[LHN91]

Three years of steady use might wear them down, but three years of storage (no pun intended) shouldn't affect them as far as I know.

[The E]

In any case, if you look on the internet for SMART analysis tools, you'll be able to get a general sense of the drive's health.

[est1895]

In any case, if you look on the internet for SMART analysis tools, you'll be able to get a general sense of the drive's health.

E could you give me a link, because when I looked it up, it was in German?  BTW.  How much does it cost?

[Fury]

Just use diagnostics provided by manufacturer. http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=612&sid=3&lang=en

[est1895]

I have another question:  I just bought this external hard drive:   http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145873

By the reviews it should be a good drive.  What do you guys think?

[Klaustrophobia]

well unless any of us have it we really won't be able to tell you anything new.  except it's almost sure to be a 5400 rpm if you didn't know that already.

[est1895]

well unless any of us have it we really won't be able to tell you anything new.  except it's almost sure to be a 5400 rpm if you didn't know that already.

A no it is a 7200 rpm.  When I picked this drive, I looked for two things: Speed and Reviews. 

[The E]

Which isn't all that relevant for an external drive, given that the USB connection will be the slowest link here. Unless you have an USB 3 port, even a 5400 rpm drive will easily saturate the bus.

EDIT: I mean, it's an external drive, yeah? It's not like great speed is all that important there.

[est1895]

Which isn't all that relevant for an external drive, given that the USB connection will be the slowest link here. Unless you have an USB 3 port, even a 5400 rpm drive will easily saturate the bus.

EDIT: I mean, it's an external drive, yeah? It's not like great speed is all that important there.

Yes, I will have USB 3.0.  Just haven't installed it yet.  I'm looking for durability and speed E.  BTW:  This will be my first external hardrive.  Since you have far more knowledge about computers than I do, I just wanted to know what you thought?

[The E]

Thought about what?

The thing is, I am using my external HDD mostly as a backup medium or as a very large USB stick. For those uses, the transfer rates you can get from a 5400 rpm drive are more than sufficient (in this case ~100MB/sec).

I am also using a Samsung 840 SSD to run Windows off of, with a Western Digital WD10EZEX drive as mass storage (A 7200 rpm 1TB drive) for games etc. This is plenty fast for me.