A:Answer The desktop drive can also act as a network drive, meaning you can back up your other devices on your home network without having to physically connect them. As for reliability, most external HDD's are reliable. The biggest difference is footprint (size) and that the desktop version requires a separate power adapter.
All HDD external drives will produce some noise both reading and writing. This particular drive is pretty quiet unless you are doing lots of reading and writing, like a first time full backup. If you want absolute quiet, you need a SSD (solid state drive (basically a big thumb drive with no moving parts)).
The cord is not long enough to reach the floor, but if you are using an external drive, it's not recommended to leave it on the floor anyway. Basically, any computer device should be elevated off the floor to reduce static electricity effects and damage from spilled liquids or tripping. However, if you have to put it on the floor, get a USB extension.
