We ordered 3 drives overall. After two years 2 of them failed. Only the one that has hardly been used and was kept in the shelve most of the time still works. The now failing drives have been used as portable drives and were handled with great care. I can only make assumptions about this high failure rate but I assume this has to do either with the flimsy mini USB connection or the case design which does not make it clear enough were the top and the bottom of the drive is. The short cable that comes with the drive puts a lot of tension on the USB connection so after a while you might feel more comfortable using a longer cable. A longer cable however allows you to operate the drive in any orientation (bottom up or bottom down) which might lead to a mechanical failure in the long run. I recommend to keep using the short cable even though it's too short in most cases but at least it will ensure you use it always in the same orientation.
Even though it has never happened to me personally so far in the last 5 years I have seen around a dozens external USB drives from friends and co workers fail, regardless of brand. For me, mechanical drive cannot be relied on as portable back up solution with the exception of a RAID 1 storage set up maybe (eg OWC Mercury Elite AL Pro).
Do not use mobile USB hard drives drives for important back ups - choose an external RAID 1 set instead, invest in SSDs or consider somethings like Microsofts Sky Drive. For mobile storage consider using a large USB flash drive as these are usually very robust devices.
PS: Actually, even the third drive has now started to make squeaking noises ... thus I have to decrease the rating form 2 to 1 star ... sorry Freecom.
| Brand | Freecom |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 20 x 15 x 2 cm; 200 Grams |
| Item model number | 31266 |
| Manufacturer | Freecom |
| Colour | Black |
| Form Factor | 2.5-inch |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Item Weight | 200 g |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
