External HDD vs Portable Ext. HDD ( last longer)

[bronx16]

Hello,

In general which type of hard drive will last longer when properly taken care of. External ( with fan, and moving parts) Or the portable.


I am just wondering if the fan and moving parts in the bigger 1TB HDD will cause more problems in the future.

I am storing many important pictures and videos that cannot be replaced so I am very worried about this.

Should I go for the smaller portable HDD?

Any advice and opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[miles01110]

In general which type of hard drive will last longer when properly taken care of. External ( with fan, and moving parts) Or the portable.

Unless you are buying a portable SSD, both the portable and the desktop external drive will have moving parts. Neither is more reliable in the long or short term. Buy the drive with the best warranty for the price.

 

[GGJstudios]

What fan and moving parts are you referring to? External drives, whether bus powered or AC powered, whether large or portable, have spinning drives and read/write heads, but no fans or other moving parts. If you're concerned about the durability of an external drive, go with an SSD.

Edit: Always a step behind you, miles01110! You're too fast for me!

 

[bronx16]

Thanks for the fast responses.

I have another concern.. Is there any damage that can be done to an external desktop hard drive, if I often "plug" and "unplug" it from my laptop.

I always use the eject function, I was just wondering if the external desktop hard drives were perhaps not meant for such varied usage.

 

[GGJstudios]

Thanks for the fast responses.

I have another concern.. Is there any damage that can be done to an external desktop hard drive, if I often "plug" and "unplug" it from my laptop.

I always use the eject function, I was just wondering if the external desktop hard drives were perhaps not meant for such varied usage.

Not a problem at all.

 

[bronx16]

Not a problem at all.

Thanks.

 

[1rottenapple]

How about this issue... with the portable being a portable harddrive it may be more subject to "harsher" treatment than an external sitting on your desk. So higher chance of failure imho. I know for am a but rougher on my smaller portable hd.

I would definitely backup my back up imho.

 

[Photoshopper]

I am storing many important pictures and videos that cannot be replaced so I am very worried about this.

If you don't have a copy of your files off-site, they are not protected! A thief will steal both your internal and external, and a fire will burn both.
Either keep a HDD in a different secure location, or use one of the online back-up services.

 

[notjustjay]

If these files are that precious then you should make multiple backups.

At my house I have a NAS acting as my primary file server, but I have two USB drives which also contain backups. One of them really should be stored offsite though, which I am not currently doing.

 

[G5isAlive]

If these files are that precious then you should make multiple backups.

At my house I have a NAS acting as my primary file server, but I have two USB drives which also contain backups. One of them really should be stored offsite though, which I am not currently doing.

This and other people giving advice for offsite back up are 100% correct, far more important than what particular hard drive (all can fail).

But to answer your question. Over the years I have had housings with fans, and yes, the fans almost always go out with use and can be a pain to replace.

These days you can get external HD's for $100 for 2 tb, I would not buy an expensive one with fans, get two cheap ones and use one for back up.

 

[notjustjay]

I like to buy enclosures separately from the actual hard drives. That way when a fan starts to go (and you can usually tell because it starts to get very noisy), then you can save the drive and just replace the enclosure.

However, these days the external USB drives are so cheap that I'm not sure it's worth it. Just buy one, use it, replace it if you need to later.

What tends to happen with me is I'll buy a drive, fill it up, then when it gets full, I buy a newer, bigger drive. The old drive then becomes a backup drive.

 

[adamsmith3331]

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