I wanted to ask a question about any recommendations for a good backup USB Hard Drive first? 
 
In the past 2 years I have had 2 WD Passport USB 3.0 hard drive, and both of them have failed within like 6 months, and when I say that I mean not DAILY use, I mean like checking them out once a month to back things up and then I lost everything I backed up. 
 
So I was wondering if anyone might have a good recommendation for a backup hard drive, preferably a USB external drive?  
 
What I have been using as my "Always works and never fails backup hard drive is an old Seagate USB Drive", I think I got it about 10 or more years ago, and that thing never has failed me.  But lately I've read a lot of bad reviews on WD and SEAGATE, to the point it makes me wonder if those reviews aren't put out there by one company or the other. 
 
For those of you who know, my PC doesn't have a BLUERAY drive, but what are your thoughts about possibly getting an external or internal BLUERAY drive and backing up your system using BLUERAY DISC?  
 
Right now as it stands I am at a one two backup type of situation, my PC has my system on it, and my OLD backup hard drive has it on it : IN THE FORM ON AN IMAGE with the software that I use for that. 
 
Back in the old XP days I tried the backup to CD and keep it stored safe, but come to find out, following all the rules with temperature and storage with the CD's and buying the supposed BEST there is at the time, in the end that didn't work for me. So I have serious questions on the BLUERAY disc, I mean I know they have a high capacity for storage, but I wonder about how long they will last. 
 
DISCLAIMER : I haven't never used BLUERAY, and I've heard they have a storage capacity of 750GB's? Is that true? I know sorry, I could search that but right now I'm old and tired and full of tiredness. :-) 
 
Anyway, I thought I would ask?
 
Happy Holidays Everyone!
 
Bobby
 

Funny I have 3 WD passport externals , had them for a few years now and I use them a lot,, I even leave them plugged into my DAW. I take them to work tossed in my lunch kit,, seat of the car,, they get bashed about. 
Show no signs of dieing yet.
I just bout a drive encloser for $12 and put my 120 GB SSD  drive from my DAW in it as I upgraded to a 250.
It now works as an external drive just fine. So that' another option. Buy the parts and build your own. I don't think they use SSD drives in many externals,, they actually don't tell you squat about them.. for all I know they are cheaper 5200 RPM. 
I still have 3 of those old IDE enclosers and a newer full size SATA encloser.. I have every hard drive I ever owned siting on a shelf or in a shoebox. . 

I have a USB3 dock that I use internal SATA drives in.  I have three 3T Toshiba drives that I rotate on a monthly basis.  I also have some of these installed.
 
I run weekly full images, with nightly incrementals.
 
My oldest Toshiba just hit 2 years in service, never a problem with any of them.
 
 

In general, hard drives - internal or external - do not fail like yours have.  There must be some other reason such as handling or storage. 
 
I wouldn't be afraid to use any brand.  I use Western Digital, Seagate, Hitachi, etc.  The only one I've had fail was a Toshiba drive but I wouldn't be afraid to buy another.

I was thinking the same thing, Like something the OP is hooking them to is supplying to much voltage or something. As I say I have dozens of external drives going back to 200? and they all still work. Most of the old ones use a dedicated power supply. The newer SATA drives are USB powered. So I would be questioning that you must have a USB port that is malfuntioning. 

fireberd
In general, hard drives - internal or external - do not fail like yours have.  There must be some other reason such as handling or storage. 
 

A few years ago I had three Seagate Barracudas fail over a period of two years. None of them were old, all were in warranty. In the end I shifted from HDDs in RAID 0 to a single SSD for audio spooling.

I’ve three WD USB3 passports I use for external storage and audio project backup. The oldest is three years old and I’ve had no problems with them so far. For inexpensive 5400rpm drives they are surprisingly fast.

One thing to watch with external SSDs is that TRIM commands can’t be sent over USB, the protocol doesn’t allow it. And many, maybe all, external drives with USB and Thunderbolt connections are really USB with a bolted-on TB socket and can’t handle TRIM either.

Seagate had a batch of bad drives a couple of years ago. They may have been part of that.   For a while it was "don't buy Seagate" but newer ones are OK.