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Small question here...

T

tiesto

n00b
Joined
Jul 26, 2006
Messages
21
Hi,

I am looking to buy an external HDD.

Is it preferable to buy an "internal HDD + enclosure" or to buy an "pure external HDD" (aka WD Passport, myBook, Seagate FreeAgent, etc.)? In terms of failure rate, lifetime and stuff, which solution is better?

Thanks!
 
If you have a spare HDD layin around, you might as well buy a $10-$20 enclosure. If you don't, then buying a pre-assembled one is easier, and some come with easy to use backup software (for the tech challenged). I haven't seen any disparity between the lifetime/failure rate of pre-assembled externals vs internal drives. Most, if not all, major brand external drives use drives straight off the internal lineup.
 
Thanks.

Unfortunately, I don't have a spare HDD.

Is there a huge difference in performance between a 5400RPM (what most pre-assembled externals have) and a 7200RPM (standard for internals)?!
 
I haven't heard of the brand, either. I have no clue how good it is. I stick to WD and Seagate for my drives, regardless of internal/external. As for enclosures, I like Vantecs or anything aluminum, hehe.
 
I bought a WD MyBook a 3 years ago. There well built and seem to last a long time as I still use it. However, they have slow access times and will hold up a Windows boot time by about 20 seconds. Mine does anyway. I also have a Seagate Free Agent. That rocks. But you gotta reformat it cause it comes with software for backing up and such that load every time you plug it in.
 
dkev said:
. Mine does anyway. I also have a Seagate Free Agent. That rocks. But you gotta reformat it cause it comes with software for backing up and such that load every time you plug it in.
Click to expand...

Rather than reformat, you could have just deleted the software. That's what I did for my Seagate and Maxtor external hard drives.

Anyway one of the main reasons why a enclosure + internal hard drive is a good choice is that you can open up the enclosure and inspect the drive yourself without voiding your warranty. There are some cases where it was just the enclosure itself that died, not the hard drive. In addition, it also allows you to repurpose the drive for other uses (put it into a WHS server or something) without voiding your warranty.

Then again, prebuilt external hard drives are cheaper than their DIY counterparts.

I haven't heard of Fantom Drives either. I tend to stick to Seagate and Maxtor external hard drives with Western Digital sometimes.
 
... Whereas I've been on a WD external kick lately.

The advantage of a store-bought external HDD over a DIY enclosure/internal HDD combination involves 2.5" drives. The retail external HDDs are powered by one USB 2.0 port (I don't know much about the newer eSATA drives) whereas most (if not all) 2.5" enclosures seem to require the use of two USB ports (oftentimes in a Y-cable, but sometimes as two separate cables). I use a 2.5" external WD HDD as it's the external drive that I've used with my laptops -- and, until my recent laptop, I've always had a problem with the lack of available USB ports. (Ironically, I didn't buy a portable USB hub worth a damn until after I no longer needed it, but that's another story for another time.)

That said, I'm personally in the "buy an external HDD enclosure and internal HDD" camp. Oftentimes, you have to extra for features on an external HDD, like NAS/Ethernet and eSATA, that are starting to become common on even the cheaper external enclosures.
 
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