Why I'm done with portable hard drives

EVERY single one

It's not just you. EVERY single external hard drive I have owned has failed with very little or no warning. Here the WD one that just failed had warning messages dating back three days ago; but, of course, I would have never known about those if I didn't look in the log since Windows didn't bother to tell me. Well, as for me, the first indication of a problem was when most of the programs had running problems, and the reason was that it was using the defective drive as a recycling dumping ground for other drives even though I didn't set it up to do that. I only found out about the failure during a Windows Update when it was trying to use the volume in this fashion; but, instead of recycling a file, it recycled itself. By then there was only one directory I could recover; and, I should have recovered it, but I wanted to see if there was anything else I could do. Apparently, there wasn't.

In addition to the Western Digital external drive, I've had two Maxtors (actually three, one was replaced during warranty) and they all failed. All four hard drives failed with the EXACT same error code: S.M.A.R.T. ID 5. I did not abuse any of them. Just do yourself a favor and avoid external hard drives. It's time to let these cheapskates know that people aren't going to tolerate this crap any longer.

Done with portable hard drives

I had one die on me. When I opened the case I found that the cable socket had broken a solder joint. As it was out of warrenty I just took the HD itself out and put in an adaptec case ($35?) and it's been running fine for the last nearly 2 years now. They don't like rough handling apparently. I just bought another, larger portable . . . much easier than replacing the hd in my laptop.

I had the same problem, the

I had the same problem, the drive just didn't show up one day. I eventually just cracked open the case it was in and bought a hard drive case, it worked but that was probably luck on my side.

Sure, but not 100% failure

Portables seem likely to have a higher failure rate, but I think we can assume that 100% isn't representative. I'm leaning towards something common in the usage pattern - which is to say, yes, it's you.

Done with portable hard drives? That may be a bit rash.

I have had the same frustration with removable hard drives. I have used Firewire, eSATA, USB2. They all have horrible track records. Anyone who claims to 'love' these junky gems, wait three to six months and tell me you still love 'em. The only ones that 'seem' to work the best are the ones you put together yourself. You buy the cases (the ones with built-in fans and thermal sensing), and load in your own server-quality drives.
I have had just about every major vendor out there, in the quest to find that reliable backup or alternate storage device. They are all the same. Pick any one vendor and you will get some that work reliably for years or maybe months. I have had some that last for five years, and some for five weeks. They all get the same heat exposure, the same use, the same static conditions (they don't get handled or moved at any time during their use). There is no rhyme or reason.
If a manufacturer was able to put together a reliable unit that would last five to six years, I would buy from them and keep buying and tell my customers and associates to buy from them.
Right now, my only means of defense is in numbers and redundancy. I have three main backup areas; 1) Work data (3D CAD, Video Editiing, 3D modeling), 2) Home, Personal, and Entertainment data, 3) Program and System backup.
All three of these ares get quadruple redundancy. That is not even over-kill! That is simply the reality. I have had three hard drives fail within days of each other, and without the redundancy would be up the proverbial creek.
Removable, external hard drives are a pain... evil in fact... but a necessary evil. It's naive to trust these devices, in and of themselves. The only way around it is in redundancy and good backup practices.

I have had 1 drive die on my

I have had 1 drive die on my father. Though I have owned a Lacie Firewire 160gb drive for 2 years and it has not died on me. It should probably be dead, I am pretty tough on that thing, but it continues to live on. I also have a 80gb 2.5 drive that was from my dead laptop, I put it in an external case, and it has yet to die after a year. I mostly keep the top cover of the case off, and my drive gets banged up in my room. It still works perfectly.

Also, you live in one of the best places in the world.

I use those too. Nothing of this sort has ever happened.

A portable USB drive should be very carefully selected!

You MUST protect the drive! The box is crucial to the survivability of the drive. I never trust the company box. Boxes are usually heat-traps, and are poorly isolated from high-frequency shocks. You should choose your box carefully and the best box out there is Antec MX-1.

The USB connection wears-off from extensive use. Improper contact at the USB plug may wreak havoc with your data. Change the USB connection often.

Ejecting properly?

I'm not going to bother reading through 18 pages to see if someone else mentioned this, but you've given no detail as to HOW these drives have "crashed". Have you tried reading them with a linux recovery disc or even a live cd? Does it show the hardware device in windows device manager or linux dmesg? Does it show a partition table? Does it recognize the format of the partition?

I'm going to guess that you're not ejecting/unmounting these drives before yanking the usb cable. This can and WILL cause data corruption if done repeatedly over time.

I have a 160 GB USB drive

I have a 160 GB USB drive and have had no problems in almost 2 years or use. I do not move it around very much and if I'm not going to use it I power it off.

Done with External Hard Drives?

Actually, my experience has been pretty good. No failures yet, but then my external hard drives are not moved frequently, and are not run continuously.

Many of these external drives (especially the older ones) come in inepxensive cases, with cheap electronics, and use small, cheap sleeve-bearing fans for cooling. The cooling fans are usually the first thing to fail; after they go, the heat usually fries the case's electronics next. The hard drives themselves can often withstand a surprising amount of heat, but will eventually fail if left without cooling. If yours has recently stopped responding, you might try removing the drive and installing it to a new enclosure. If the drive itself hasn't failed, your data will be intact and your drive will once again function as it should.

Many newer external drives use metal enclosures (instead of plastic) that are cooled by induction through the case, and need room for air to circulate around them. They can fail if operated from within carry bags, or placements that limit the airflow. If they do fail, it could still be the electronics, and the drive inside might still be operable in another case.

If your external drive is moved around alot, and hasn't suffered any severe impact damage, it could be that frequently connecting and disconnecting the data cable has resulted in damage either to the cable or the case's jack, either of which can be fixed or replaced.

Once you're up and running, keep in mind that these drives are not meant for continuous use or frequent movement. It's best to keep one at home and/or in the office for backup purposes, then use a removable-media drive (like a CD-RW or DVD-RW) for transporting data back and forth. And your backup regimen should include two backups (like one to the external HDD, another to a second device such as a secure website, removable media, etc.).

Hope this info helps . . . .