external vs internal hard drive

tri7 · 07-06-2009, 06:53 AM

Hi all

Wonder if any of you could clear a question. Are there any reasons why one should prefer to buy an already built external hard drive over buying an ide sata internal and a box? Are there any differences in reliability, component quality etc?

Thanks for any pointers

**raptor_pa** · 07-06-2009, 07:02 AM

No real differences, except you can get some external enclosures only that are better ventilated than the pre-assembled - and heat damage is a major cause of failures in externals.. along with dropping. generally speaking, if you don't need portable storage and it is a desktop, you are better off to add another internal drive to the PC if you have room - in the case they are generally ventilated/cooled better.

tri7 · 07-06-2009, 07:08 AM

Thank you very much!

Direct to the point. In fact I do need portable storage for my laptop and already have an external but box+ide hd. But its true that this time it's meant for more important data, and so will definitely look for a built well ventilated hd.

Thanks again

07-06-2009, 06:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
tri7 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2 OS: vista 32	external vs internal hard drive Hi all Wonder if any of you could clear a question. Are there any reasons why one should prefer to buy an already built external hard drive over buying an ide sata internal and a box? Are there any differences in reliability, component quality etc? Thanks for any pointers

07-06-2009, 07:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
raptor_pa Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Central PA Posts: 6,257 OS: XP	Re: external vs internal hard drive No real differences, except you can get some external enclosures only that are better ventilated than the pre-assembled - and heat damage is a major cause of failures in externals.. along with dropping. generally speaking, if you don't need portable storage and it is a desktop, you are better off to add another internal drive to the PC if you have room - in the case they are generally ventilated/cooled better. __________________

07-06-2009, 07:08 AM	#3 (permalink)
tri7 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 2 OS: vista 32	Re: external vs internal hard drive Thank you very much! Direct to the point. In fact I do need portable storage for my laptop and already have an external but box+ide hd. But its true that this time it's meant for more important data, and so will definitely look for a built well ventilated hd. Thanks again Last edited by tri7; 07-06-2009 at 07:12 AM. Reason: forgot to metion it's for a laptop