Could a harddrive die because of start and stoping even when its in a ext. enclosure

[tknaught]

Enclosures definitely seem to fail more often than internal drives do. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a short in the controller.

[kondrae]

The drive was probably going to die and stopping and starting maybe finished it. whenever i buy external case, the main thing i look for is to make sure it disappate heat well.

i have a nexxtech and it works great. http://reviews.cnet.com/cases/nexxte...-32114654.html

[DKre8ive1]

Anyway, if the drive is only 18 months old it should still be under warranty - check WD's website to make sure and get it replaced free.

Good idea about under the desk - put it where you can accidentally give it a good kicking, that'll teach it.

Well I finally got around to opening up my pc and removing that drive and guess what my warranty is good till 05/2009 so I am planning on sending it back to them for a replacement.

Thanks for the tip lynx and to answer the last part of the quote my desk is like 8 feet long and where I plan to set the drive is no were near where I sit, so kicking it by accident is not something that is likely to happen.

[Appzalien]

The article I mentioned in my earlier reply was about external enclosures specifically, not neccessarily what brand of drive was put inside it. It said that when you choose an external enclosure for putting your own drive in, you should choose a name brand and make sure it has a cooling fan inside as well as ventilation slots in the cover. Most brand name prebuilt externals (Maxtor/ Seagate/ WD) you'll notice, are put together to stand vertically with venting at the the top and bottom so heat can rise out easily, fan or no fan. Using a no-name external case and setting it on its side probably doesn't do the hard drive inside any favors.

So just using some common sense about positioning, air circulation and choice of the case design should let your drive last a long time. After all, a WD 500gig external has the same 500gig drive inside that you can buy so it stands to reason if you get a good case for it you separately bought drive should last awhile too.

[DKre8ive1]

I lost another 160 drive so I guess this past two months have not been good for my harddrives it seems.

But I guess its time to go upgrade and get me maybe two 500gig drives or maybe even two 750 gig drives if there is not much of a price difference when I purchase them which more then likely will be two weeks from now.

[The Flying Cow]

In my experience (lost a 250GB drive that belonged inside a PC, but I was using encased in an enclosure, as well as a 90GB drive that was also in the same situation) drives can die due to repetitive starting and stopping.
I don't think that's the only reason why they go, though. The 250GB one was dropped once, by a friend, accidentally. Really pished me off, and I guess it had it's results ><

Anyhow the price dif is minimal. The 750GB MyBook I just bought on credit cost me €160, and the 1TB was €180. The 500 was €150 or something.

So you see, not cheap at all, but very close in terms of range.

-Shaman