Is Reliability Possible In A External Hard Drive?

[MELLY]

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Hello :> )

I am in need of a External Hard Drive. Reliability is very important since I will be using it for regular PC back-up and photo storage. I am not rich but am willing to pay a decent amount for what I need. I looked for reviews on this site but couldn't find the info I needed although I could have missed it somewhere. I heard the larger the Hard Drive the less reliable it is. If this is true what size External Hard Drive should I get?

Thank you for your valuable time :>)

 

[babaghan]

Western Digital should be on your short list for external hard drives --> http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=5

 

[g-paw]

Personally, I'd put it together myself. Basically you install the drive like you would for an internal drive, screw the enclosure together and plug it in. I like this enclosure because it has both USB and eSATA connections and takes a SATA drive. I'd use the eSATA connection on my main computer and use the USB to connect to any other machine. I like the Perpendicular Seagate drives. You can get a 250GB for about $70 on newegg and could get a 300GB for less than $100 depending on how much storage you need but definitely get a bigger drive than you need now.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817145029

 

[brick88]

definitely go on newegg and pick out a) a 3.5 external enclosure with fan b) western digital hdd. make sure it has a fan because ive seen many hdds fail because of a total lack of airflow.

 

[g-paw]

definitely go on newegg and pick out a) a 3.5 external enclosure with fan b) western digital hdd. make sure it has a fan because ive seen many hdds fail because of a total lack of airflow.

My external, a Penguin, doesn't have a fan and never had a problem with heat. The case gets warm to the touch but that's expected. There is nothing wrong with a case with a fan other than the noise, which is why I didn't get a fan.

 

[Mobius]

NO.

Because in no way can ANY hard drive ever manufactured be called "reliable".

What you *can* do is spread your data across a bunch of unreliable storage mediums to approach what one might call "reliable"; a combination of Burned DVDs, and 2 to 4 HDDs stored off-site is what you might call "reliable back-up".

But only if the backup procedure is followed religiously every month.

 

[Blank2k2]

NO.

Because in no way can ANY hard drive ever manufactured be called "reliable".

What you *can* do is spread your data across a bunch of unreliable storage mediums to approach what one might call "reliable"; a combination of Burned DVDs, and 2 to 4 HDDs stored off-site is what you might call "reliable back-up".

But only if the backup procedure is followed religiously every month.

i dont think that was helpful

anyways,

ive had this WD External HDD (i bought the casing, then bought a 300gig HDD to go into it, best way in my opinion). for a few years now & its never slipped up, its got everything i use on it for backups / videos / photos / documents etc.

i use this insted of my RAID-0 Raptors for storage, so i use it quite abit, flicking it on & off etc as needed.


Anyway short version:

Best bet would be buying an enclosure & then buying a HDD of your choosing (id highly reccomend WD, this has outlived 2 of my internal Maxtor drives)

id trust it to backup my important documents etc, though if there really important id probley stick a copy on a CD aswell just to be on the safe side.

 

[aaronkt]

for god sake dont go with a Fantom harddrive. I bought it in January and threw it in the trash yesterday.

 

[StevieD]

I have two Maxtor external HD's.

One is on 24/7 and is used to store my p_rn. I download constantly so the drive is actively used.

The other drive is used for additional backup of critical files.

Both drives are 3+ years old. No problems. The Maxtor HD's are like other drives on the market and have built-in fan for cooling.

 

[kbits]

I think another issue with external HD reliability is how you handle them.

Because they are external, a lot of people move them around while running, or put them on the corner of their desk where they get hit. They treat them as any other electronic devices.

As other already mentioned, external drive basically use the same drive used inside desktop, and these drive are very sensitive to any shock of hit, especially while running.

Also, sometimes only the bridge circuit of the enclosure die, so you can take out the drive and salvage the data. I saw this happen on more expensive drive like LaCie and on cheapest do-it-yourself case kit.

The safest is, you should assume it WILL fail on you, and ALWAYS be prepare to face it.

 

[kitgerrits]

I bought 2 WD MyBook Essentials and I'm glad I did.
The drives mirrored eachother and the second drive failed within a month.
Out of my 8 USB drives, the only other failed drive was a Seagate FreeAgent 500GB (dead internal drive).
the 3 LaCIE and 2 MyBook Home disks stil work fine.

 

[Guest]

Stay away from seagate as I've had two and they both failed after a year or so. I have four WD drives that work faultlessly. Treat all drives gently cos they are all fragile to a certain extent.