Owen...

Thanks for info. I'm not familiar w/SATA drives. I'll have to check into them.

So...how do you know WHICH ext drives have fans & which don't? I mean, before you buy them? I use a few ext drives but haven't had any failures. Which ones were you talking about (specifically) that failed? I wouldn't fear reprisal on this site...but you can email if you'd rather. I guess I've thought that my tower computer kicks out a lot heat (relatively) and that must be harder on internal HD even thought it has a couple fans. But, the external drives will get "warm", but certainly not hot. Seems to me the various models have different degrees of heating. Of course, this is only noticable when they're running...which isn't very often at all....especially if you just use them for backup.

I'd assume the "portable" models of HD made for laptops that draw their power from the USB have NO fan? Can the USB supply power for all that? I also assume the portable models may stand being "transported" better than just plain external drives. Would that be right?