3,5" or 2,5" HDD: which is more robust/reliable in rough environment?
- Thread starter daktulus
- Start date
Barry_Green
Moderator
Laptop drives (2.5" or 1.8") are designed to be a lot more rugged and portable than 3.5" desktop drives.
Green Hornet
Veteran
Although smaller drives are suposed to be better, or more rugged, my personal experience has shown to be the opposite.
Personally,
I loose about (3) 2.5"" hard drives a year from one thing or another.
I only loose about (1) 3.5" hard drive every 2 years.
The only difference is the smaller drives are usually dropped a time or two, because they are genenrally in a portable usb case, and or in a laptop. (by dropped, i am only talking about from a distance of say, 1 -2 inches).
My larger drives are always in a desktop, and hence they seem to last longer.
Most likely because they never get any bumps.
As for others,
I do lots of computer repairs, and see the smaller laptop drives of others get replaced almost every other week. Desktop, hardly at all.
My experience is that desktop drives are more reliable.
I am thinking that the internals are larger hence more reliable.
Laptop drives are smaller and the read arms and motors are not as durable.
It might be different or suposed to be, but for me, that's how it has been.
I don't see too many 1.8" drives to comment.
Personally,
I loose about (3) 2.5"" hard drives a year from one thing or another.
I only loose about (1) 3.5" hard drive every 2 years.
The only difference is the smaller drives are usually dropped a time or two, because they are genenrally in a portable usb case, and or in a laptop. (by dropped, i am only talking about from a distance of say, 1 -2 inches).
My larger drives are always in a desktop, and hence they seem to last longer.
Most likely because they never get any bumps.
As for others,
I do lots of computer repairs, and see the smaller laptop drives of others get replaced almost every other week. Desktop, hardly at all.
My experience is that desktop drives are more reliable.
I am thinking that the internals are larger hence more reliable.
Laptop drives are smaller and the read arms and motors are not as durable.
It might be different or suposed to be, but for me, that's how it has been.
I don't see too many 1.8" drives to comment.
ProfessorU
Veteran
Smaller drives will give you longer battery life. Aerial density will also affect read and write times, so if two drives have the same capacity and number of platters, the smaller one will have better performance, all things being equal.
Any modern HDDs can handle shock very well if they are not in use. If they are in use, you can damage the drive with only a few G's of shock. So, don't move around while you're dumping data to the drive. Your biggest concern should be keeping everything at a uniform temperature. Small amounts of condensation inside your drives could freeze at extremes, destroying the heads and the data. Plus you'll get zero battery life from any standard OTG battery unless you keep their temperature above freezing.
TEN TERABYTES?!? That's 10,000,000,000,000 bytes. If you record 8 hours of DVCProHD in the highest bitrate each day, it will take you three weeks to use that much space. That's a huge project. If your project is really on that scale, maybe you should consider a satellite uplink or some other method.
Any modern HDDs can handle shock very well if they are not in use. If they are in use, you can damage the drive with only a few G's of shock. So, don't move around while you're dumping data to the drive. Your biggest concern should be keeping everything at a uniform temperature. Small amounts of condensation inside your drives could freeze at extremes, destroying the heads and the data. Plus you'll get zero battery life from any standard OTG battery unless you keep their temperature above freezing.
TEN TERABYTES?!? That's 10,000,000,000,000 bytes. If you record 8 hours of DVCProHD in the highest bitrate each day, it will take you three weeks to use that much space. That's a huge project. If your project is really on that scale, maybe you should consider a satellite uplink or some other method.
Demistate
Veteran
I would say to go with a 2.5 for durability just from a physics aspect.
Say that you move the drive while it's on. The ability for the spinning disc to torque is much less with a 2.5" drive than with a 3.5" drive due to size, mass, and inertia.
A fast movement with the drive while it's spinning could cause the head to actually contact with the disc causing data loss.
Say that you move the drive while it's on. The ability for the spinning disc to torque is much less with a 2.5" drive than with a 3.5" drive due to size, mass, and inertia.
A fast movement with the drive while it's spinning could cause the head to actually contact with the disc causing data loss.
monkeyking
Well-known member
Does high altitude wreak havoc upon drives? I recall that cf microdrives used to be problematic at high altitudes. Microdrives had a really tiny spinning platter/arm assembly. No longer in vogue as solid state flash cards have gotten larger
capt chuck
Well-known member
My experience is that 2.5" are more reliable.
Also, go to the various manufacturer sites (seagate, western digital, etc) and search for "enterprise" drives. Whatever the size, these are far more reliable than the consumer drives you'll find at the local electronics store. You pay a 30 to 50% premium for these drives but I sure think they are worth it. They are also far better than consumer drives if you are going to put them in a raid configuration. Finally they usually carry a 3 or 5 year warranty vs. the 1 a consumer drive has.
Also, go to the various manufacturer sites (seagate, western digital, etc) and search for "enterprise" drives. Whatever the size, these are far more reliable than the consumer drives you'll find at the local electronics store. You pay a 30 to 50% premium for these drives but I sure think they are worth it. They are also far better than consumer drives if you are going to put them in a raid configuration. Finally they usually carry a 3 or 5 year warranty vs. the 1 a consumer drive has.