this drive and this enclosure..?

pwd

samsung spinpoint from komplett. Have only heard good things about these:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10096&mfr=SAMSUNG

Dabs Value 3.5" enclosure
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3V64&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=enclosure&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0

Any opinions on this combination? I want two for archiving and backup, not for frequent use. Reliability is the only factor really. Most external drives seem to be unreliable these days from what I've seen - the trend has definitely been a decline in quality in order to offer the lowest prices.

Are 2.5" drives more reliable in general than 3.5" ones? Laptop drives don't seem to fail that much considering how much they can get bumped about..

aidan_walsh

Moved from Computers & Technology, might get a better response here.

darealtulip

do have the samsung 1tr myself and its working good as a back up. Some motherboards have a issue with them though, mine did but after flashing my bios it worked fine. I've got a gigabyte mobo. same problem with a few of my mates. If you dont use it as the c drive there are no problems as for as I've seen.

I had several external hd's and they broke down (still have one though) due to a three year old dropping it and an other one just stopped working but took it out of the box and put it in as a internal and still works perfectly.

Solitaire

Which HDD from that list are you looking at?

And do you know that that HDD caddy you linked to is an IDE model? If you're getting a modern drive you'll need a SATA caddy instead.

Also, you might want to get the Samsung from Dabs as well and save the extra shipping cost. Komplett doesn't have the cheapest enclosures plus the only ones I trust there are the Akasas... avoid the E-Magic + clones in any case. They're literally made of fail

2.5" HDDs tend to use less platters (size issues) and with most newer models the fewer heads are designed to take bad bumps while mounted - try violently bumping around a 3.5" while its running and you're asking for trouble. This also reduces power consumption - a big advantage is that most 2.5"-based externals and enclosures can derive their power from one or two powered USB ports, whereas those 3.5" caddies you're looking at also need a bulky and cumbersome external power brick The downsides include higher price per GB and lower max capacity, plus a tendency toward lower speeds (although lower spin speed is compensated for slightly by smaller diameter platters and throughput isn't an issue with externals anyway -they're limited to USB speed anyway, so only seek/access times are relevant)

AlmightyCushion

I've the 750GB spinpoint and I find it great. No idea about reliability as I've only had it a week or so.

Anti

The spinpoints are known for being very reliable, quiet and cool running. Cant see you having any issues at all.