Are USB powered external hard drives reliable?

grfisgd

I always used AC powered external hard drives without much any fails. I want to purchase a portable version 2.5" drive but its powered USB only. Its 2TB and the content will be fairly important to me. Are they reliable /good investment? I'm looking at a My Passport 2TB portable USB for about $120. Any advice?

Answer
I have never had a problem with an external USB-powered drive. The largest I have had was 750gb so far so I can't speak about TB+ drives. I don't know that I would be comfortable with something greater than 1TB as the data is so densely packed which means that all the teeny tiny magnetic specks on the disk are that much smaller. You might google your dirve and see what the alleged MTBF (mean time between failures) is.

external usb hard drive (usb powered) vs external usb hard drive (ac powered)?

James L

which is better? is there a difference...i know that the usb powered will draw power off the laptop batter but that about it. does one last longer then the other? one faster then another...i want to get one for my desktop pc but dont know which one to get.

Answer
usually usb powered external hard drives are 2.5" hard drives
and ac powered hard drives are 3.5"

to figure out which is better you have to look at a number of things
-cache size
-rpms
-and the actual formated size of the drive( how many Gigabytes
higher is better

3.5" drives are usually have a cheaper price to size ratio
also have larger capacities

2.5" drives are portable if you plan on travelling with it
and as you mentioned no need for external power source

either one is good but if you need to save space on your desk or need to travel with it than a usb powered external hard drive is best.

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