Internal or external hard drives?

[Joe2]

I have 3 hard drives on my computer. One hard drive named C is only used for my Win XP Pro SP3 operating system and nothing else. A second hard drive I use for all my data, video, files, folders etc. The third hard drive is used for the backup of all my data from the second drive.

I have been recommended by some people to use an external hard drive as I will have a problem if I have a computer crash. I can't see the problem as I am assuming that my C drive only would be affected. The other 2 drives being almost a copy of each other. A crash wouldn't affect these 2 drives.

My understanding of external hard drives is that they are only external because of the portability factor. The problem with external hard drive is usually misuse in handling and cooling. Drives used internally re often more reliable and often have better cooling.

The reason for this post I to ask do I have all my facts right.

 

[krone6]

External hard drives are internal hard drives inside of a houseing with a special adapter inside for use in usb format. And the only way all 3 hard drives will be affected is if a psu goes and it's very low quality. Generally the other hard drives would be safe. That, and even though all power supplies can take out multiple parts, the good brands almost never do. You can rest assured that if anything happened, only one drive will be affected, that's my honest opinion. And most of the time they don't go "poof" they show signs, most of the time...

EDIT: Hope you enjoyed my 2:14 am post.... yay for tired posts that ramble on kind of.

 

[Dngrsone]

I would argue this way-- if a hard drive crash were the only thing you are worried about, then you are right, it is unlikely (but not impossible, as krone6 mentioned) that all three drives would fail on you simultaneously.

However...

If your computer catches a nasty virus, then all three drives will end up infected, and recovering from that could be problematic, if not impossible.
If your machine is hit by a power-spike (read: lightning strike), then you very well could lose all of your data plus backup.
If an airplane falls on your computer, or the family dog sets the house on fire, you will lose all of your data plus backup.

This is why I, personally, have CD or DVD copies of static data like photos and music, and back up my other data to a network drive and a portable drive I keep at work. That's two copies, at least one off-site.

 

[krone6]

I would argue this way-- if a hard drive crash were the only thing you are worried about, then you are right, it is unlikely (but not impossible, as krone6 mentioned) that all three drives would fail on you simultaneously.

However...

If your computer catches a nasty virus, then all three drives will end up infected, and recovering from that could be problematic, if not impossible.
If your machine is hit by a power-spike (read: lightning strike), then you very well could lose all of your data plus backup.
If an airplane falls on your computer, or the family dog sets the house on fire, you will lose all of your data plus backup.

This is why I, personally, have CD or DVD copies of static data like photos and music, and back up my other data to a network drive and a portable drive I keep at work. That's two copies, at least one off-site.

The lightning strike one isn't as bad as you think. Putting a surge surpressor behind your computer gives you a better chance and putting a ups behind that will help regulate voltage during brown outs or spikes. I'd worry les on a lightning strike then viruses.

 

[CurtTheTech]

just buy a housing for the third. just in case. and only hook it up for backups. a actual hard drive crash is rare.
by crash i mean the read/write heads actually hitting the drive. but the hard drive can have power problems like what was mentioned before either from faulty hard drive or the psu.
i wouldn't worry about it to much. only thing that could take all three out is a virus

 

[sgtwhtie]

it also depends if you are using raid.