No worries. Well, I was confident the disk had USB connectivity; and it does, just not in the way I, or any normal person, need it. That bit of info certainly could have been made clearer in the product specs; I read USB and saw a USB port and, incorrectly, assumed it would work.


Thankfully, Amazon returns are easy enough.

And thus why I wasn't able to find any info online or in my book. Your answer provides the technical "why" and makes me feel a little better about the situation. Once again, your help has been invaluable.

It appears I may have a trip to best buy in my future if I want to get this done before the end of the week.

---------- Post updated at 12:28 PM ---------- Previous update was at 11:46 AM ----------

I have another question, that's really more of an option, but I'm interested in your opinion.

One of the reasons I am doing (as you suggested) a bare-metal backup is that, in the event the server hard drive fails, I can crack the hard drive open and replace it. If that is the case and I need to purchase something different anyway, would it be a good option to get an appropriate internal hard drive, with an enclosure that supports USB? Since it will only be used as a bare-metal backup to do at most weekly updates, is this acceptable? From what I understand, the external hard drives provide portability and cooling fans to help with prolonged and constant use. However, if I don't really need either of those and full replacement functionality is desired, is that a better option or am I simply making things more difficult for myself?

---------- Post updated at 12:57 PM ---------- Previous update was at 12:28 PM ----------

I realize that most of the larger external enclosures include fans anyway so that really isn't a differentiating factor. I understand buying a prepackaged external HD is easier; I just worry that, in the event of failure, it will be difficult to extract the HD and/or the HD won't be compatible with the system. (I've never cracked open a prepackaged external HD before.) Though, it occurs to me now that compatibility could be an issue regardless of whether the HD is external or internal without specifically knowing the hardware layout of the system.