What is the difference between "portable" and "external" hard drives?

[dianahmuas]

please feed me info...thanks all...

[dianahmuas]

is there such an external hard drive that is similar to a flash drive where you can just drag files as you'd like?...

[jetter]

portable means no need to plug the external hd into an outlet or power source.  The power source comes from the usb.

external means you have to have power to plug it into in order to use it or else it's dead weight.

[dianahmuas]

portable means no need to plug the external hd into an outlet or power source.  The power source comes from the usb.

external means you have to have power to plug it into in order to use it or else it's dead weight.

i meant the difference in how they work...in comparison to a flash drive vs external hard drive vs portable external hard drive...

[jetter]

from what I understand is that:
portable houses a laptop hard drive and an external houses a regular desktop hard drive.  They are essentially the same with the same moving parts.

Flash drive, SSD are different than the other two because they have no moving parts and read performance is out of this world. 

Hopefully this helps.

[obscurity]

is there such an external hard drive that is similar to a flash drive where you can just drag files as you'd like?...

you can do that with all external hard drives, unless you have one that has some kind of preinstall software that might be a lil different but basic external hard drives shows up like a regular hard drive in your computer

[dianahmuas]

you can do that with all external hard drives, unless you have one that has some kind of preinstall software that might be a lil different but basic external hard drives shows up like a regular hard drive in your computer

any recommended products?...all i've been running into are external hard drives that has preinstall softwares on them...even the portable hard drive had that too...

[jetter]

find anyone that you can get a hands on.  Just reformat that drive and those software will be gone.

[dianahmuas]

find anyone that you can get a hands on.  Just reformat that drive and those software will be gone.

actually i just figured it out by creating a new folder on my portable external hard drive...planni ng to get a non-portable one now and doing it the same way so those stupid pre-installed software would stop auto running...than ks for the help though...

[dianahmuas]

What I usually do is use Newegg.com and then browse only the products that have the "most reviews". Generally, all the nerds bought only the best product so it must be good if it's one with so many reviews right? Then I find the best price on the internet, usually eBay and Amazon.com have the better prices.

Try this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136540

Whatever you do, stay away from Seagate, their hard drives are known to die after 1-3 years. I still have a 60GB hard drive from Western Digital that still works flawlessly. Definitely a good brand.

Samsung, Western Digital, and Toshiba, only those 3 brands are good. Don't buy anything else or you'll regret it by losing all the files you saved onto them.

so you're saying that seagate sucks vs western digital?...now, are these all portable external hard drives you're talking about or just external hard drives???...from my research, i was told that external hard drives will burn out faster than portable ones for the fact that they accrue more damage being transported anywhere or any place...explai n please without bias...

[obscurity]

so you're saying that seagate sucks vs western digital?...now, are these all portable external hard drives you're talking about or just external hard drives???...from my research, i was told that external hard drives will burn out faster than portable ones for the fact that they accrue more damage being transported anywhere or any place...explai n please without bias...

no seagate doesn't suck it just depends on luck, i've heard people who swear off on western digital saying everyone they have broke, same with seagate etc and so on.

seagate, western digital are the only 2 main ones now anyways, i think hitachi is still around too
samsung hard drive division got bought by seagate too


as for external drive damage, yes i suppose thats a factor too if you're clumsy with your stuff and just throw it around. 

[dianahmuas]

no seagate doesn't suck it just depends on luck, i've heard people who swear off on western digital saying everyone they have broke, same with seagate etc and so on.

seagate, western digital are the only 2 main ones now anyways, i think hitachi is still around too
samsung hard drive division got bought by seagate too


as for external drive damage, yes i suppose thats a factor too if you're clumsy with your stuff and just throw it around. 

i see...thanks.. .

[TijLaugHmoob]

I have samsung external HD running great..... 1tb under 100$

[dianahmuas]

I have samsung external HD running great..... 1tb under 100$

nice...thanks. ..i returned my WD external HD, it was only $130 or something for 2TB at walmart...deci ded to go with the portable Seagate 1TB...hoping nothing goes wrong here...

[dianahmuas]

[sub]http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hdd-reliability-storelab,2681-2.html[/sub]

See for yourself.

I try not to sound biased but it's the cold hard truth.


Tom's Hardware is a reliable independent website that reviews all types of PC products, they're very well known and have a good reputation for great reviews. Hard drives, like laptops, are rated on their failure rates. Out of a batch of 1,000, how many will no longer work in 1-3 years. With Seagate's 56.1% fail rate, you might be lucky and get the 43.6% batch of their hard drives and not have to worry about it.

this is completely helpful!!!..thanks!!!