TBh if you have case space the best way to go is an internal drive....externals(unless they use USB 3.0 spec or e-sata) are usually slower to read/write than their internal counterparts due to having to connect to the PC using a slower cabled connection.

Green means the drives use less power than other similar model HDDs, but this leads to other problems...and usually the green drives in various lines aren't built as good as other models.

Yeah, I know. I'm actually surprised to see the price has gone down so far. Only a decade ago the price would've been maybe twice or thrice that for the analysis alone. And this isn't a small third-grade "computer help" cornershop either, but probably the most reputable data recovery firm in the Nordic region, Ibas.

I don't know much about the specifics of the green discs, but it's about environmental concerns, yes. I've heard from numerous sources that they have a tendency to lose speed over time.

Most internal drives are SATA now. SATA being the cable it connects to the motherboard with. The alternative is a bloody big grey parallel ribbon cable thing (PATA). If you grab a SATA internal drive and an enclosure designed for a SATA drive then that should be all you need (assuming you've got the USB cable already or it's provided with the enclosure).

I usually go with eSATA as that's the same connection as you get inside the case. Any speed difference should be negligible.

As for green drives, I'd definitely avoid them, they tend to spin the disk up and down a lot more frequently than a normal drive would. Just go with the cheapest disk you can find as there's very little actual difference between them in terms of reliability.
The cost is probably going to be different over there than it is over here. TBH, I've never bothered with it as it's a lot cheaper to just back up the data properly. I can get a full copy of my data sent to me on a 1tb HDD for like $200.

Right now I'm using an Acer I bought for $200 bucks 6 1/2 years ago and it's been put thru the ringer since I use programs that it wasn't designed for. I'm using my externals as scratch disks until I can afford to buy a new computer. I was debating either going with more externals and only having 1 internal or going with several solid internals. That's really good to know about the speed thing. Once I have $$ I'm totally going to ask you guys advice on what's good. I really appreciate everyone's help.

As others said along with me externals are good if they feature a fast connection(e-sata/usb 3.0) and your pc has the connections to hook it up to on the back of the case.......still, with the extra cost for an enclosure and the possibility you might drop the thing or knock it off your desk/table i'd rather get an internal if you/I have room.

SSD's are pretty much flashdrives tho right? I thought there was a more finite (and much shorter) lifespan than normal HDD drives?

This, get your shit off now, while you still can... if you still can.

No, they've done a lot to improve the lifetime of SSDs. They take a lot more write cycles than they used to, and newer disk controllers and drivers are better about spreading writes around and correcting data allocation patterns that hamper performance.

Most disks are read-mostly anyway. Only disks that the OS or applications scribble on frequently get a lot of write cycles. (That's why I think the idea of putting Windows on an SSD and your games on a mechanical disk is mind-bogglingly wasteful.)

Anyway, read what orcishgamer wrote above me. Your drive is going to fail, soon. Everything else in this thread is beside that point. You may be able to get a clean backup of it. Do so, and then replace it.

unscrewed the top part, looked at the actual disk, checked what was the cause of the noise, then closed it.

the noise is the needle grinding on the surface of the disk. its creating a raw image as we speak./ it was already grinding, at this point I was just curious about what could cause a hard drive to make the same noise as a laser printer with loose drums.

its creating an image, my hopes arent high but it still managed to read that there was a drive which is a stpe forward
to tell you the truth i dropped this disk during a backup transfer a year ago while dusting my desk. 6 feet drop on the ground while writing data.. the only worst thing I can think of is soak it with vinegar and put it in the microwave 10 minutes.

anyway, ill let you guys know.

Instant dead HDD! you just allowed dust into a sterile box. The dust you introduced would have killed the drive in a matter of minutes.

FWIW, this problem has a term: the Click of Death. Kinda sums up the whole thing in three words.

Good luck with your data swap - I hope you don't lose anything irreplaceable.

i did research in the past and depending on the damage its anywhere from 1000 to 10 000$. i have naked pictures of some of my exes in there so this disk is either being rescued by me or its spending 2 hours in a vinegar bath and terminated with the hammer.
well its still being copied right now but as I said its going to be trashed if the copy fails and I had no hopes in the first place.

For future reference, that's like cutting open a car tire to find out where the hole is. In short, you killed your drive stone dead right then and there.

well my perception was that the drive was already dead, I wanted to take the opportunity to see inside, like you would when you see a fresh roadkill on the highway. ''oh I wonder if the car squished its testicles too''. Not like your going to hurt it more.