Difference between portable hard drive and non-portable hard drive

[Himesh I]

I have a computer and xbox at home. I like to watch movies and listen to movies etc. I am planning to purchase a new external hard drive. I will connect it to my xbox to watch movies. I have had Western Digital Elements 1TB. Right now I am confused between portable and non portable hard drive. I would like to know the difference between the two types of hard drives. I have heard that portable hard drive cost a little more than the regular non-portable one. I am looking for a hard drive around 150$ and a capacity of 500-GB or 1 TB. Any suggestions given would be greatly appreciated. Please help me out in solving my query. Thank you in advance.

[Yitzchak909]

Portable and non-portable drives use different power source. Let me tell you that portable hard drives are small as compared to the non-portable ones. You can power up the portable hard drives by just connecting them to the usb port. The non-portable hard drives are generally big in size and are powered separately. I would suggest you to go for Seagate hdd basic 2.5” 500GB usb hard drive. It is very fast and I trust in Seagate products.

[pddaugusto]

Portable devices are actually based on the 2.5” drive which is used in laptops and other portable pc. Portable drives actually have small capacity as compared to the non-portable. They operate on 7200 rpm. Non-portable drives are based on 3.5” drives which are used in desktop systems. They have large storage capacity. They have a capacity of around 3 TB. Non-portable drives have more weight speed requires more speed. Non-portable drives come with external power source.

[Howitzer]

I don’t see much difference as both portable drives and non-portables are tend to get corrupted some day. So they don’t actually make much difference. It just stores data’s and types don’t matter much as I think. I am having WD My Passport Essential SE 1TB USB3 drive and it is serving me very well.

[samar69]

Portable external hard drives are also called as flash drives. Whereas regular drives are called as standard hard drives which uses lasers which operates on plug-in power supply.

[Mayur_Jain]

Portable drive actually comes without external power. 3.5” hard drives needs adapter. Portable hard drives are costly as compared to the non-portable hard drives. The best part of portable hard drives is that, they can be taken anywhere and can be used just by connecting using usb. I have actually purchased strontium ssd matrix portable hard drive. I wanted to purchase it since long. Finally I got it and I am very happy. I would recommend you to go with it.

[Hynala]

I think that xbox is static so for that you might a non-portable hard drive. I would like to know that from where you would get the movies? You will need to move the external hard drive very often if you put in movies from the camcorder or pc. So you might have to go for the portable one. If you want to purchase a hard drive then I would suggest you to purchase it online by visiting amazon or ebay websites.

[Eru]

Portable hard drives are normally smaller in size and they run on 5400rpm speed. They I think they are on a bit slow side. Definitely if you are looking for reliability then I would say that they are best. Western digital hard drive is very reliable. I own it and I think they are very good. I have been using wd mybooks.

[Felix46]

I have been using WD external hard drives from many years. It has served me very well till now. Portable hard drives are actually smaller in size as compared to the non portable. Let me tell you that size also affects the cooling. I have Acom portable drive which has limited ventilation. It gets very hot in summer seasons if I use it for long. There are many hard drives available in the market which is around 150$. I would suggest you to check on the google website to learn more on difference and best hard drives. I think you can go with wd hard drive.

[Aandaleeb]

Well I would suggest you to go for a 1TB hard disk. I think the one TB hard disk and the 500 gb hard disk have almost same price. So, I think going for a 1TB hard disk would be a better and a smarter choice.