External backup drive - premade, or build?

I need to pick up a moderate size (no more than 750GB) external backup drive and wondered if any of the premade ones use decent HDDs. I've read how so many companies have cheapened out the quality/reliability of the physical drives, am I better off buying a WD Black and sticking it in an enclosure, or are some of the pre-built backup drives good? Do aftermarket enclosures give enough heat/shock protection, and do they usually have any backup management software (or is that very useful in the first place)?

 

What drive the pre-builts use depend on the model. WD externals usually had green or blue drives as far as I can tell. Seagate uses their own drives obviously and for the others, it varies. The Lacie external that I accidentally knocked was a Hitachi 7200 RPM drive. Note that the controller board on pre-builts might be different, I've mostly seen SATA drives hooked to a board that did the interface conversion to USB or whatever, but there are also some with custom boards, so maybe those drives are different internally too. I wouldn't avoid pre-builts, but I'd look for reviews and specifically for heat issues. Some cheaper WD 3.5" externals from a few years ago had a tendency to run pretty hot, the same goes for some seagate drives.

Aluminium, either pre-built or DIY is what I prefer. Note that if you go the DIY route, the quality of enclosures can vary a lot.

 

Guess I won't be buying this one!

 

Or this one: AnandTech | Seagate's GoFlex Desk 4TB External HDD Review. It runs way too hot.

Of the pre-builts I've owned and the ones my friends bought, my d2 quadra keeps its 7200 RPM drive cool, both the Hitachi that was originally in it and the seagate drive that I dropped in as a replacement. The main downside is that the Lacie quadra externals are on the very expensive side of things. The new ones do eSATA, USB 3.0 and FW800 among other things, those drives were made with macs in mind and the design and price go with it. They are still good externals, but overpriced if you ask me.

If you want to go the DIY route, I've had good experience with Vantec enclosures. I also have a Startech one on the way and in general, Startech products I've owned have performed well.

 

Robs10, Something like these might work for you: ADATA DashDrive Durable HD710 External Hard Drive Review HD710 4713435794388, ADATA DashDrive Durable HD710, ADATA Technology Co, AHD710-1TU3-CYL, Akim Green, Review or Amazon.com: Transcend 1 TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive - Military Drop Standards (TS1TSJ25M3): TRANSCEND: Computers & Accessories . If you want something more durable than what you would traditionally get from seagate or western digital.

 

Buy an enclosure then add your own hard drive. You will suffer less in the long run when you fill it up. With your own enclosure, all's you have to do it upgrade the drive inside to a larger capacity one for much less than having to buy a higher capacity External drive.