External Harddrive Durability

[mrsmile]

do external portable harddrive wear faster if you plug it into computer all the time?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey mrsmile. This is a little tricky to answer. As you know HDDs are mechanical and no matter if they are external or internal, they tend to wear out with time, which is inevitable. There's no particular reason that an external HDD should fail faster than an internal one. They actually are normal HDDs which are in an enclosure. But external drives are subjected to risk a bit more, depending on how you use them, even though the external enclosure offers some protection. If you carry it around with you (office, school etc.) all the time, or there's a chance that you may drop it or disconnect it while using it - this might damage the drive, while the internal drive sits safely in your computer.

Hope that helps.
Boogieman_WD

 

[fzabkar]

External drives are usually housed in cheap, fanless plastic enclosures and as such are subject to higher temperatures than internal drives. If I were looking for an external drive, I would spend the extra money and buy a regular internal drive and install it in a metal, fan cooled enclosure. Be aware that some external drives are encrypted (eg WD My Book Essentials & Passport), so this might not be to your liking.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

External drives are usually housed in cheap, fanless plastic enclosures and as such are subject to higher temperatures than internal drives. If I were looking for an external drive, I would spend the extra money and buy a regular internal drive and install it in a metal, fan cooled enclosure. Be aware that some external drives are encrypted (eg WD My Book Essentials & Passport), so this might not be to your liking.

You are right about the external enclosures most of HDDs are sold with. But I wouldn't recommend taking them out, because that would void the warranty and the other reason is the hardware encryption as you've mentioned. But there are always options for external HDDs with a metal enclosure or without hardware encryption. If portable drive isn't a requirement, generally the 3.5" external HDDs have better enclosures.