USB Portable 3.0/2.0 reliability

[Anonymous]

I need a 1TB or larger portable hard drive for use in 3 world foreign
net cafes.

The idea of NOT needing a separate power supply appeals to me, but I
wonder if the portable USB drives are less reliable than using an
internal drive with a usb adapter and separate power supply? Also you
have heat problems with these portable drives that are less of a
problem with a bare internal drive I am thinking.

What factors govern this? How do the newer usb 3.0 portable drives
compare to the earlier ones? Most of the reviews on these portable usb
drives are pretty dismal-lots of complaints. Some recommend just going
with an internal drive and using an adapter. How does reliability vary
when you get beyond 1TB and up?

Also if the portable usb drive fails for some reason connected to it's
interface, I think maybe you will have a hard time removing them and
using them without their internal usb circuit boards??

Solid state drives are OUT due to their increased costs/small sizes.

What's your take on this? Thanks.

 

[Rod Speed]

Anonymous wrote

I need a 1TB or larger portable hard drive for use in 3 world foreign net cafes.

The idea of NOT needing a separate power supply appeals to me,
but I wonder if the portable USB drives are less reliable than using
an internal drive with a usb adapter and separate power supply?

Nope except in the sense that you can find that the USB port you are plugging
the drive into isnt always capable of supplying the current it needs.

Also you have heat problems with these portable drives that
are less of a problem with a bare internal drive I am thinking.

Yes, but the 2.5" portable drives dont have any particular heat problem.

Bare drives are fine for your house if you dont have
cats or kids, but not great for net cafes.

What factors govern this? How do the newer usb
3.0 portable drives compare to the earlier ones?

Like with any bleeding edge technology, there is quite a bit of bleeding.

And bleeding that you cant necessarily do anything much about
when the driver on the system you are using the portable drive
on needs a driver update to handle USB3 reliably.

Most of the reviews on these portable usb
drives are pretty dismal-lots of complaints.

Thats what you always get with the bleeding edge of technology.

Some recommend just going with an internal drive and using an adapter.

Yes, thats what I do myself. Not very suitable for net cafes tho.

How does reliability vary when you get beyond 1TB and up?

The most obvious problem is that there arent that many of those
done with 2.5" drives, so you cant port power the ones that use
a 3.5" drive and you have a heat problem with those too.

Also if the portable usb drive fails for some reason connected to
it's interface, I think maybe you will have a hard time removing
them and using them without their internal usb circuit boards??

No, you can always remove the drive and use it as an internal.

Solid state drives are OUT due to their increased costs/small sizes.

What's your take on this?

That the net cafe use means that you are a lot better off with
2.5" drives for their portability and being able to power them
from the USB port at least part of the time. You need a drive that
can use external power for when the USB power isnt adequate.

Clearly with the smaller drives, you increase the chance of the USB
power being enough to power the drive, so a pair of say 500GB drives
can make more sense than a single 1TB drive with net cafe use.

I wouldnt consider 3.5" drives for net cafe use.

 

[Henry]

Anonymous wrote



Nope except in the sense that you can find that the USB
port you are plugging the drive into isnt always capable of
supplying the current it needs.


Yes, but the 2.5" portable drives dont have any particular
heat problem.

Bare drives are fine for your house if you dont have
cats or kids, but not great for net cafes.

<snip>

Why do you think 3.5 drives are not suitable for net cafes?
Would a 3.5 drive at 5000 rpm and lower cache be more reliable
than one at 7000 rpm and larger cache?
I wonder also for cafe use if it is a good idea to use a surge
protector for power to any separately powered drive.
Are 2.5 drives more inherently more reliable and why? Thanks.

 

[Ed Light]

For sure use a surge protector at cafes. If you can get near a socket to
use. I use a little Trip Lite on my netbook.

One might think that the laptop hard drives may take travelling better,
being meant for laptops, while the desktop drives are meant to be
stationary all their lives.
--
Ed Light

Better World News TV Channel:
http://realnews.com

Iraq Veterans Against the War and Related:
http://ivaw.org
http://couragetoresist.org
http://antiwar.com

Send spam to the FTC at
(e-mail address removed)
Thanks, robots.

 

[Rod Speed]

Henry wrote

Why do you think 3.5 drives are not suitable for net cafes?

They cant be port powered, 2.5" drives are designed to be more rugged
because they are used in laptops, and small enough to put in your pocket.

It would be much more of a nuisance to always have to use external power.
With 2.5" drives, they should at least sometimes work fine port powered.

Would a 3.5 drive at 5000 rpm and lower cache be
more reliable than one at 7000 rpm and larger cache?

The cache size doesnt affect reliability.

The rotation rate likely doesnt have much effect because its no
rotating when you are carrying it around to the net cafes etc.

I wonder also for cafe use if it is a good idea to use a surge
protector for power to any separately powered drive.

Yes, particularly if you are talking about the 3rd world like the OP.

Are 2.5 drives more inherently more reliable
Yes.

and why?

Because they most get used in laptops and are designed
to tolerate the sort of physical treatment a laptop often
gets. They are much more rugged shock wise etc.

 

[Rod Speed]

It is also possible to find external USB boxes built for 2.5 drives
that have 2 USB connectors to get around the issues when the
drive needs more than a single USB port supplies.

Its more usual to use a cable with two USB
connectors on the non drive end for that situation.

 

[David Arnstein]

I need a 1TB or larger portable hard drive for use in 3 world foreign
net cafes.

If this was my problem, I would certainly use a small drive that derives
its power from its USB cable. I would not even consider dealing with an
external power supply and power cables.

I have had good results with Toshiba drives.

I have had BAD results with a drive that used the USB 2.0 "micro" cable
port. I could tap this drive VERY gently with my finger, and cause a
computer to disconnect. Reliably. With Windows systems. With a Macintosh
iMac system.

From reading user reviews on Amazon.com, I have come to believe that
this is a common problem, even with Toshiba drives. I have read plenty
of complaints involving USB 3.0 cable port as well. I don't know much
about the different cable types for USB 3.0 (mini? micro?) but I would
certainly educate myself if I had a need for USB 3.0.

I use Toshiba drives with USB 2.0 "mini" cable ports all the time. No
issues.

I am looking forward to feedback to this post. I am interested in other
folks experience with USB port types.

 

[Rod Speed]

David Arnstein wrote

If this was my problem, I would certainly use a small drive that
derives its power from its USB cable. I would not even consider
dealing with an external power supply and power cables.

I have had good results with Toshiba drives.

I have had BAD results with a drive that used the USB 2.0 "micro"
cable port. I could tap this drive VERY gently with my finger, and
cause a computer to disconnect. Reliably. With Windows systems. With
a Macintosh iMac system.

From reading user reviews on Amazon.com, I have come to believe that
this is a common problem, even with Toshiba drives. I have read plenty
of complaints involving USB 3.0 cable port as well. I don't know much
about the different cable types for USB 3.0 (mini? micro?) but I would
certainly educate myself if I had a need for USB 3.0.

I use Toshiba drives with USB 2.0 "mini" cable ports all the time. No issues.

I am looking forward to feedback to this post. I am interested in
other folks experience with USB port types.

I only use standard USB connectors and never have any problems.

I use bare Samsung drives in a hard drive docking station most of the time, but not always.

 

[David Arnstein]

Good experiences here with Western Digital HP SimpleSave 1TB
2.5" USB 3.0. Cables sit firmly. Drive runs host-powered and even
does not come with a Y-cable.

It does look like a nice drive. I think it uses a mini USB connector
rather than a micro USB connector. What do you think? After a quick
google, I was only able to find a line drawing. No detailed photo.