I have a Dimension 9100. If I were to add an external HD, would it be that complicated? Could it be  hooked up as a USB drive? Would Windows have to be on the new drive in order to back up my information? I would think that the 2nd external HD would need an operating system. Right now I'm still using the internal HD that came with the system. I'm just wondering how external HD's work before I purchase one. Thanks for the help.

 

Oh, and how do I run Diagnostics for the internal HD I have now? Someone suggested I run it, but I can't remember if you can do it in Windows or have to press some keys before the pc goes into Windows. Is the Diagnostics the same as CHKDSK? Last and only time I've run CHKDSK on this machine, it deleted a lot of files. Files that I have no idea belonged to what program. I didn't have enough time to write it all done. It deleted some System Registry files also.