[billbrazzi]

Are external hard drives any more, or any less, susceptible to crashes than the host computer (iMac G5)?

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

They're not more or less susceptible to fails as internal disks, IMHO.

[mduell]

Slightly more, because they get handled/moved more.

[fisherKing]

Originally Posted by mduell 

Slightly more, because they get handled/moved more.

or slightly less, if they're not moved at all, and are used less than the internal drive (which generally holds the OS and is used A LOT more...)

[peeb]

Predicting failure rates of drives is of moderate use. You should have a backup plan that assumes that your drive will fail tomorrow.

[~bash $]

In my experience USB bus/controllers to external devices with their own interface controllers are more susceptible to weirdness than internal IDE/ATA/SATA types.

So, regarding failure, I'd agree that the drives themselves are not inherently susceptible any moreso than internal drives, but the chain of connection to get to the external drive may be.

[rubaiyat]

Keeping a secure set of backups is the prime method of securing your data.

With the low cost of DVD/CDs this is hardly difficult. Make duplicates on different media eg set 1 CDs Brand X, set 2 Brand Y or CDs/DVDs.

Label them clearly, preferrably in sequence and use a good catalog program. My current favorite is DiskCatalogMaker RE which, is fast, has a clear interface and comes with Toast 8. It records the backups as you burn them or you can scan inserted DVD/CDs.

Make sure you also backup your catalogs, I use color coded CDRWs for important data like this.

As to external Harddrives I have always stick with Seagate as they have a long warranty and have never given me trouble.

Most of my drives are external in FW cases except for one USB2. The drives have been in and out of my computers and the only trouble I have ever had has been when they were installed inside a computer.

I did have 2 FW cases go bad on me, same cheap brand, and I have learnt to avoid those and only use quality cases. Just look at the inclusions and manufacturing quality to make your mind up. The harddrives that were inside the cases lost data but are OK.

The only problem with external cases is the S.M.A.R.T. technology that is supposed to warn of impending hardware failure but is hidden behind the FW connection and can't be accessed.

I am not sure how useful S.M.A.R.T. is anyway on a Mac, as it is buried inside Disk Utility and you have to actively seek it out to check and how often would you do that?

Given the size of Harddrives these days RAIDs are a good option and not anywhere near the trouble to set up as they were.

Just remember what is your data worth? If it is just the equivalent of your attic and you'll never look at it again, who cares. If it is business or important family records pay for whatever it takes to secure them.

Storage is cheap these days.

[fisherKing]

this is kinda great...