Mostly it is the size bit the 2.5" hard drive are usually "portable"
hard drives for most laptops. Since these a geared towards laptops,
they tend to use the USB ports to power the drive. Sometimes you may
need to purchase the "optional" "power extended" cable which provides
a second USB connector for increasing the power. However, these tend
to be only available directly from the hard drive manufacturer.
Also, since the 2.5" drives are "USB port" powered, these "may" have a
higher failure rate if these a constantly plugged in. They "should"
be disconnected when not in use.
2.5" runs cooler. 2.5" is physically smaller. 2.5" runs on
USB bus power (unless a jack is provided for an external 5V adapter
and they happen to provide the adapter as well).
The 2.5" may spin down faster when not being used.
The reliability of the drive, depends on how it is treated.
How hot it gets. Whether it receives any mechanical shocks or
not.
Check the Newegg reviews, to see how the two kinds of drives
compare. You can pick a good brand, based on how many people
report disk failures.
Paul
2.5" runs cooler. 2.5" is physically smaller. 2.5" runs on
the 2.5" external drive will of course have a laptop drive in it
so I'd go the the 3.5" variety
HDD External TOSHIBA StorE Art 250GB 5400rpm USB 2.0
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-HDDR250E04EW_CS-Portable-Protection-Encryption/dp/product-description/B002JM258W
Portable Hard Disk Drive Armor A10
http://tw.silicon-power.com/product/pro_detail.php?main=19&sub=58&pro=111&currlang=utf8
The laptop drives is worse than 3.5"?
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