Portable or desktop external hard drive?


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I'm on the lookout for an external hard drive for backing up.

 

Aside from the size, what is the real difference between portable & external? Is one better than the other?

 

Portable: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/data-storage/hard-drives/portable-external-hard-drives/720_7064_70069_xx_xx/xx-criteria.html

External: http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/data-storage/hard-drives/desktop-external-hard-drives/720_7065_70070_xx_xx/xx-criteria.html

 

I'll be in town tomorrow hopefully in order to buy one.

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desktop requires a power cord (that comes with it) to be plugged into a wall outlet to power

portable runs off usb for power

 

I think portable is the best way to go, never know when you might need something and not have an outlet around you

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That shouldn't be a problem really. The backups will be staying at home. I may move them from PC to laptop but this aside, i have 2 portables now (so could use them if i needed to go away from home) but they will stay at home.

 

Is there any other reason i should go for portable over desktop? Are they just all round better in the above situation (where it'll all be staying at home anyway)?

 

I think i'll be looking at a 2TB one. I have 2x WD ones at the moment. Are these fine enough? Is there a better brand or are they all much the same?

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Desktop, trouble with portables is they get their power from the usb port, the port can supply the hard drive with some power, not necessarily all the power the hard drive needs, I've got about 4, now scrap hard drives (2.5 inch) that failed over a few months due to my not knowing this.

 

I also have various sata hard drives (both 2.5 and 3.5 inch) that work just fine, purely as I bought a mains powered usb hdd enclosure from ebay

(Depending on exactly what you're backing up, another option could be flash drives)

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Depends if you want portability or speed. Desktop drive - they tend to have the edge in performance over portable drives. The desktop drives typically require AC power, where as portable drives use USB power, and they tend to be slower. 

 

For speed, go desktop. It's not as portable as you have more weight and an AC adapter to carry.

For portability, go portable.

 

The Wirecutter has some good articles on The Best External Desktop Drive and The Best Portable Hard Drive

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