[conceptualclarity]

Your view on backup with external HDD vs. internal HDD in an enclosure?
I have been looking for a 2TB portable external hard drive with USB 3.0 or equivalent. I'm now thinking seriously about getting a WD My Passport. (The model is shown at http://www.tigerdire...023&CatId=4227.)

I'm hearing on other threads that external drives are not built for continuous use (cooling has been mentioned as an issue) and that one needs to go the more expensive route of an internal hard drive in a separately purchased enclosure.

I would prefer having a secondary hard drive running concurrently with my computer. (I turn it off when I retire for the day.) I know cooling devices are available for the internal HDD + enclosure combinations. Are they available for external hard drives?

I intend to have online backup to supplement hardware backup.

Comments on this dispute?



Present :Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
32-bit
Service Pack 3

Dell DIMENSION DIM2400
Intel®
Pentium® 4 CPU 2.66GHz
x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
2.05 GB of RAM
Graphics Card: Intel® 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV
Graphics Controller, 64 Mb
Hard Drive Size 114.4GB
Free Space 37.2 GB
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp., 0G1548
Antivirus : avast!

Intending to move as soon as I find one to a new laptop with state of the art home user processing, at least 1 TB hard drive, and at least 8 GB RAM.

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One issue with drives in an enclosure is that you void the warranty if you open the case, so if the interface dies and you want to save your data, you lose the warranty. If you put a drive in an enclosure yourself, each has its own warranty and it is not an issue. Also, you don't know what drive is in the enclosure, which can make a big difference in terms of speed.

Yes, there are better and worse enclosures. Some can be better than the internal bay on the computer, most are not.

Depending on your computer, you might consider getting an enclosure with eSata, which is basically the same as the internal drive, but it can be removed.

If you are going to always have the drive on, you might as well put it inside the computer.

This is an external enclosure that I like:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182247

but I don't leave it on all the time. You can also save money if you don't need USB3.0.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817173043

[Kemasa]

One issue with drives in an enclosure is that you void the warranty if you open the case, so if the interface dies and you want to save your data, you lose the warranty. If you put a drive in an enclosure yourself, each has its own warranty and it is not an issue. Also, you don't know what drive is in the enclosure, which can make a big difference in terms of speed.

Yes, there are better and worse enclosures. Some can be better than the internal bay on the computer, most are not.

Depending on your computer, you might consider getting an enclosure with eSata, which is basically the same as the internal drive, but it can be removed.

If you are going to always have the drive on, you might as well put it inside the computer.

This is an external enclosure that I like:

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182247

but I don't leave it on all the time. You can also save money if you don't need USB3.0.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817173043

[conceptualclarity]

Duplicate post:

http://www.geekstogo...n-an-enclosure/

Actually I wanted that post to stick, and this post I was hoping would just go away in the editing I was doing because "enclosure" got truncated in the title. So I wish you had answered there instead of locking it and answering here. Could we possibly reverse the posts?

Thank you very much for the information and advice.

If you are going to always have the drive on, you might as well put it inside the computer.

I don't think that would be possible in a laptop, would it? If it's inside the computer and the computer fails, wouldn't it fail?

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817182247

but I don't leave it on all the time. You can also save money if you don't need USB3.0.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817173043

Those Rosewills are much cheaper than other enclosures I've been seeing. How would you rate them against the ones that are twice as expensive?

[SleepyDude]

Hi,

I will add that if you decide to buy an external drive for backup only and not to moving around I will choose a 3.5" disk instead of 2.5" like you pointed. The 3.5" external drives are more reliable, faster and less vulnerable to shocks and some of them have small fans on the case to keep the HDD cooler.

The eSata solution it's good but the machine need to support hot-swap or you will have to shutdown the machine to disconnect/connect the drive.

[conceptualclarity]

Thanks for that information and advice.

A techie on another site said this to me :

...I recommend that you avoid any drives of 1TB or larger with a 32-bit Operating System. 32-bit operating systems have difficulty recognizing large data drives unless you are meticulous in your computer setup. The same goes for internal hard drives in an external case.

Your comments?

[SleepyDude]

Thanks for that information and advice.

A techie on another site said this to me :

...I recommend that you avoid any drives of 1TB or larger with a 32-bit Operating System. 32-bit operating systems have difficulty recognizing large data drives unless you are meticulous in your computer setup. The same goes for internal hard drives in an external case.

Your comments?

In my understanding that is true for internal drives but only for Windows XP, Windows Vista and higher 32-bits will use those drives fine for storage, but there is also a limitation booting from 2TB drives.
In case of external drives it seems they have found a way to overcome that problem but to make sure check the box for compatibility with Windows XP to make sure.

[Kemasa]

Actually I wanted that post to stick, and this post I was hoping would just go away in the editing I was doing because "enclosure" got truncated in the title. So I wish you had answered there instead of locking it and answering here. Could we possibly reverse the posts?

It could be done, but since there are other replies here it would not make sense. Next time it would make more sense to delete the first post and then start over or edit the post. The subject can be edited, but there are limits to what shows.

I don't think that would be possible in a laptop, would it? If it's inside the computer and the computer fails, wouldn't it fail?

It depends on the laptop as I have heard that some allow for multiple drives, whereas I think that most do not.

If it is inside the computer, it depends on what fails and how. If the power supply goes, it could damage the drive, but other problems might not affect the drive.

Those Rosewills are much cheaper than other enclosures I've been seeing. How would you rate them against the ones that are twice as expensive?

I can't rate them against the others since I have not spent the money on the other cases. You could look at reviews and see what people say. For me, I want a case which is alum. as it is a heatsink, whereas plastic is not. Also, I want a fan. With the Rosewill cases you can turn off the fan, although I don't know why since it is not noisy.

[conceptualclarity]

It depends on the laptop as I have heard that some allow for multiple drives, whereas I think that most do not.

This is very, very interesting to me in regard to purchase of a new laptop. I want a laptop that will be a splendid machine 5 to 7 years from now. One thing I want is 2 TB hard drive storage in it. If I can find a 500GB laptop that lets me insert a 1.5 TB second hard drive, that would be great.

If it is inside the computer, it depends on what fails and how. If the power supply goes, it could damage the drive, but other problems might not affect the drive.

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of buying a hard drive to backup the system and then putting it inside the computer itself.

I can't rate them against the others since I have not spent the money on the other cases. You could look at reviews and see what people say. For me, I want a case which is alum. as it is a heatsink, whereas plastic is not. Also, I want a fan. With the Rosewill cases you can turn off the fan, although I don't know why since it is not noisy.

Would you consider the Rosewills an excellent product?

[Kemasa]

This is very, very interesting to me in regard to purchase of a new laptop. I want a laptop that will be a splendid machine 5 to 7 years from now. One thing I want is 2 TB hard drive storage in it. If I can find a 500GB laptop that lets me insert a 1.5 TB second hard drive, that would be great.

The problem is in trying to find one since most searches don't tell you. One example, which seems to be discontinued is the Toshiba p875-7102 (at least a person said he had two drives in it).

I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of buying a hard drive to backup the system and then putting it inside the computer itself.

If your purpose is to have a backup, then you might not want it in the machine, but then again if you were to go with RAID1, then you would want it in the machine, but that is a different type of backup.

Would you consider the Rosewills an excellent product?

I like them. I don't own their stock, but I have 4 of their external enclosures, if that answers your question :-).