External Drives -- is it safe?

external hard disks are just as safe as internal hard disks. they both have mechanical moving parts that wear and will eventually malfunction.

That doesn't really address the question.

I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so facetious in my choice of a subject line.

Of course any hard drive is subject to eventual malfunction. It just seems as if drives purchased in the last year or so have been failing far more frequently -- and sooner -- than they used to. I'm just retiring a computer that I bought in 2003 and its hard drive (and a 2nd internal WD 200GB drive bought in 2005) are still running fine after 9 years of essentially 24/7 operation. It's hard to reconcile that experience with reviews on Newegg that complain about drives that are often DOA or fail within the first year and often much sooner than that.

What I'm looking for is people's recent experience with hard drives:

- which brands seem more reliable?
- which packaged devices (like the WD Mybook series) use Advanced Format drives and which don't?
- Is Newegg simply failing to pack drives properly for shipment? If so, do other online vendors do a better job?
- Did quality control take a dive at the same time that prices rose because of the floods in Thailand last year? The advice from various industry sources is to wait to buy if you can -- but that's mostly based on price. Has anyone speculated similarly with respect to quality control?

I've literally installed hundreds of hard disks of different brands. WD, Seagate, Hitachi, Maxtor, etc. It has been my personal experience that I've had the best luck with Western Digital. But I have to admit I haven't bought many drives since the thailand flood. drives are just too expensive now