Reliable portable external hdd?

jonney_joop · 3 Feb 2013 at 09:40

Hi i am looking for a the best reliable external portable hdd.

i have purchased many in the past, seagate, WD etc etc and all have failed miserably within 3-6months.

even the laptop hdd on my dell xps failed within a year!

are all portable hdd's unreliable?

Is there a reliable one out there or should i simply get alarge 3.5 hdd and enclosure and just use that plus a portable hdd?

the data i will store will be pics and those are priceless.

rpstewart · 3 Feb 2013 at 12:12

jonney_joop said:
the data i will store will be pics and those are priceless.

Well make sure you have a backup then!

Portable HDDs are not inherently unreliable but you do need to appreciate that they're not foolproof either. Like any mechanical HDD the internals are delicate precision instruments which need to be treated with a degree of care.

So as long as you're not moving it about too much when it's running or chucking it around recklessly when it's not then you should be OK.

TheVoice · 3 Feb 2013 at 12:40

jonney_joop said:
i have purchased many in the past, seagate, WD etc etc and all have failed miserably within 3-6months.

even the laptop hdd on my dell xps failed within a year!

are all portable hdd's unreliable?

Uhhh...no? If they were, people wouldn't be buying them. I've got two Western Digital Passports (one is about 6 years old, the other is about 4) and a Seagate 1TB which is about 2 years old and never had a problem with any of them. My step-dad has dozens of the damn things from various brands (mostly WD and Seagate) and to my knowledge, has never had one fail.

If you're having that many fail on you, it's because of something other than the reliability of the drive itself.

jonney_joop · 3 Feb 2013 at 15:21

TheVoice said:
Uhhh...no? If they were, people wouldn't be buying them. I've got two Western Digital Passports (one is about 6 years old, the other is about 4) and a Seagate 1TB which is about 2 years old and never had a problem with any of them. My step-dad has dozens of the damn things from various brands (mostly WD and Seagate) and to my knowledge, has never had one fail.

If you're having that many fail on you, it's because of something other than the reliability of the drive itself.

no its the hdd. most of the time these hdd stays at home. heck even my laptop stays at home and that hdd failed on that as well.

i have never had a single 3.5 drive fail on me but lots of portable 2.5 have. i tried loads of brands known to man and they all fail.

i hardly carry them around. dont throw them around the house or use them in extreme temperature conditions yet they have all magically failed on me

KelDG · 4 Feb 2013 at 08:13

If you don't carry them around much why don't you just get a 3.5inch HD and an enclosure. I have never been a fan of the 2.5inch form factor, I see to many of them die in proportion to the sturdy old 3.5inchers. Granted this may be because students kick the ****e out of their laptops and don't really look after their stuff.