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		 I use a 2nd HD personally, I keep it unplugged (power and SATA) until I'm doing a backup. Power down, open case, plug in both connections, power up, backup, power down, unplug both connections.  
 
Crucial data I also copy over to my wife's computer into a folder just for that. Same with her system, 2nd HD and crucial data is mirrored onto my system.  
As to the Western Digital HD externals as far as I can tell one is constant on and the other powers on and off with your computer otherwise the specs seem to identical (other then physical size that is). 
		
		
		
		
		
		
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