external hard drives

[mollymoo]

i am after an external hard drive. I have heard that they cannot be used constantly all the time as te same usage as an internal hard drive. Is this the case. I am not talking about constant use through out the day 5 days a week, but a few bit during the day. thanks

[BillyNoMates]

No reason why one can't be used in exactly the same way as an internal drive. They are essentially the same thing, just that the connection to the PC is different.

[honkytonkman]

At work we all have iOmega external HDs as a back-up. They're on all day every day and constantly in use as they backup every minute or so, or when we save. Had no problems at all over many years.

[KebabMeister]

It depends on what sort of external hard drive and whether you're using a PC or a Laptop.  Some PCs or Laptops use a lower Power Supply Unit (PSU) and the external hard drive may require an external power supply.  There are dedicated external hard drives which can be connected to your PC via USB, USB2, Firewire etc.  You can also buy a special case so that you can use a normal PC internal hard drive but externally and they do need a power supply.

Anyway, you can use the external ones as much as you like.

[TEAK36]

I have a 160gb extrnal drive that I use with my laptop at home.I use it every single day, and often leave it on all night whilst downloading, and I have never had a problem.It does have its own power supply though.I bought it from Ebay for about �80.

[dodgyshirt]

When I assemble 3.5in portable hard drives , I always choose a cool-running make of HDD in a fan-cooled enclosure , These can be left running constantly as can branded makes such as IOmega mentioned above.
2.5in drives will depend entirely upon the make of HDD used as the enclosures are too small to contain a fan.Branded ones will be made with this in mind.
Beware of some offered for sale on Ebay as these criteria will not necessarily have been observed by the home-based assemblers and be particularly wary of the item description when described as new because this often refers only to the cheap enclosure which often contains a second-hand HDD.