Most Reliable Portable HDD

[imusorka]

It probably is WD My Passport but what model? There are Elements, Essential, Elite, Edge, Studio, Enterprise and the one without an extra name. Does capacity affect reliability? And which one is currently the best value?

 

[Denithor]

Capacity doesn't directly affect reliability. If you can find which model HDD is actually used inside, look for a unit with the fewest platters (fewer moving parts = less chances for stuff to break).

All else being equal, drives labeled as Enterprise are usually made to a higher standard and/or go through more exhaustive quality checks & validation testing.

It won't be the best value or the highest capacity, but you might consider just buying an SSD and mounting in an external enclosure. No moving parts = not subject to damage from typical drops/bangs/etc - which is quite nice in a portable drive.

 

[lubomir]

the only close-to-reliable external or internal drive is the one... you have backed up. Or at least mirrored (Raid1).

You can NEVER rely on "statistical reliability" of any mechanical storage. They just break. Without warning. Your data will be gone even if your drive will be the first to go down in this world - so even if anything had 100.00000% reliability before, your data will be lost.

And I'm pretty sure you understand there is nothing with 100.0000% today.

Back up, mate. Storage costs nothing today. Buy identical drives, two of them, have your data stored twice. Don't put all eggs to the same basket. NEVER.

 

[Coup27]

the only close-to-reliable external or internal drive is the one... you have backed up. Or at least mirrored (Raid1).

You can NEVER rely on "statistical reliability" of any mechanical storage. They just break. Without warning. Your data will be gone even if your drive will be the first to go down in this world - so even if anything had 100.00000% reliability before, your data will be lost.

And I'm pretty sure you understand there is nothing with 100.0000% today.

Back up, mate. Storage costs nothing today. Buy identical drives, two of them, have your data stored twice. Don't put all eggs to the same basket. NEVER.

Whilst the theory of the above is true, I think you have gone off in a slightly different direction than the actual question.

Portable hard drives are not used for the primary location of data storage. They are uses either to backup from a primary location to the portable HDD which is then stored somewhere, or they are used to copy data, or more specifically large data from point A to point B. Both scenarios the data already exists at another location. I use my portable hard drive to copy data between my home and work machine, and also to image machines I get called out to fix so I can transfer that image onto my primary machine and then into my backup schedule.

Regarding the drives, I very much doubt there is any difference in the actual internal HDD inside all of the passport series. All of them including the enterprise version can be powered from a single USB2 port. If WD could get a 7,200rpm HDD from a single USB2 port then I would suspect they would standardise on 7,200rpm across the passport range but to my knowledge they are all 5,400rpm.

If you look on Western Digital's site they promote the enterprise drive has having "Windows to go" - a feature which will allow you to run a virtualised environment from the drive on a host PC without leaving a trace on the host PC. Nowhere does it talk about any additional reliability the drive offers over the non-enterprise drives. On WD's SAS drives and RE drives they do talk about an increase in reliability.

Depending on how sensitive your data is you may want to avoid the Elements as it does not support any form of encryption. If you need more than 500GB that rules out the Passport Edge and the Enterprise. I have just bought myself a 500GB Passport as it supports encryption and was well priced. But in terms of reliability there will be nothing in it between them.

 

[ronbo613]

I've used the Passport Essential(I think, the 1TB model for about $100) for over a year with no issues and lots of traveling.
Backup? Of course, but I use this drive for temporary storage after replacing a 250G mechanical drive with a 120G SSD in my laptop.

 

[lubomir]

>> Portable hard drives are not used for the primary location of data storage.

yes, you are right - I've probably gone too far. I personally know a lot of people who have lost their VALUABLE data by storing them on external harddrive (of any form) ONLY.

I guess the point is taken - take any storage seriously. Only you know the value of your data.


Sure, if I only write p0rn/moviez/mp3z to drive, I have absolutely no worries about its reliability

 

[kleinkinstein]

No pre-built portable hdd is safe. They are strapped together with inferior parts. If you want something that is worthy of your data, pick a hdd and stick it in the eSata fanned enclosure of your choosing.

 

[Coup27]

No pre-built portable hdd is safe. They are strapped together with inferior parts. If you want something that is worthy of your data, pick a hdd and stick it in the eSata fanned enclosure of your choosing.

I don't agree with this at all. The whole purpose of a portable hard drive is that they are small and portable. If you stick your own HDD into a fanned enclosure it will be much larger, heavier and require separate power. There is also just as much chance of electronics or mechanical failure whichever route you take. As I have already pointed out above, portable HDDs are not the primary location of data storage. Unless you are a fool, if your drive fails it is most likely to cause you inconvenience rather than data loss.

 

[imusorka]

Sorry for not being clear to start with. This is for backup. 500GB will be enough. Portability is important. Which of the drives in the My Passport range shall I go for then?

 

[Coup27]

If you want to encrypt the backup at the hardware level, then Edge or Passport, whichever is cheaper, I would assume Passport. If you don't care about encrypting it or any of WD's software tools, then Elements.

 

[imusorka]

No need for encryption or software but Elements looks massive. Is it larger and heavier than Passport?

 

[Coup27]

I think the picture is misleading:

Elements 113x78x19mm 0.21kg
Passport 111x82x15mm 0.13kg
Edge 110x81x12mm 0.13kg

Based on that, go for the Passport, it's much cheaper and the size difference is negligible.

 

[imusorka]

Thanks a bunch! Elements is actually cheaper in the U.S. Is Passport cheaper in the UK?

 

[Coup27]

Elements is £43.10
Passport is £52.66
Edge is £68.97

Edge certainly isn't worth the premium and I'd pay a little more for the Passport as it's smaller and lighter. Elements is bound to be cheaper as it's the entry level device.

Edit: That's my fault. When I said Passport is cheaper I meant over the Edge.

 

[Charlie98]

Just FYI, the Seagate GoFlex portables have been on sale lately, I just picked up another 500GB to match my original as I use them alternately to write backups to. My original one has been running strong for 2.5 years or more and has over 12000 power on hours... never a problem.

 

[kleinkinstein]

Last edited by Coup27; Today at 02:37 PM. Reason: grammar

Nothing else need to be said.

 

[imusorka]

Charlie, how much did you pay?

 

[Coup27]

Nothing else need to be said.

No it doesn't. What you have done there is made yourself look incredibly pathetic by not responding to my post with anything to support your statement, but rather tried to dismiss my post because I put a comma in the wrong place.

Well done.

 

[Charlie98]

Charlie, how much did you pay?

My apologies... I just saw where you are UK, not USA. Target stores had the 750GB version on sale for $49 this week. I got my 2nd 500GB from Newegg for $59, free shipping, 2 weeks ago. Now that I'm researching it, the GoFlex FreeAgent looks like it has been discontinued... and all they have left is the standard portables...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822178113

It's also USB 3.0 @ $49

You may be able to find the GoFlex' on clearance now... I don't know. There are USB 2.0 and 3.0 versions, if 3.0 is important to you, make sure you know what you are buying.

 

[Auric]

I'd rather choose the specific bare drive, adapter, and case (or simple rubber enclosure). The pre-built ones are less likely (if not unlikely) to sport the latest technology and the USB is commonly integrated so they can never be used internally nor with eSATA.

Western Digital LPVT are nice: 7mm, low acoustics and power usage, and fast sequential transfers ideal for backup.

 

[imusorka]

Got a 500GB Passport for $50 (Amazon Lightning Deal). Thanks for the insight everyone!