Been looking at my backup options. The one I have opted for is an internal hdd but used externally. Have a sata cable and power hooked up to a card that occupies one of the pci ports (physically though its not actually in a pci slot) On the outside another sata cable and a sata power cable connct to it. When I want to backup i just connect the hdd to the external leads, power up, backup, power off, disconnect. However, I'm not sure if i need to sort out a cooling solution for the external hdd or not. I will be using it about once a week and at max it will be backing up 500gb. I have used hdds externally before without external casing etc just having them resting on top of the pc. For instance when I'm trying to get data off a buggered os and onto another machine etc. I would think as it will only be used once a week and for a max of 1.5 - 2 hours at a time, I will be ok just leaving it uncased but want to check. It will be a SAMSUNG 500GB 16MB CACHE SPINPOINT (HD501LJ) SATA 2 HDD unless I find info that it has heat issues. Cheers
I have never had heat issue's with a hard drive, unless your putting a drive under a heavy load 24/7 i doubt you will need a fan for it.
