Have external hard drives improved?

[keyed]

The last time I bought one was 2-3 years ago, when they first came out. The USB controllers on those would constantly fail. Since then, I got a dock and used internal drives for backup.

Have the external drives improved since then?

 

[C1]

You mean "the USB circuitry of the external hard drive you bought constantly failed". What you described in the OP was never a known or systemic or endemic problem or issue in the HDD industry. Ive used zillions of external HDDs both 3.5" and 2.5" USB and FW and had only one circuitry failure (relatively recently on a SimpleTech 2TB HDD hosting an Hitachi drive; it was a typical or classic early electronics failure - happened under initial stress testing - and I was able to swap it out at the retail store from where it was purchased).

Probably the only thing I might warn of concerning current high density 3.5" HDDs is, dont go banging them around particularly while they are powered up.

 

[corkyg]

All generalizations are false, including this one. However, I have had 5 external drives, a mix of 2.5 and 3.5, and have never had a problem with any of them. My personal choice is a 3.5-in enclosure (powered) with eSATA and USB, and the HDD of my choice inside.

 

[Old Hippie]

My personal choice is a 3.5-in enclosure (powered) with eSATA and USB, and the HDD of my choice inside.

:thumbsup:

It's unbelievable that some continue to purchase "pre-built" external drives for secure storage.

 

[slpnshot]

:thumbsup:

It's unbelievable that some continue to purchase "pre-built" external drives for secure storage.

Isn't it cheaper just finding a pre-built external atm? I've been trying to find a decent priced HDD for internal use but it seems that the external combos are cheaper than HDD standalone...

I'm just going to hold off on HDs in general until the price evens out in 2012, shopping around for SSD until then...

 

[Soundmanred]

I've had (or still own) multiple (20+) external hard drives from Seagate, Western Digital and a few others and I've never had one fail except the one that was dropped while powered on.

 

[Old Hippie]

Isn't it cheaper just finding a pre-built external atm?

There's usually a small premium to pay for the quality/security of a "home-rolled" unit vs a prebuilt.

Mechanical HD prices are inflated ATM but generally the plan is to purchase a quality drive (5 yr warranty) and install it into a quality enclosure with active cooling if needed.

You'll be able to troubleshoot the drive and enclosure seperately without voiding the warranty or losing your data if the drive is sent in for repair.

It just depends upon how much the data is worth to you.

 

[slpnshot]

Thanks, never thought about the HD warranty being taken into account. At any rate I'll be holding off the HD for a while now. Just tumbling along in my old 320GB, at least the SMART testing still gave it a 90+.