Are internal hard drives better than/preferable to external drives or does it matter much anymore?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

I need to replace an internal hard drive that went kaput awhile ago but it seems as though stores are pushing external hard drives over internal drives. Should I invest in a internal or external drive as a replacement? I should add that I have a hard drive already that is being used for Windows 7 but I have a big iTunes library which has whittled my drive space down to about 20 GB and need a new drive to store that on while using the internal drive for Windows. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Internally, they are the same kind of drives

The differences to a user are:
- Cost
- Physical complexity (more wires, extra P/S)
- Speed

A key item for disk life is operating tempature. No all computer cases and enclosures do the same job there.

[johnd83]

2. If you get an esata drive they are the exact same thing

Having an external drive is nice though because you can move it to different computers and access it easily if your main computer craps out. There are a lot of drives out there that are dual USB/esata. You will need an esata port on your computer though. It is pretty random which computers have the port.

[Mnpaul]

5. USB3 is fast as well

Again your computer has to support it to get top speeds. Mine is a recent build and I get good transfer speeds with Corsair USB3 flash drives.

[johnd83]

6. esata is a bit more efficient

The protocol stack for USB3 requires more processor time than esata.

[ManiacJoe]

3. The drive is the drive.

The difference is how it connects to the machine. Internal drives use wide data buses and thus are quick. External drives are often connected via USB, which is much slower.

[Alan_Silverman]

7. USB 3.0 and esata changes everything

Speed is most important. If you have usb 3.0 and esata you can match internal speeds and an external drive gives you flexibility. Consider a USB 3.0 docking station too.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

4. Not to over think this but...

...for me that comes down to a number of things.
- is this a laptop or a desktop/tower?
- is your current HDD a SATA type and how big is it?
- and the big question... how much are you willing to spend?