USB external disc recommendation

[Ariege_Matt]

Hi All,
I have a Seagate BaraCuda 2.5 inch HDD in an USB3-SATA case which I have been using for some time to make backups from time to time. It has never been great and is now painfully slow and there are an increasing amount of errors.
Time for a change!
Does anyone have any recommendations for an external disc - either complete or to use the existing case I have? 1TB would be plenty.
Thanks in advance.

[gittiest personITW]

If you are backing up from an internal SSD, then I'd recommend getting an SSD external drive - you'll notice the difference if you have a USB 3.2 port on your motherboard you can get to.

However - you don't say what hardware you have so if you have an internal spinny drive you are transferring to/from, unless you are looking to futureproof, any 7200rpm spinny hard drive you can fit in your enclosure is likely to be similar to any other in terms of speed.

[Ariege_Matt]

Thanks for your thoughts - that clarifies things a bit. I am in fact backingup from a mechanical disc at the moment so there is probably not much to be gained from a SSD - although there doesn't seem to be much price difference between mechanical and lower spec SSD's.
I think I'll see what I can pickup at a price that suits.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

External drives tend to be lower quality than internal type drives. Manufacturers attempt to justify ("jestify" since it's a joke?) this practice by saying they don't need to be higher quality since external drives don't run for very long nor very often (what a load of Baloney Sausage!).

I recommend using good internal type drives and either keep them bare and use them in a USB or Thunderbolt connected dock, or, if using only one or two externally connected drives, in USB or Thunderbolt connected enclosures. If you use 3.5" HDDs, the dock or enclosure will need an external power supply. With 2.5" HDDs, especially 7200rpm drives (like the WD Blacks), you may be able to run one in an enclosure powered by the USB only, depending on how much power the computer provides to the USB port.

SSDs don't cost much more than HDDs and have the advantage of being more rugged than HDDs and less susceptible to damage if dropped or even just jostled while running. They also are lighter and use less power. I recommend using them in an enclosure.

In the past, SSD enclosures that supported TRIM were almost impossible to find; I was able to find only two and I believe one has since been discontinued (fortunately, the way more expensive one). There may be more that support TRIM now (be careful; many that claim to support TRIM actually don't). The one I use and recommend is made by Cable Matters. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CQ ... UTF8&psc=1

TRIM over USB isn't automatically enabled in Mint and you will need to make a UDEV entry to enable it. This tutorial will tell you how to do it (it involves using the terminal but don't panic; it's fairly easy). viewtopic.php?p=2351194#p2351194

If you want something really compact, you could use NVMe drives in a USB connected enclosure. Though there may be others now, the only one I found, and recommend, that is TRIM compatible is one made by Pluggable. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N4 ... UTF8&psc=1

[Ariege_Matt]

Thanks very much for that - I hadn't considered the implications of no TRIM support.

Only the Cable Matters case seems to be easily available where I am so I thank that is probably the answer; with a known name SSD to go in it. There seem to be any number of SSDs with brands that I have never heard of, and I guess these are better avoided if reliability is a requirement - which for me is the case if it is a backup.

Thanks a again.