Troubling stats from data recovery specialists show smaller external HDDs are 4x more likely to fail than big ones

• Report claims small drives face 4x the failure risk compared to their high-capacity counterparts
• Unsafe eject practices raise data loss risk by a staggering 75%, according to researchers
• Frequent transfers and careless use leave tiny drives vulnerable to serious file system damage

New research has revealed a concerning trend in external storage reliability: small-capacity external hard drives are reportedly significantly more prone to failure than their high-capacity counterparts.

Based on data gathered from over three million storage devices in the first quarter of 2025, the report from the EaseUS Data Recovery Lab claims disks under 64GB are approximately four times more likely to suffer data loss compared to drives exceeding 4TB.

The reasons behind this disparity lie in both usage patterns and hardware limitations. Smaller drives are often used for quick file transfers or as temporary backups, making them subject to frequent plugging and unplugging.

Usage habits ...