Why do Portable/external HDD stuff up??

Because of the word "portable" aka removable.

And the interface/connection method.

And [commonly] they have poor cooling/ventilation.

An OS takes 'time' to find things..... particularly if there's an intervening AV proggy....;)

Personally I think that's 90% of it right there.  I've always had to look a little harder to find one that's not an easy-bake oven.

I had a few acer models before, to say that they have "poor" cooling/ventilation is understating it. They didn't have any. Failed within 3 years.

I've had my Western Digital external HDD for two years and never had a problem. It does incremental backups and even has a lock on it that needs a password to open. Plus there's plenty of cooling, top, bottom and one side. Even dropped it once and it still works. So I think I got a pretty good deal.

I have 10 portable hard-drives. Don't try to figure out why, I'll just tell you I edit uncompressed raw home video.

I've only had one go bad - my brother dropped it. I have 3 different brands, but most of them are Western Digital.

The clicking I've had a number of times and it's always been 'expected behaviour' - it was always a USB issue - the port wasn't giving enough power to the drive (you can get special dual-usb cables which can alleviate the problem), the connection wasn't fitted correctly, or the cable wasn't suitable (sometimes damaged, some cables can't seem to carry the current/data), or drive connected to USB1.0 port (even if it did work...why would you)

Transfers from USB is not necessarily as fast as the USB architecture can handle, the harddrive itself still has to seek the data and cache it, different brands probably have different capability. USB ports can have bandwidth/power issues too depending on the system config and the software running. Also, file transfers of many many small files will take longer than the same size of data being transferred as one huge file - it's just a file system thing.

None of my drives have ever overheated or become alarmingly warm - but then, I also don't use them as primary drives constantly on. They also appear to 'go to sleep' if not active for a while, so initial access can take a bit 'wake up' time.

I love portable drives - so easy to take my uncompressed raw home video to whatever computer/house I need to.

the stuffing long loading times come from the connection "usb" is quite slow,even usb 3 is and cant be compared with internal HDD´s
some Mainboards boost internal drives like gigabyte for example...
long loading time or boot up happens because the drive is to big not defragmented  or is simply filled with files with no space left... normaly a drive should not be over 80% capacity... sounds strange but its like that
I also have a western digital 1TB external drive- that old friend is also crowded with files and almost maxed out- it is usb2  and if i hook it up to my computer booting time sometimes increase by 1 minute+ its simply because the drive isnt recognized fast enough sometimes it helps to turn on legacy usb support in the Bios options but mostly even then if the drive is overfilled with data it will be slow-you may see drops in speeds while copying files
larger than 4 gigs+ i store all my ZBrush work on an external usb 3.0 drive and the max transfer rate is 85 - 90 mb/s pretty slow compared to an internal HDD... usb is theoretically fast but in practice its not like that

This is from a guy that tested a bunch of them and the results were like this

• My speeds are External disc to PC=74 MB/sec; PC to External Disc=43 MB/sec; PC to Flash Drive 25 MB/sec; Flash Drive to PC 91 MB/sec.

 

If you buy an external HDD check what drive is in the case most of the time 5200rpm drives are used and not 7200rpm 

Portable drives not showing up directly can be also caused by securing your data because its connected by a  different user that has not the permissions to view read write data or by beeing blocked from antivirus that is seeing an autorun.inf located on the disk to simply show ( the western digital logo ) for example seagate or whatever
The clicking sound is ceratinly something different and is the first sign of a  HDD dying( does the external have its own power source or is it powered via usb ) if its connected and does not have its own power source you may have to many devices hooked up
I for myself will not buy a USB3 anymore i will wait for Thunderbolt addon card and buy myself a drive if the prices drop a little...

I've used Mad Dog Hard Drive Cases for the external hard drives I have made from old PC's and have never had a problem with them. I also recieved a 1TB Seagtae external HD for a gift and it's been fine. My only issue with the Seagate HD is that there is no on/off switch.

I worried about 'cooling' when I first started using the Mad Dog cases, but I don't leave them running. I only turn them on when I need something from them.

The Seagate get's left on quite a bit as I have all my graphics stored on it as well as my PC games (WOW, STOL, DCOL, CHOL, and Forsaken World) .

ups yeah forgot about the cooling -  like i said im using my 1tb external non stop and my computer is powered for mostly 24/6 a week it is wednesday and my computer is running since saturday the external always gets in use and the temprature is 2 degrees above room temp - its idle sometimes sure but they don´t heat up that much.

I've had 11 externals over the years, the only one not alive & kicking now is the one I dropped.  But my usage pattern might be different from the OP.  All mine are for  backups only -- run them as long as it takes to back up what I need, then unplug and put somewhere safe.  So overheating is not much of an issue even though some of them run in S. California w/o air-cond.   Even my ancient 160 gb usb2 LaCie drives are still good.

Samsung x4, Seagate x2, Toshiba x2, Lacie x2, WD x1.  All fine except the Humpty-Dumpty model WD.

BTW, as far as I am concerned, the main point of externals is off-site storage.  Protected against fire / flood / lightning etc, and as close to hacker-proof as anything can be nowadays.

Thanks for the posts,

After reading through all the posts it has given me some things to think about.

One common factor with all the portable drives i have owned is that they do tend to get knocked around a bit, taken to work, taken to friends places etc etc. It is the actual 'Mobile' part that is probably the big killer!

So in conclusion i should be looking for a shock resistant drive and or casing with good cooling ability?

No reason i could not build my own casing and install extra shock absorbing and cooling mechanisms - I could use a 2.5" drive to start with and in the end it will look like a 3.5" portable drive!!

Impact

Heat

Over/under voltage

Top three killers of almost anything electronic.

External drives often suffer from all three at once.

'Nuff said

That may be a good choice. Laptop harddrives may indeed travel better than desktop drives, and require less power to run them..

Well, the new generation of popular external drives are 2.5" anyway because their smaller and lighter, which are always popular features for mobile electronic devices. I have actually purchased one of these as well which stuffed up just the same - not surprising since the 2.5" drive is shoved in a tiny pocket of plastic with absolutely no clearance around the drive!

One of the biggest killers of anything removable is people not doing the "safely remove USB hardware" thing.

Also, with external drives I always follow the 3 second rule.  Alfter doing the "safely remove hardware" thing and unplugging the drive I never touch/move the drive in question until a full (and I mean FULL) 3 seconds have elapsed.  Call it a "leftover" from days long gone and past but I find my "3 second rule" hasn't failed me yet. 

Good topic guys, I was curious as to has anyone used the external HDD using LAN Wi-Fi...

Are they're the same or better than connected drives via USB...

Not me, and i would never use a Wi Fi HDD because in my entire life i have never encountered a Wi Fi device that actually works! Oh wait, i lied, we had a Wi Fi printer at work that did actually work properly when we first set it up!! Then the next day it refused to connect on the network. We took the printer back to the shop and exchanged it, Wi Fi still stupid in replacement printer, plugged LAN cable into it, excellent! I could go on all day about all the Wi Fi that don't work, but the point here is that at least the Wi Fi did work properly for 1 day with that first printer, so there is evidence that Wi Fi can actually work, it is possible!!!! (extreme sarcasm alert)

Edit: Above referring to peripheral devices - not that Wi Fi computer connections are perfect, they can refuse for no apparent reason too, but then so can cable connections! Usually once you have eventually won the war to convince them to work, they are reliable.

Transcend make 2.5" shock proof drives that the U.S military use,I have one & can confirm no issues after dropping..lol..the largest they have at the mo tho is a measly 1tb,i keep mine in it's original plastic packing case as extra security obviously opening it when in use to allow air circulation,they're quite stylish too

shock proofs are the ones horizontal & with the vertical colored strip 25m2 & 25m3

http://au.transcend-info.com/products/overview.asp?FldNo=4&LangNo=0&Func1No=0&Func2No=25

An acquaintance of mine lost 300 years of family tree when his brother removed/reinserted a usb mp3 player that was charging...without 'dismounting' it first.

The HD died....wouldn't boot.

I had a look....not only doesn't it boot it doesn't spin up at all.  ECB is fried.  Cost of recovery....Professionals only....;p

Exit one 200gig Seagate.

I've used external HD enclosures for years and never had problems with them.  Most I use for swappable file storage but some are OS boot set ups.

• I'm extremely careful when swapping them in and out of the enclosure:
• Get a good grip on the ribbon cable connector and don't twist or lever it when detaching
• Don't set them down hard or bump the corners--espceially on metal desks and the like.
• Check the HD connector for dirt, dust and lint and connect it smoothly and in a straight motion.
• Don't move it while it is accessing information or winding down/transferring
• Watch the cables and power so you don't accidentally snag them loose while using the drive

As to the "out of the box" ones...

Many are cheap laptop drives packed into a poorly ventilated enclosure

• Poorly designed--especially early models
• Incorrectly formated
• Easily toasted by under or over power surges
• Cheap power connectors

Most of the wear and tear on external/portable drives (aside from flash memory drives) is poor user handling--treating them like they are books to be tossed into a backpack...exposing them to excess heat and humidity (like coming out of the freezing cold in winter into a hot room and popping it in or vice-versa in the summer)...dropping them...moving them while in use...static charge.

Collectively, all these give more opportunity for problems.  If you are consistently careful, they're way less likely to happen.

It occurs to me that advice on not handling the portable drive while it is working/winding down or using the safely remove hardware feature, does not stack well with situations where secrecy dictates a drive has to be tucked away quickly when someone (parent/spouse/boss) unexpectedly enters a room!!!

Nothing you do on your computer "should" require hiding when someone  (parent/spouse/boss)  unexpectedly enters a room!!!  ...;p

The FBI is gonna find it anyway.

only when the Flaming Bullshit Inventors can search in AUSTRALIA (and assuming that they CAN find what they are searching FOR.

harpo

I see someones excuse imagination isn't working properly.... for example, the graphical design your making for their birthday!

karma?