What are the advantages and drawbacks to having external USB drives?
A. The main advantages are: user convenience (drives can be placed nearer to the station or stations can even have its own dedicated drive), security and space savings (the central computer box can be hidden and locked away), and less work to replace a broken drive. The disadvantages are: external USB drives are typically more expensive and there are more items to secure, and more that can go wrong, (e.g. Power not plugged into CD drive).
