How long can I keep a 2.5" external plugged in?

[kmoy]

I'm in the market for a 1TB external drive. I'm deciding between the WD Elements 1TB (3.5") and the WD Elements SE 1TB (2.5"). I'm willing to pay the extra $40 for the convenience of the portable drive, but there are a few reasons why I'm still considering the desktop drive.

I'll be using this drive primarily to store music and movies. So every now and then, I'll be accessing the drive for periods of up to four hours.

I've had great experience with desktop externals. How do portable externals compare in terms of temperature and maximum usage time? With a portable drive, I'd be a bit concerned about leaving it on for that long.

 

[Fetal]

Yes, kind of. But not to worry that much. Temps inside casing are much warmer. But i sense you want portability much more than anything. So get it. and warranty is always there to protect you, so why fear? (unless you don't backup )

 

[jefe323]

i kept a portable connected for over a year and never had any problems with it

 

[randomizer]

2.5" drives are typically slower and use less power. Considering it will connect via a terribly slow interface like USB it's not likely that there'll be a significant difference in performance between the two because the interface will be the performance bottleneck.

 

[imre]

Utter rubbish hard drive i will never support it again because they do not honor their warranty. I have owned 640 GB 2.5" & 1 TB 2.5" and looked after them properly but they ended up having bad sectors. I bought my drives from 2 different locations of the world,USA & Philippines.Both looked after very well, but i ended up having issues with Cyclic Redundancy Check.Lifeguard Tools reported bad sectors and it suggested that it may be able to fix the errors but it was unsuccessful. sorry its junk.

Im sorry they dont last, i have tied to write zeros and all that junk, its nonsense.
either u are lucky or not.

I have had rubbish warranty support and i wish to never buy this brand again.

the worlds worst selling hard drive.

I really dont understand it.