External Hard drive power source.

[Danolo]

I'm probably in the market for a new external hard drive and I see a couple on Amazon that are billed as a "Portable External Hard drive".

It appears that they are powered bhy the USB connection, not by its own power supply.

Do you know if these are reliable?  Any experience?

https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-External-Storage-Compatible-Laptop-Gold/dp/B088QYYYG2/ref=sr_1_20?dchild=1&keywords=external%2Bhard%2Bdrive&qid=1592148941&sr=8-20&th=1

[Breezeclimber]

Can't speak for that particular drive but, in general, USB powered drives are reliable.  These days you should be looking for a USB 3.0 drive if your computer has a USB 3.0 port.

[Greg_B]

2 hours ago, Danolo said:

I'm probably in the market for a new external hard drive and I see a couple on Amazon that are billed as a "Portable External Hard drive".

It appears that they are powered bhy the USB connection, not by its own power supply.

Do you know if these are reliable?  Any experience?

https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-External-Storage-Compatible-Laptop-Gold/dp/B088QYYYG2/ref=sr_1_20?dchild=1&keywords=external%2Bhard%2Bdrive&qid=1592148941&sr=8-20&th=1

I've taken old an HD then reformat it and buy a case. They use a USB connection and work great

Edited June 14, 2020 by Greg_B

[Edge]

In principle USB 2.5" external drives work fine....just 5v instead of 12v I think. I have WD Samsung Toshiba never heard of this make.

I use several HDD & SSD using Intateck cases but nothing nearly as big as 2 Tb.

The price seems cheap for 2 Tb.

[wadman]

4 hours ago, Danolo said:

I'm probably in the market for a new external hard drive and I see a couple on Amazon that are billed as a "Portable External Hard drive".

It appears that they are powered bhy the USB connection, not by its own power supply.

Do you know if these are reliable?  Any experience?

https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-External-Storage-Compatible-Laptop-Gold/dp/B088QYYYG2/ref=sr_1_20?dchild=1&keywords=external%2Bhard%2Bdrive&qid=1592148941&sr=8-20&th=1

If you read the customer reviews on Amazon (on the American as well as the Canadian site), you will see plenty of complaints, and returns.

Being that small of a size, it makes me wonder what the technology could be. 

Size-wise it could be a SSD, but then 2 TB SSDs cost a lot more than 69 CAD.  A 2 TB SSD starts at 260 CAD.

Cost-wise, it could be an old-type, mechanical, spinning hard drive.  But then those are quite a bit bigger than that.

One customer review on Amazon surmised that it was a cheap 60 gb micro sd card inside the case.  (most likely to be the case IMO)

So let's see.  No known technology that can provide that size and price combo.  The manufacturer's name is nowhere to be found on the product, nor is mentioned by the seller.  Very high percentage of negative reviews.  It all sounds really dodgy to me.

A common scam in China is for small ( and dodgy) electronic stalls to sell you large micro sd cards for really cheap.  If you stick that card into a Windows PC, it will report as that size (512 GB, 1 TB, or whatever), but it's obviously something much smaller, and the card itself is of very low quality.

[kansuwan]

Recommend TOSHIBA Canvio External hard drives for storage and back-up purposes

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=toshiba+hard+drive&i=computers-intl-ship&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Easy to tell them what to back up, when to back up and so on.  

Also on Lazada

[forcebwithu]

I have multiple Western Digital Passport HD's that are powered via USB. All have been performing great and none have failed.

https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Portable-External-Drive-Black/dp/B07VTFN6HM/ref=psdc_595048_t1_B00W8XXYSM

https://www.invadeit.co.th/search/passport/

[CyberPro]

9 hours ago, wadman said:

One customer review on Amazon surmised that it was a cheap 60 gb micro sd card inside the case.  (most likely to be the case IMO)

That seems likely. The form factor doesn't seem at all practical for a spinning drive and the price is suspiciously low for a 1-2 TB USB external drive. 

1 hour ago, forcebwithu said:

I have multiple Western Digital Passport HD's that are powered via USB. All have been performing great and none have failed.

My only issue with those that I've seen is that the drive warranty period is shorter than for better bare WD drives*. For my use I'd prefer a bare drive with a longer warranty and buy an external enclosure for it. 

* WD Black, Blue or Enterprise.

Edited June 15, 2020 by CyberPro

[localguy]

Buyer beware. Better to go with a known and trusted brand than the "too good to be true" price from a random seller. Arrival date of July 8 - July 29 tells you all you need to know.

IMO not worth risking 2 TB of data in the hopes of saving a few $$$.

[rog555]

10 hours ago, forcebwithu said:

I have multiple Western Digital Passport HD's that are powered via USB. All have been performing great and none have failed.

https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Portable-External-Drive-Black/dp/B07VTFN6HM/ref=psdc_595048_t1_B00W8XXYSM

https://www.invadeit.co.th/search/passport/

I like them too.

But I have had 1 fail. About 4 years old. Just could not read it when plugging it in.

Wasn't an issue for me as I have multiple recovery options.  All discs will fail at some point ofcourse. So we plan around that. Or not....

 

[Danolo]

Thanks guys.. I will buy one..

 

[localguy]

The dodgy ones are the electronic equivalent of the Miracle Bra.

You see the packaging and are dazzled by the idea of those 2 massive terabytes.

You unwrap it and realize the volume is no more than a couple of average thumb drives.