2x 8TB Externals. Which one?

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FenFox

Limp Gawd
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Seagate 8TB - $189.99 CAD

https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-STEB8000100-Expansion-Desktop-External/dp/B01HAPGEIE/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1524015230&sr=1-5&keywords=8tb+external+hard+drive

Western Digital 8TB - $244.58

https://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digital-External-Drive-USB-3-0-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN/dp/B01LQQHLGC/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1524015230&sr=1-6&keywords=8tb+external+hard+drive

-I've mostly used WD external drives, but a few Seagates as well. From what I'm aware these are both 5400 RPM. WD drives go into sleep while you'd need to alter the firmware for a Seagate to go into sleep mode. Overall I've had a better experience with WD externals over Seagate. However, this Seagate is $55 cheaper as It's on sale. Should I get it or am I setting myself up for disaster?
 
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That Seagate uses SMR and should be avoided when there's better suitable alternatives like the WD.
 
I have shuck around 23 drives form Western Digital 8TB My Book, no issues at all, good overall drives. I have two seagate shingles, no issues but in the US the my books are $170.
 
rive22 said:
That Seagate uses SMR and should be avoided when there's better suitable alternatives like the WD.
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True, it does use SMR, so that'll mean writing to the drive *can be slower. However, that won't impact the drive reads. If I'm just using it to store movies and TV shows and playing them back locally via Kodi then there won't be a problem.

A $55 discount over the WD isn't worth slightly slower writes?
 
Abula said:
I have shuck around 23 drives form Western Digital 8TB My Book, no issues at all, good overall drives. I have two seagate shingles, no issues but in the US the my books are $170.
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And they're all white label drives, correct? White label is the equivalent of red label if I remember correctly. Red is intended for NAS.
Why shuck so many drives? I read else where that the externals are cheaper than the drives without a casing. How that makes sense I'm not sure. I guess you shucked to build a few NAS?
 
FenFox said:
And they're all white label drives, correct? White label is the equivalent of red label if I remember correctly. Red is intended for NAS.
Why shuck so many drives? I read else where that the externals are cheaper than the drives without a casing. How that makes sense I'm not sure. I guess you shucked to build a few NAS?
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It's true. I've shucked at least 6. Some had red lables some were white but tgey were the equivalent to reds with 256mb cache

I paid around $150-160 usd for each.
 
Yep, hit up Best Buy and get those 8TB My Books. Can confirm, they are extremely good, especially for the price. I routinely grab mine ~169-189 in store.

Yep, they're $169 currently :)
 
Doward said:
Yep, hit up Best Buy and get those 8TB My Books. Can confirm, they are extremely good, especially for the price. I routinely grab mine ~169-189 in store.

Yep, they're $169 currently :)
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So you're saying get the 8 TB WD in the link I provided? There seems to be 2 different kinds of WD 8 TB Externals. One is more expensive and one is cheaper. I don't know the difference?

This is the one I linked originally: https://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digit...8&qid=1524083016&sr=8-4&keywords=8tb+external

This is the other 8 TB WD: https://www.amazon.ca/Western-Digit...&qid=1524083007&sr=8-12&keywords=8tb+external

So you really think spending $55 more on the WD 8TB is worth it over the 8 TB Seagate even though I'm just storing Movies/TV Shows on it for local Kodi playback?
 
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FenFox said:
And they're all white label drives, correct? White label is the equivalent of red label if I remember correctly. Red is intended for NAS.
Why shuck so many drives? I read else where that the externals are cheaper than the drives without a casing. How that makes sense I'm not sure.
Click to expand...
Its the warranty, you get less with externals, but for me warranty isnt a valid thing regardless because of where i live, returning the drive is very expensive, and not to say re importing it, so for me the externals are a better option, also they come better packed than OEM drives =). All drives i open had white labels, didnt see any red ones.


FenFox said:
I guess you shucked to build a few NAS?
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Most are on the WHS and some on the unRaid.
 
FenFox said:
Yeah, It's the same drive I linked. Just a different price.

You guys are ok with 5400 RPM? Because that's what they are?
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The 8tb wd drives appear to be red/white labels (or hgst.) One thing to keep in mind; the popular drives to shuck are the EASYSTORE for about $150usd as they were all reds (now red or white) and I believe a bestbuy usa exclusive. The MYBOOK drives at 4/6tb are green/blue lables so as long as you stick with 8tb+ you should be getting a good drive.

As for the speed, if its to store files/movies its fine.
 
jmilcher said:
It's true. I've shucked at least 6. Some had red lables some were white but tgey were the equivalent to reds with 256mb cache

I paid around $150-160 usd for each.
Click to expand...

Hmm, but if you shuck for your NAS and you get a white label are you still able to use it in your NAS since I assume you want to use red label in your NAS? The red label has vibration protection which is apparently good for NAS. I dunno if white label has vibration protection.

And the reason you shuck is because externals are cheaper than non-externals? Why is that? And by shucking you void the warranty too.

I guess the other thing I'm wondering about is: I can see myself maybe needing to buy 2-3 8 TB at one point, but I assume It's not a good idea to have 3 plugged into a computer as I've read reports that the power draw can cause disconnections.
 
FenFox said:
Hmm, but if you shuck for your NAS and you get a white label are you still able to use it in your NAS since I assume you want to use red label in your NAS? The red label has vibration protection which is apparently good for NAS. I dunno if white label has vibration protection.

And the reason you shuck is because externals are cheaper than non-externals? Why is that? And by shucking you void the warranty too.

I guess the other thing I'm wondering about is: I can see myself maybe needing to buy 2-3 8 TB at one point, but I assume It's not a good idea to have 3 plugged into a computer as I've read reports that the power draw can cause disconnections.
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Actually these do not have a warranty seal. Furthermore if you shucked it properly, you won't know the case was opened.

There is a very lengthy thread on Reddit specifically about these drives, the various types and models including what serial numbers to look for when buying.

The drive can easily be out back in the external enclosure for warranty purposes.

And yes, many of these have been bought and shucked because of the tremendous value. Especially when we were getting red's for almost half the cost.
 
Just to touch on a point re: spindle speed.

Today's 5400rpm drives are *significantly* faster than 5400rpm drives of 10-15 years ago :) The platter density makes it such that even @ a slower spindle speed, you're getting solid speeds of 185 MB/s. Sure, that's slower than the 220+ MB/s of 7200rpm drives, but for the price - you can't beat it.

If you really want speed, nothing beats an SSD anyway :)
 
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