advice 4 tough/strong external disc drive

Hi folks,

I seem to get through USB external hard drives very fast even though I don't bounce them off the floor or anything.

The first was a LaCie which worked for about 2 weeks and even though I never moved it, it just died with no warning. I have since read that this is common with LaCie so never again..

I am now using a Clevo laptop P150HM and don't want anything but programmes on the hard drive so save everything to external USB drive.

Now the Western digital I use for this started playing up - first W7 kept giving me the format drive message when I do not want to format. It seemed like maybe the connection was loose because it always gave me the autoplay at the same time. Now it is giving me the dreaded clicking....

I have backed most of it up to an Intenso USB drive I keep for back-up so I will try and rescue the last few files from the WD but I have to get another so the Intenso can remain strictly backup.

Please can anyone suggest a nice strong USB drive that is not too expensive? I thought I could put it in a protective cover to give it some extra padding but I can't afford to keep buying them. Size of drive is not so important as toughness. So please folks what do you think?

 

Depends on if you mean tough in operation or tough in storage. Plenty of the latter are available, e.g. Freecom - ToughDrive Sport - Mobile Hard Drives - External Hard Drives - Products

If you mean tough and slingable when actually on, then not really. You're better off with an SSD.

I'm not sure why they keep on dying on you, but perhaps you're like my ex-GF in that I eventually discovered why she kept killing her Time Machine portable HDD was that she'd just move it around and almost literally just throw it on surfaces while she still had the drive plugged into the laptop. Hard disks cannot be subject to large shocks while they're operating. They can put up with quite a lot of abuse if they're off though.

 

Thanks for your reply Vogelbung (like your pic).... Yeah I mean tough when on (although tough for travel is also good as I am a journalist and have to travel with kit a lot)...

I don't ever throw it on surfaces but I do sometimes work with it resting on the front part of my Clevo next to the trackpad so that when I have a big research project I can keep going by working in bed. I then have to sometimes move the laptop and put it down on the floor when I have to get up for something. I am very gentle with it but I didn't know that moving it was not a good idea.....

I saw the Freecom but wasn't sure if it was just hype. I guess good old Western Digital are still a pretty good bet for general reliability no?

I hadn't thought of SSD as an external - will go and research but bet they are expensive (and as a freelancer I am poor ). One idea I had was to put next portable HDD in a padded bag with the cable sticking out when connected to at least protect from falls.

Any recommendations for either portable SSD or 'normal' portable gratefully accepted.

 

Most modern 2.5" HDD's are pretty darn rugged. When in a powered off state they lock the platters and due to the smaller physical size they are less prone to shock damage than the larger 3.5" cousins.

SSD are in theory much more rugged since it has no physical moving parts but yes they cost WAY more and also come with much lower capacity. Also there are plenty of horror stories of SSD just randomly going bad though I think this is not an issue with a model that has been out for a while that is known to work well.

If I was you I would just get 2 nice 2.5" external HDD's and about once a week or month depending on how often you add new data and how important the data is, just sync it to the other extra drive so you have a backup.

There are many free programs that do the sync for you. Depending on how much data you need backed there are even free programs that will automatically backup/sync your data online usually 2 or 4GB free and then pay for more.

The two HDD is going to be cheaper than SSD and offer even more data protection. I think the main advantage of SSD is its speed over its durability and if you use it as an external drive on USB 2.0 you will not be taking advantage of that speed so I see little reason to pay the premium.

E-SATA or USB 3.0 are fast enough that I would consider it depending on the situation.

 

@ViciousXUSMC

thanks for your reply. I didn't know about the difference between 2.5 and 3.5 discs that is really useful thanks. The Western Digital was always fine when not connected. I used to wrap it in a towel and stick it in a pocket in my handbag for traveling and it was fine. I thought what I was doing with it connected was ok too but now I think not after asking here.

I already do a weekly back-up to another Intenso portable HDD (I use synchtoy) that is never moved. I learned the hard way, first with a disc failure then with a burglar who took not only my laptop but aso a back-up HDD with 8 years photography portfolio. Now the back-up drive gets hidden away from laptop and I am thinking of putting the best RAW files on DVD too. .

Yeah I have e-sata and USB 3 but speed is not a major issue for me. I have such a fast Clevo but it bottle necks because I could only afford a SATA HDD (it is still pretty amazing though for video rendering and photoshop) That is another reason I use external discs for storage and keep the internal HDD for operating system and progs.

Reliability is vital though. I agree about the price of external SDDs so could never afford a big one but maybe I could remove stuff I don't use all the time but that is tricky as it is my main storage....

Will have to weigh it all up because you are right about the costs right now (sadly...)

Is it true that Flash SSDs are superior reliability-wise?

Thanks for help guys I learn so much from these forums it is great and much appreciated...........

 

Well, there's plusses and minuses with SSD's - yes, they are more durable when actually in use, in terms of keeping on ticking while there's drops, vibration, etc present. However, they don't last that long (although we're still talking years) if you do very write-intensive use.

I think unless you genuinely need a drive with you always which can tolerate shocks in use, ViciousXUSMC's suggestion of backing up to two (or more, depending on the level of redundancy you want) drives makes more sense from a cost/benefit point of view. You could always supplement the hard disk backups with Internet backups, of course. iDrive, Mozy, etc etc

 

I think not doing this anymore might fix your problem. Is there any particular reason why you don't want anything other than programs on your internal hard drive?

 

The reason I keep the Clevo hard drive for Operating System and programmes only is because it keeps the computer as fast and efficient as possible. It is my understanding that this is "best practice".

 

I can't say I've ever heard that. I hear people do that with SSD's and a secondary hard drive due to space limitations on the SSD. I wouldn't do that because I think it is meaningless, and especially with all the extra expense and headache you have been having it sounds like a no-brainer.