The one I bought, a 1tb, is thick but it has a front that has little holes like a grill.
It allows air to circulate for cooling.

The instructions that came with it included advice to unmount before turning it off.

The little icon on the task bar lets you do that.
The instructions say otherwise you can lose information or the drive mail give error messages.

I didn't know that with my first one and it failed.
however I did get my files back later.

When I bought my E-machine the ad promised a DVD writer and software installed but it does not have either and contacting the seller led nowhere.
I did install a DVD Writer but no software to run it...sigh.

Let me introduce you to my multiple personalities. :)
     BluEcho...Faery_Light...Faery_Souls.