Are portable external hard drives good for back ups?

[Scruffy90]

Are portable external hard drives good for back ups?

[dizmo]

That's generally what they're designed for, so yes.

[DrMacintosh]

I use a 1TB G-Drive that I partitioned 50/50 to back up my MacBook Pro with via TimeMachine. 

 

So yes.   

[Scruffy90]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

That's generally what they're designed for, so yes.

Are they? Thought it was just to lug more files than could be stored on a device around with you.

[dizmo]

Just now, Scruffy90 said:

Are they? Thought it was just to lug more files than could be stored on a device around with you.

Depends on the type you buy, if you're buying a desktop one, then most come with back up software.

If you're buying a portable one, then yeah, mostly for file transport.

[DrMacintosh]

1 minute ago, Scruffy90 said:

Are they?

Well they are just laptop HDDs inside an enclosure. You can use them for whatever a USB HDD can be used for. 

[Scruffy90]

Just now, dizmo said:

Depends on the type you buy, if you're buying a desktop one, then most come with back up software.

If you're buying a portable one, then yeah, mostly for file transport.

I'm considering a portable just because of the price and it's easier for me to ask someone to store one offsite

[Scruffy90]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

Well they are just laptop HDDs inside an enclosure. You can use them for whatever a USB HDD can be used for. 

Makes sense. I was mostly concerned about the quality of the 2.5" drives and potential longevity of said drives.

[DrMacintosh]

Just now, Scruffy90 said:

I was mostly concerned about the quality of the 2.5" drives

Just as reliable as 3.5" ones. 

 

Just dont drop it or put it through a wall and it should be fine. 

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, Scruffy90 said:

I'm considering a portable just because of the price and it's easier for me to ask someone to store one offsite

Ahh yeah. I think WD drives come with backup software even with their portable drives. At least I think my Passport Ultra did.

2 minutes ago, Scruffy90 said:

Makes sense. I was mostly concerned about the quality of the 2.5" drives and potential longevity of said drives.

2.5" drives are just as reliable as 3.5" drives, if not more so as most have some kind of protection from movement.

[Zodiark1593]

I've had 2.5" drives last literally years. My laptop's old drive died after 5 years of pretty heavy use. I still have a drive from my laptop prior in the desktop for free storage, which is about 9 years old now. 

[D13H4RD]

External hard drives are typically used to either image a hard drive partition or as a large storage solution to move or back up important files away from a system.

 

Most of them are typically used a few times in a year. Their lifespan tend to be longer because of that.

[Scruffy90]

37 minutes ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

External hard drives are typically used to either image a hard drive partition or as a large storage solution to move or back up important files away from a system.

 

Most of them are typically used a few times in a year. Their lifespan tend to be longer because of that.

I was speaking of a portable one specifically. If I buy one they'd mostly be used to back up my non media files from my NAS and send  one of the two HDD's to someones house and rotate them occasionally.