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Best portable hard drive

To be USB powered it needs to be a 2.5" drive, and the largest 2.5" drives currently are 2TB. There are a couple of 4TB external drives containing 2.5" drives, but they consist of two 2TB drives that are striped (RAID 0).

Anyway, I like this one, which contains a SpinPoint M9T (former Samsung product):

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup.../dp/B00FRHTTJE

There's also a link to Seagate's 4TB, two drive product on that page. It's a shame you weren't looking about three weeks ago, as several sellers had the 2TB for about $80 around Black Friday.
 
I have personal experience with the Seagates... USB3.0 portables. 2x 500GB's still going strong (I think my first one has 21K hours on it) and I bought a 1TB and a 2TB Seagate last year. They have all been solid drives. Oddly enough, one of my 500GB's is a 7200RPM drive (according to CrystalDisk.)

I think by definition 'portable' HDDs have USB-powered drives (single cable,) 'external' drives have a separate power cable (and are usually 3.5" drives?) I don't think I've ever seen a 'portable' 3.5" drive...

I don't really know... is there any stats on portable HDD failures?

Personally, I would just get whatever is on sale...
 
pcslookout said:
Will there ever be 4 TB (as a single drive) or 6 TB portable hard drives ?
Click to expand...
Yes, but not soon. 9.5mm 2TB is still a new thing, so you'll have to wait.

I've had as good luck with manufacturers as 3rd parties, and 3rd parties often have useful case features (like bumpers, integrated cables, cable holders on the case, a carrying case that can fit the cable(s), etc.). I treat mine well, and have no issues, and the two other people I know that don't abuse them don't have much in the way of failures, either. Small sample size, I have a feeling the cheap cases and regular user abuse has a lot to do with the common failures of externals, especially given how I see them treated when I'm at a coffee shop or sandwich joint.
 
Would it be better to get a 3.5 external drive ? I just hate that it needs a ac power adapter. I will hardly ever move the portable drive though.
 
pcslookout said:
Would it be better to get a 3.5 external drive ? I just hate that it needs a ac power adapter. I will hardly ever move the portable drive though.
Click to expand...

Contrary to my good experience with Seagate portable drives, I mistakenly got a 2TB Seagate external (3.5") drive... it ran hot, even up away from everything where it got cool air... it idled at 45C and when under heavy writes topped 50C. I wound up pulling the drive and just installing it in my PC, and bought the Seagate 2TB portable.... (which is what I intended to buy in the first place. This experience is where I realized the differences in 'portable' externals... 😱 ) This is beside the standard external takes up some space, and has 2 cables...
 
One thing to keep in mind with some of WD externals is that connector is soldered on the the board. You just cant crack it open if something goes south on the unit and try and get your data off the drive.
 
I used a LaCie rugged portable for four years with no issues. It bounced around in my briefcase and was used in the field. I retired it only because I was concerned about its age, not because anything was wrong with it. I replaced it with a Transcend rugged drive. It doesn't feel as tough as the LaCie but it has likewise been abused for over a year now with no problems.
 
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pauldun170 said:
One thing to keep in mind with some of WD externals is that connector is soldered on the the board. You just cant crack it open if something goes south on the unit and try and get your data off the drive.
Click to expand...

Toshiba, Samsung, and many others are doing the same thing for the 2.5" models. It's becoming industry standard. WD just adds the extra bonus of hardware encrypting the data, making it even harder to recover should it fail.
 
In fairness we get quite a few WD drives, and they are usually recoverable. Toshiba we almost never see, they seem to just keep working.
 
Years ago Seagate were pretty good (back in the 120Gb and smaller days). However with the increase in data density and especially after the flooding in Thailand shut down many factories (causing SG to open new ones in China) there has been a marked decline in their quality control.

You might get a good one now and then but the failure rate is outrageous.
 
Funny, I just got a PM from admin citing one of my posts here as advertising??? Does any else see something I said that sounds like an advertisement?

I wonder if this is just another forum run by Nazis who ban you if you post anything they disagree with.




No, we have an issue with people here that are here only to promote their company.

You noticed I have removed your company logo from your avatar and shortened your excessive signature to conform to our rules on self promotion.

Calling the mods Nazis? Yeah, that's against the rules.




esquared
Anandtech Forum Director
 
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