Internal or external hard drives?

[Joe2]

I have 3 hard drives on my computer. One hard drive named C is only used for my Win XP Pro SP3 operating system and nothing else. A second hard drive I use for all my data, video, files, folders etc. The third hard drive is used for the backup of all my data from the second drive.

I have been recommended by some people to use an external hard drive as I will have a problem if I have a computer crash. I can’t see the problem as I am assuming that my C drive only would be affected. The other 2 drives being almost a copy of each other. A crash wouldn’t affect these 2 drives.

My understanding of external hard drives is that they are only external because of the portability factor. The problem with external hard drive is usually misuse in handling and cooling. Drives used internally are often more reliable and often have better cooling.

The reason for this post I to ask do I have all my facts right.

[jingda]

Well having an external hard drive would be best. If your computer crash all data will be lost. What you mean by three hard drive is two partitions on a hard drive. So if the hard drive crash, data in your C drive will be lost. Data in your other two partitions will also be lost. Thus it is best to have an external hard drive. I would recommend Seagate and Imation hard drive

[Joe2]

@jingda

I'm not actually using partitions off one hard drive. Hard drives 2 and 3 are actual physical Seagate hard drives. Sorry for the confusion

[jak0b]

@joe2

I agree with you that an external drive wouldn't benefit you anything.
It would actually do the opposite, since a usb attached disk is slower than a disk directly attached to the motherboard controller.

:)

[jingda]

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought it was a partition so it would be safer to have an external hard disk to backup your data but it seems it is not a partition. In this case, an external hard disk would not be needed.:)