External 2.5" HDD or Internal 3.5" HDD + Enclosure?

[CyberneticTitan]

Looking for a storage solution.

 

Mostly for mass storage, fast data transfers aren't really needed and won't be accessed for more than 3 hours in a day.

 

So I'm considering getting:

 

- WD Green 2TB + a $25 HDD enclosure

- WD My Passport Ultra 2TB

- WD Elements 2TB

 

My budget is around $100 CAD.

 

I'm also considering the WD My Book, but the lack of a power switch is a bummer. I'm wondering which is the best in terms of reliability and long-term storage. My data isn't 'critical' per-say, but it would suck losing 2TB of data.

 

No Seagate please. Have had bad experiences.

 

[comicsansms]

Why do you want an external HDD?

What is it for?

[CyberneticTitan]

Why do you want an external HDD?

What is it for?

 

It will be used to store archived video projects but I don't want to open up my PC to hook it up. The power cable and the USB cable of the external enclosure isn't an annoyance of any sort, so don't incorporate that. Thanks.

[comicsansms]

It will be used to store archived video projects but I don't want to open up my PC to hook it up. The power cable and the USB cable of the external enclosure isn't an annoyance of any sort, so don't incorporate that. Thanks.

Easy swap 3.5"  or 5 1/4" bay + internal HDD.

[CyberneticTitan]

Easy swap 3.5" bay + internal HDD.

 

Alright thanks for the suggestion. However why internal 3.5inch HDD over external 3.5inch HDD?

[comicsansms]

Alright thanks for the suggestion. However why internal 3.5inch HDD over external 3.5inch HDD?

Sata is faster than USB 3.0

[CyberneticTitan]

Sata is faster than USB 3.0

 

Just speed huh? What if speed wasn't an issue? I want the most reliable yet expanded storage for the $$$.

[vanished]

Sata is faster than USB 3.0

You are not going to see the difference to an HDD, not even close, unless the interface/controller on the enclosure is really poor, in which case that is your true bottleneck, not the USB 3 interface speed.  The HDD read and write speeds itself are much lower than the speed that either of those interfaces can provide.

[vanished]

Just speed huh? What if speed wasn't an issue? I want the most reliable yet expanded storage for the $$$.

Personally, I think the HDD + (either enclosure or install internally) is a better option than the AIO external drives.  At least that way you have a normal drive and have full control over it.  I've heard that some of those prebuilt enclosures use hardware encryption so that if you ever open them up and try to pull the drive out and use it, you won't be able to get the data off of it.  I had a HDD in an external enclosure, and the enclosure failed and I was able to just pop that drive into my machine, so if what I've heard is true, the same wouldn't be possible with the AIO.

 

That said, I personally use a MyBook for backups and have had no problems so far ~2 years in

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

 

Hey there CyberneticTitan,

 

WD My Passport drives come with hardware encryption option so if you don't need that I could suggest going with the WD Elements Portable. Both drives should work perfectly fine and do the job that you need them. Just make sure you use the "safe eject" option in the OS in order to prevent possible data corruption. 

Another option is to have a docking station hooked to your system and have one or more regular internal drives in there whenever you need them. This way you can have multiple drives stored somewhere and use all of them with a single dock station rather than have enclosures or external drives for every single drive that you have. WD Green is a great option for this purpose!

 

Captain_WD.