Is it best to buy an external hard drive or use a desktop hard drive with an enclosure?

[karthickhuntik]

I need an external hard drive for my laptop and I read that the only good ones are WD elements and Passport. I also read somewhere that they are said to fry within 6mo or a year's usage due to over heating issues and stuffs. But I need a good hard disk that can be used at least for 3-4 years. I'm also thinking about buying a desktop hard drive and put in an enclosure and use it as an external drive. I don't know which is best in terms of speed and durability. Help me out here.

 

[Ralston18]

I will vote enclosure. Gives you more control and options over all.

E.g.,consider using a USB 3.0 external case with an SSD drive inside instead of the hard drive.

You may need to purchase a metal or plastic adapter to fill the 3 1/2" to 2 1/2" difference in size. Some SSD's come with such an adapter.

The external drive can be connected directly to any USB port. Via your router if the router supports USB directly.

Plus you can purchase an adapter that will make the USB drive into a network drive if you need to do so.

 

[USAFRet]

Regular drive + enclosure.

A lot of "external drives" are encrypted via the PCB. If there are any issues and you need to remove the physical hard drive...you can't access the data.
A standalone enclosure does not have that issue.

 

[asoroka]

I would use a 2.5"" in an enclosure of my choice. It is much easier and lighter to fit in your laptop bag.

Yes definitely usb3 and not usb2.

I have a number of WD and Seagate external hard drives and have no problem recommending them.
They are basically standard disks in a sealed enclosure.

Just take care not to move the enclosure while the disks are spinning. Nothing shortens a hdd life than being moved while the heads are engaged.

 

[karthickhuntik]

I will vote enclosure. Gives you more control and options over all.

E.g.,consider using a USB 3.0 external case with an SSD drive inside instead of the hard drive.

You may need to purchase a metal or plastic adapter to fill the 3 1/2" to 2 1/2" difference in size. Some SSD's come with such an adapter.

The external drive can be connected directly to any USB port. Via your router if the router supports USB directly.

Plus you can purchase an adapter that will make the USB drive into a network drive if you need to do so.

I'm not looking for SSDs since I can't afford for them right now. I need a drive with 2TB. Moreover the reason why I'm in need of this is because my laptop has a 256gb ssd which is hardly enough for me for normal usage. So I would prefer HDD with 2TB storage.

 

[punkncat]

I would say it's according to your usage profile.

If it's going to be plugged in used and accessed with a lot of read write, there is no question that you want an "internal drive" and an enclosure WITH A FAN.
If you are simply doing a quick backup task then setting to the side, there is no reason not to get a good life out of an external enclosure.

Put simply...if you reach over and it feels HOT you are using the wrong one.

 

[karthickhuntik]

I would say it's according to your usage profile.

If it's going to be plugged in used and accessed with a lot of read write, there is no question that you want an "internal drive" and an enclosure WITH A FAN.
If you are simply doing a quick backup task then setting to the side, there is no reason not to get a good life out of an external enclosure.

Put simply...if you reach over and it feels HOT you are using the wrong one.

I'm sorry, I know this sounds silly, please bear with me here. Does copy pasting movies/TV shows worth a TB regularly, be defined as hard usage (lot of read and write, like you mentioned)?

 

[punkncat]

I would say it's according to your usage profile.

If it's going to be plugged in used and accessed with a lot of read write, there is no question that you want an "internal drive" and an enclosure WITH A FAN.
If you are simply doing a quick backup task then setting to the side, there is no reason not to get a good life out of an external enclosure.

Put simply...if you reach over and it feels HOT you are using the wrong one.

I'm sorry, I know this sounds silly, please bear with me here. Does copy pasting movies/TV shows worth a TB regularly, be defined as hard usage (lot of read and write, like you mentioned)?

Just as a demo....I assume you know what task manager is?

Go into that and move a movie from one (internal) drive to another while watching the sidebars for your disk usage.

Now, do the same with a picture.

 

[karthickhuntik]

Just as a demo....I assume you know what task manager is?

Go into that and move a movie from one drive to another while watching the sidebars for your disk usage.

Now, do the same with a picture.

Yeah, I do know what task manager is and I do get your point. I know my question was really silly. I'm sorry about that. Since you mentioned a lot of read and write, I thought there might be something else more heavier task just than copying movies. Now I realize how stupid it was of me.

So since I'm clear about it, let me say that's all about my usage. I'd only use it for copying movies, music and stuffs and rarely smaller files. But I bet there'd be nothing more heavier tasks than copying movies since I download only Blu-ray files which are around 90-100gb per movie. So you can suggest me the right one now.

 

[punkncat]

I think you should look into a NAS.

Enclosures are commonly made for backing things up, holding pics, etc as well as being portable. They typically aren't made for high read/write, and the ones that are should be designed with a fan. Now, it's been a minute since I have needed a NAS specifically, but some years ago used one called a DNS 323. It was a small two drive enclosure with a fan and a network plug, that was about it. You could read/write, backup, mirror, any manner of tasks with it related to storage and sharing like to your Roku, or phone, etc.
They make some really nice ones, and can get expensive.

Beyond that, I know some of the "dock" style drive caddies have fans, but think of that more as an ad-hoc solution than something that looks good and is purpose built for high usage.

 

[asoroka]

What is the requirement.

Is it for a backup that stays at home, in which case NAS is a good solution.

If it is for something that you carry in your laptop bag for occasional use, then a small 2.5" portable USB is needed.