much.
>
> Can these devices be used "just like" any other hard drive, IE can you
> install to them, run programs -- whatever -- as you would any other
> internal HD? Or are there caveats to this type of storage that aren't
> in the brochure? Any promo lit I see about them refer to the number of
> MP3, photo or other digital data file they can hold, but nothing about
> the usefulness as a general purpose add-on drive. I don't need blazing
> speed, but neither do I want to rotate my tires while I wait for a
> program to load.
>
> What say the experts?
>

If you need to install programs on an external, you'll need a drive with
a separate AC adapter. Too many times USB-powered external drives fail
due to power issues and end up corrupting the entire drive. Another
problem with externals is constant disk activity generates heat so an
enclosure with fan is nice, if not necessary.

Most external drives are OK for data archiving - write once and forget;
depending on the application, an external drive might be in constant use
if code needs to be accessed frequently.

I am very wary of using external drives for more than archival and data
transfer purposes.

Q