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Dear PC Doctor:
I was cleaning up the office at my new job. I found a box full of little devices that look computer related. I don’t know what they are. I asked around, and they don’t seem to belong to anyone here. They are all approximately 3” x 5”. There are four of them. Two are the same, black, and say “Maxtor One Touch 4 mini 120 GB” on the back. Another has “WD” on the front and “ITE accessory” on the back. The last one says “Seagate Free Agent Go 160 GB.” What do you think these are?
Thanks,
Jenna
Dear Jenna:
The Maxtor One Touch 4 mini 120 GB is a small-capacity external hard drive. It’s advertised as a backup storage device, typically used with a laptop. Hopefully, the cable is with it in the box – It should connect to a computer with a USB cable. I found a user’s guide for this product online if you’d like to explore further whether it’s useful to you. You can find it at: http://www.seagate.com/files/support/onetouch/OneTouch4_Mini-Plus_Windows.pdf
The one labeled WD I don’t have enough information on to know exactly what it is from your description. It’s a good guess that it’s something made by Western Digital. If you’re really intrigued, you could call them at 1 (800) 275-4932 and see if they have more information for you.
The Seagate Free Agent Go is also an external hard drive. At 160 GB, it has a larger capacity than the Maxtor you have. Something to consider is that these are old (in technology terms). The online reviews of these items are from 2007 and 2008, and the portable hard drives currently being sold range more from 500 GB to 2 TB. It’s kind of cool that you have them but you may want to visit your local computer repair shop to see if any of them are big enough to handle the kinds of things you might want to back up.
Ethically, I would check with the person who had your workspace before you – It’s very possible that the devices belong to him or her, as no one else was familiar with them. If not, and your new workplace has an IT department, you might consider bringing them there to see if they are useful to your company.
Until next time,
Happy Computing!
PC Doctor
Posted: to Athol Library News on Fri, Dec 4, 2015
Updated: Fri, Dec 4, 2015