Reliability of external USB hard disks?

[SuprSi]

I'm considering buying an external USB hard disk, purely for backup purposes, and I'm curious about what sort of reliability I can expect from such a device. I realise that it's basically a hard disk, so it's open to the same sort of problems as your standard hard disk, but I'd only have it powered on once a week to backup my data.

Has anyone experienced any problems with these drives, such as the Maxtor Personal Storage 5000 or similar?

Thanks,

Simon.

 

[LED]

I suggest you acquire an External Case and pop in the HD for the following reasons:

a) The Ex Cases come in dual protocols so you can use Firewire (which is faster) and USB Hi-Speed and Full if you want to transfer to OP's that do not have either Firewire or USB Hi Speed

b) You can still find HD's that can be used and have a full 3yr warranty whereas the readymades come with 1 yr that I know of

c) Upgrading to more Gigs is possible so it is able to grow with your Data

d) In most cases) You can get 5 1/4" in size 1's so adding optical drives is possible (ie Burner)

e) There was something else but I forgot cause it's early and I haven't had my caffeine rush/hit ... I'll be back if the bytes haven't been added :JAVA;

 

[EeyoreX]

a) The Ex Cases come in dual protocols so you can use Firewire (which is faster) and USB Hi-Speed and Full if you want to transfer to OP's that do not have either Firewire or USB Hi Speed

WesternDigital has dual (USB and IEEE1394) externals, Maxtor probably does too.

b) You can still find HD's that can be used and have a full 3yr warranty whereas the readymades come with 1 yr that I know of

I don't know about the warranty to be honest, I never looked, but 1 year is probably right.

c) Upgrading to more Gigs is possible so it is able to grow with your Data

You can probably do this with a "ready made" as well, if you were so inclined.

d) In most cases) You can get 5 1/4" in size 1's so adding optical drives is possible (ie Burner)

If he put a burner in the external case, where does his hard disk go? I would assume if he needs a burner, he'd need to buy another case anyhow, or buy either an internal or external burner.

Externals are basically internal drives put in a "pretty" case, so they are prone to the same problems and are just as reliable as an internal drive. However, it may be a little less expensive to buy the components (case and hard drive) abd assenble the thing yourself.

\Dan

 

[LED]

If he put a burner in the external case, where does his hard disk go? I would assume if he needs a burner, he'd need to buy another case anyhow, or buy either an internal or external burner.

Geez on the critique ...LOL In place of the HD as the Case will let devices interchange. A ready made change will void the 1 yr warranty...as for the upgrade to more Gigs, I've had 1 external Case (I use 3) that has had a 40gig, then 80, and now a 120Gig HD all with 3 year warranty's in it. Better then buying new ones at a more expensive price every time! and yes I have taken the HD out and put an Optical in it's place when needed, not now cause as I mentioned I have 3.