2.5" & 3.5" External Hard Drives Reliability & Best Choices

Hi folks,

I realize there are Charts and Reviews on Hard Drives ... but I am hoping to get first hand feedback on different External 2.5" (Portable) And 3.5" External hard drives from you people who are actually using one for a while and your experience with it ...

Bascially I am looking for MOST Dependable External since I have a lot of important data that I can NOT afford to lose.

Q1: Do you think the 1TB Hard Drives are NOT yet very Dependable? They tend to crash more than other sizes ... like the 500GB, etc.?

Q2: For 3.5" external hard drive would you recommend 500GB or 1TB?

Q3: What is your favorite 3.5" 1TB External Hard Drive? Hopefully you have had it for at least 3months or more.

Q4: What is your favorite 2.5" 500GB Portable External Hard Drive? Hopefully you have had it for at least 3months or more.

Q5: For external Hard Drives are you using strictly USB or have you opted for eSATA connection?

Thanks,

G!

 

Higher density drives seem to be less reliable. But with hard drives, you never know. I would never trust my important information on a single drive. I say buy whatever drive has the best warranty (Western Digital) and have your important stuff on atleast 2 drives. Always expect that they will fail any day, so that you'll be prepared.

I would pick an eSATA drive over USB, because with eSATA, you can monitor the hard drive's SMART info so you might know if it is about to fail. Also, I would buy the drive and enclosure separate. The reason is because single drives usually have 3 year warranty, whereas prebuilt external drives only have 1 year warranty.

 

Too bad there aren't really any cheap SSD options. Good SSDs have been used for the past decade for the storage of the most important mission critical data for big companies and governments/military. I doubt you will need that much security though. A good RAID1 external HDD is very reliable. I don't think the size of the HDD really matters since I have yet to see scientific tests/data supporting that. IMO it's always better to build your own by buying enclosure and drives separately so that you can pick your components and easily upgrade (plus it's usually cheaper).

 

Q1 - I use 5 WD Caviar Black 1TB and all are fine.
Q2 - 1TB
Q3 - I make my own external HD. Coolermaster case with 1TB WD Caviar Black
Q4 - I make my own external HD. Coolermaster case with 500GB WD Scorpio Blue
Q5 - Will use eSATA when available. Much faster.

From past experience i have bought many Lacie external HD and all have died on me after a few months.

 

Hi,

Wow ... THANKS folks ... Great Answers and So Fast ...

@ nobb & sgogeta4 ... do you folks have a Favorite External Enclosure & may be Hard Drives?

@ Gotei 13 ... I was curious if you have tried any Other External cases besides "CoolerMaster" or did you just go to that brand right off the back.

I am hoping to get more feedback from other folks on their Favorite Enclosures and HDDs.

Thanks again!

G!

 

Q1: I haven't owned a 1TB drive and don't yet have an opinion. For what it's worth, though, Western Digital's (WD) 1TB AC-powered external drive seems less reliable than the 500GB and 320GB USB-powered Passports based on numerous customer reviews on Amazon.com and partly due to this, I have opted for the WD Passport drives for external storage.

Q2: No strong opinion yet, although based on my response in Q1, I'd lean slightly towards 500GB for now.

Q3: No response, as I haven't owned one yet.

Q4: Western Digital Passport series. I have a 320GB and two 500GB Passports and they all have been reliable to date. The 320GB is 3 years old, one of the 500GB Passports is 9 months old, and the other 500GB Passport is 6 weeks old. I have accidentally dropped one of the 500GB drives 3 feet to a carpeted surface without apparent problems and I have carried the 320GB Passport on numerous trips, most of which involved air travel. For the feng shui-minded, two Passports are black and one is royal blue.

Q5: For external drives, I'm disposed towards USB for its convenience--I love the plug and play nature of it. Although my notebook PC has only 2 USB ports, I don't miss the USB port as I have a travel 4-USB expander that seems to power my Passports adequately. When researching the Passports before I bought my first one, I read some reports of some users having difficulty powering their Passports with one USB port and needing an adapter to power the drive with 2 USB ports, but I have not encountered this problem on two mid-level notebook PCs.

 

I have a 750 Gb WD Green drive. So far everything is running well. I think drives have come a long way and are pretty reliable with my experiences.

How about 750GB but it really depends on how valuable your information is. If you need security, I'd go with two smaller drives.

Newegg enclosure (USB 2.0 and eSATA) with 750GB WD Green drive

N/A

Get both. Not everyone has the newest computer/laptop w/ eSATA so USB for compatibility and eSATA for faster transfers.

 

I used other brands including Ritmo, Vantec and other OEM brands but most of them failed on me. All of the above brands use the same case.

I chose coolermaster because it was a screwless case and so far they haven't failed on me.

 

Hi pradoxguy, netho & Gotei,

THANKS for your replies.

@ Gotei ... funny you should mention Vantec as dying on you ... actually my Vantec caused my HD to die. Vantecs are piece of Crap ... it will guarantee any HD to DIE.

@ ntheo ... Which Newegg enclosure (USB 2.0 and eSATA) did you get for your 750GB!?!?

@ pradoxguy ... Actually, after seeing everyone's response here ... if I am stuck with 500GB to 750GB max ... I am thinking may be just go with the 500GB Portable one for now ... to hold me over until 1TBs are more reliable.

So, may be a 500GB 2.5" Portable, if it has an eSATA so be it ... but even an USB one should be fine ... I suppose!

THANKS,

G!

 

I know the WD Blacks 1TB are reliable but Seagate 1TB have a 66% fail rate. WD Green 1TB are too slow for me.

If you want reliability then WD RE3 1TB is your best bet.

 

I'd recommend the WD5000MLC-00. It's a WD Passport Elite 500 Gb I picked up from ebay for $129 shipped. That same person raised the price to $199 each shipped after I bought two of them and then raised it again to $219 shipped. I've had them for almost a year no problems, I've dropped one on the carpet in the bedroom from almost 36", pushed over by the mouse and it works just fine. No extra power supply required. Very quiet and cool, sometimes I wish I had one of those inside the laptop.

 

Do all the 2.5 and 3.5 external HDs with no power cableuse a USB Y cable? I only have 2 USBs on my laptop. What is the best device to add 4 ports so I can use other USB devices while the HD is plugged in? (Ipod, USB speakers, Mouse)

 

If you only have two USB ports then there're only two ports for a reason. If you try to overload them then they'll probably all fail. Low voltage will destroy an external HDD or simply won't power on at all if connected with let's say a USB TV Tuner (those require a serious amount of power). However the USB ports should accomodate an external HDD and a wireless USB mouse just fine. What can I say... finish whatever you have to transfer from the HDD, disconnect it and connect your next USB device if you really must have it.

 

It should be easy enough to find a powered USB hub to hook all your extra gear into. It may mean some lag for the devices you have hooked into the hub, though, since they'll all have to share the same throughput, but if you really need to hook up all those devices, that would probably be the way to go. Just hookup the stuff you don't mind running a little slower, and/or require more power into the hub. Remember, that's a _powered_ hub, which has its own little AC adaptor that you plug in.

 

Ok..I see..well thats not a huge deal. I will just transfer files I want (albums and movies) onto my laptop when I want them there then unplug the HD. Not a huge issue. I just figured I'd ask. I plan to get a 250-200gb 2.5 just for music and divx movie storage.

 

Yea I have a Seagate 1TB and I would NOT recommend it, I've owned for around 5 months and it's already giving me read errors and spin up problems. My WD 500 GB has been running fine though even after dropping it a few times

 

Hi folks,

Thanks for the feedback on 1TB HDD Reliability ... a big help!

@ Orlando ... Look at this ... it might fix your problem ... Powered Hub ... Belkin also has a 4 Port one ...

Belkin Plus 7-port USB 2.0 Hub Review

Hope this was of some help!

G!

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042

This one. It might be a little pricy for the enclosure but I think it's one of the best.

As usual, no affiliation w/ Newegg except a happy customer.

I've never been much of a fan of powering by USB for hard drives, there's something about that makes me nervous.

I have have a little bit more inconvenience and go for a AC adapter.

 

I will vouch for the rosewill rx-385 enclosure.. super sleek, well built, solid aluminum, and easy to install. I haven't used the sata yet, but it keeps my 1tb wd caviar black super cool under consistent load. I'd just remember to run the fan only when you really need it.