passport vs desktop hard drives

I am dependent... upon independent my power supply!!!

what does that mean 10023??

Western Digital was much better  My portable drive is Western Digital and no problems.

I am dependent... upon independent my power supply!!!   ????

I thought you were looking for a  desktop drive.

No hard drive manufacturer wants their drives to fail.  That said, Backblaze did a study which found in their experience, Seagate had a horrible failure rate - Western Digital was much better.  That said, you would be a fool if you don't backup ALL data.  ALL Hard Drives WILL FAIL.  It's not a question of if, but a question of WHEN.  So BACKUP and get what you wa

what is best way to back up. passport hard drive or desk top hard drive or any other method which is cheap and best
please advise

A big 1 TB passport drive is an excellent way to back up. I have done this.

A whole other way is to another computer using Sync Back Pro. I do this as well.

If your data is worthless, don't back it up.  When a drive fails, it can cost you $500-1000 from a data recovery company to recover it.  Online backup services are the best in my opinion because ALMOST NO ONE remembers to backup and their services automatically back up things several times per day.

I use the second method I posted, have done for years and never lost any data.

for my data i need atleast 4TB
please advise

Western Digital have both 4 TB passport and external hard drive. WD is good and you can probably use either with no difficulty.

what i do for backup is this :
-i have an image backup of my pc when i install the system fresh - and try to take one each year after that
(i also do this for repairs) - and have actually a 2 TB drive for holding images
-i also make a file backup, by copying my documents to a 2nd drive in my PC - and to another drive (1.5 TB) which holds all mso my music, and pictures

so i recommend one of these:
-install a 2nd drive in your PC for backup
-have another external drive for backup
-or both of the above

-direct connection to sata controller

what is sata controller. please advise

SATA controller is a Serial ATA controller which was introduced in 2000: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA
Its connector on motherboard looks as follows: http://www.mypcmobile.com/images/satamobo.jpg
And the disk has the same connector: http://www.cs-electronics.com/images-large/SATA-Test1.jpg
See the difference between PATA and SATA: http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/data/500/SATA_vs_PATA.png

the pc's now all come with sata controllers; and have 2-8 sata ports, depending on the model
early types were 3 GB/s speed, but now many are having the new speed : 6Gb/s
ideal for SSD drives

Western Digital have both 4 TB passport and external hard drive

showing almost 299$. too high for my budget

If you need a large storage space, look at:

1. Using another computer as a backup device OR
2. Using a NAS device for backup .

Both are likely to exceed $300.

The original question was "Desktop or Passport" and we have well answered that question.

If the result is outside your budget, you need to consider some alternative strategies but I am not sure what because your budget is quite low.

I just pulled inventory on these usb drives at one location.  Only three of them are used intensively.  None of these have failed.  I tried to include only fairly accurate description related to age and use.  USb drives have been on the market for a shorter period of time compared to the conventional internal harddrive.
1. passport WDBY8L0020BK-01  
2. passport WDBABM0010010BBK-00
3. passport wdbzfp0010br0-03
4. Passport Western Digital...two years.  WDBABM0010BBK-00 used intensively...one
    terabyte
5. Passport WDBYBL20BBK-01 2 tera byte usb powered No problems  Sony laptop
6.  Seagate external usb..  PN:1DxaP4-500, Model Number SRD00SD    
      4TB....about 18 months used behind the passport external power supply No problems
7.  Western Digital external WDBBAF0020HBK001 External power source 2 TB
      2 years no problems
8.  WDBAAU0020HBK-01 external power source 2 TB
      2 years, no problems
9.  Several small internal maxtor/wd drives  from desktop/laptop tear downs that i converted to usb cases and they have not failed but they are not used much because they are small

We only rely on internal drive  for convenience, mobility and one level of redundancy.
We don't rely on internal drives.  Real important data stays in  the cloud.

Desktop/laptop harddrive comprise most of my failure experience (mostly desktop) over the last 20 years. I have experience many internal hard drive failures...so many in fact across all brands that all I was interested in was warranty.  I bought all maxtors (now owned by seagate) for most of the time because they would honor three year warranties and send you a new drive based on s.n. and a return free ship back box.  I only have guesses as to why they failed.  Poor cooling, failing desktop power supply, dirty environment or manufacturing defect.
I believe that all drives have gotten better.  I have talked to many people say..I will never buy this drive again...go to next guy and he says...I will only by that drive again...
*******************
Hope this helps
stephen

@gudii9  - Thank you and good luck with your choices going forward.