External HD death

[wogfor]

I have now lost yet another external hard drive. They never seem to last as long as their counter parts inside the case. I am always careful to not knock them around and mishandle but still....

Is the fact that there is usually little if any ventilation in these things? Would I be better sticking with the units this sit upright on a desk and are independently powered? These seem to have a bit more life span as they do have some ventilation although no fans.

Seems I almost need to back things up on a triple redundancy plan...

 

[yoji]

You buying branded? or going cheap? do you know what brand of drive is in the externals?
I have never lost an external (I only have 3), have lost a couple internals (of about 12 I have over the years).
But if you use them for backup - does not really matter too much if you lose? - you can just buy replacement and redo backup - so you only vulnerable for the short time it takes you to replace?
Anyway - temp is unlikely to be an issue (unless you running in stupid room heats) and running them 24/7..
So you say "yet another"... can you be a bit more specific.. how many> how you connecting? if you suspect temps - what room temps? and how hard you running them? (just for backups?) ..

Bit more info/context would be nice.
Cheers