RE: External Harddrives opinions
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Posted by Lt purefreak
On 2007-11-07 09:38:53
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I mostly agree with samako93 here...
I just want to add that another reason for external's (maybe) shorter lifespan is from cooling problems.
Where I live it's very dusty and scorching hot the whole time (35 - 45C) and I've lost about 4 externals in a 2 year period, whilst only having to replace 1 internal HDD in that same timespan. (note that this is rather extreme conditions)
So your casing plays a big part here. To overcome this problem I switched to
Flash Drives... they'll put you out about $20 per GB of storage, but I personally think they're worth it. They can take alot more bumping and wear-n-tear than the conventional HDDs.
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RE: External Harddrives opinions
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Posted by Gamma LtKer samako93
On 2007-11-07 03:29:46
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external hard drives don't crash any more than an internal one. they are exactly the same hardware.
i can see why you'd want to get an external one for extra space on your laptop, and there's nothing to really worry about with it.
the only reason that an external one would come to the end of its lifetime any quicker than an internal hd would be due to the abuse of the hd during transportation.
external hds tend to get beat up more because of their portability, thus causing physical problems to the drive. if you're using the drive solely for backup on your laptop, you shouldn't worry about it crashing or becoming damaged at all (as long as you dont take it with you to places and drop it all the time)
most hard drives now come with 5 year manufacturer's warranty, just to show that they most likely won't die :p if they do it'd be their fault. it's more of a reassurance thing really..
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RE: External Harddrives opinions
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Posted by Beta Tr nikkitracks
On 2007-11-07 21:02:01
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Most bare drives in the UK these days come with a paltry 1 year warranty - you can go for more expensive models like the 24x7 and Raptor drives (3 or 5 years....which reminds me, I've got a 36GB Raptor which needs to go back...), but you pay for the warranty with a bit extra out of your pocket. I'd say that a manufacturer that takes one of the 1 year drives, sticks it in an external enclosure and sells it with a 5 year warranty is probably not going to last long ;)
I'd agree with those saying that external drives don't last as long purely because they're exposed to more extreme conditions (like rucksacks) than their relatively sedentary internal counterparts, but that's purely subjective. I've had more internal than external drives die, although that's on the basis that I've only had one external and many internals ;)
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RE: External Harddrives opinions
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Posted by Ret. Alpha LtKer Venom
On 2007-11-07 03:24:53
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Or.. you could just use a DVD or 2 to make backups every so often? Or even in addition to storing your files on the external drive. Redundancy never hurt anyone :)
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