external harddisk and backup system

In [broken link removed], what's the difference between 2.5" and 3.5" hard drives? [No smart answers about 1"!] Is it just the physical dimensions of the item or something more techy?? If so, how can I tell what I need?
santiago (luddite)
 
One simple way of looking at it is that a 2.5" HD is a laptop HD and a 3.5" HD is a desktop HD. 2.5" HDs in an external USB housing can often be powered from USB only while 3.5" HDs will always need an external power supply. The different sizes use different Parallel ATA/IDE connectors. I'm not sure if SATA versions use the same connectors regardless of form factor.
 
I use Karens Replicator (Freeware) to Synch my external drives. I like it because it handles deletions well.
 
Yorky said:
Is it possible to replace the hard drive only on an external 2.5" HDD i.e. take the old one out of the chassis and put a new one in?
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Yes.
If so, is there a difference between an internal & external one for this purpose?
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Not really. USB enclosures just house a standard drive unit. Although you can only replace a PATA (Parallel ATA/IDE) with a PATA and a SATA (Serial ATA) with an SATA. Few if any USB enclosures will take both.

Be careful when swapping units though - e.g. static and risk of bending PATA pins...
 
Yorky said:
How do I ascertain which type I am using?
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Open the housing up and see if it's .
I've removed the 'dead' one just to see how it connects to the chassis - hope I haven't damaged it in any way....
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I thought it was working again!? Probably not - I was just pointing out that you always have to be wary of static and bending pins with hard disks...
 
Yorky said:
It has 24 pins along the top row and 23 along the bottom so it must be PATA (from my interpretation of the link, thanks ClubMan)
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Yes - 2.5" PATA it is.
It was working but now it's not. It has a one year guarantee but have had no reply from the Ebay seller based in Hong Kong.
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What make/model of hard drive (the bare drive itself and not the enclosure) is it? It's possible that the manufacturer may do their own warranty and RMA process. I just got a replacement 120GB Samsung drive under warranty RMA replacement today (see here).
 
Does it work at all or does it fail on specific sectors? Have you tried the hard drive manufacturer's test and erasure tools on it?
 
If it's not working then you won't be able to wipe it and without going to some trouble others won't be able to read it. If it was me and it was under warranty and could be swapped under RMA I'd probably go ahead even if it contained sensitive data. It'll probably end up in a skip/crusher anyway.
 
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