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Looking for reliable, affordable 2 TB

S

SenorBeef

Weaksauce
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
95
I'm looking for a mass storage data/media/etc. drive. 2TB is about the right size for me. It won't be used to run programs or used too frequently - mostly movies, music, backups, etc. So speed isn't a concern as long as it's reasonable. Ideally I'd like to get one relatively cheaply.

So it would seem the WD Green drive is a good bet. $70, 2TB. But reports are that they don't last very long. Their idle park timer is set at 8 seconds which is stupidly low (all to shave a few watts off the system). That can be fixed but it's kind of a hassle. Makes me wonder if that's the reason for their low lifespan. I've also seen reports that they don't do normal error correction - instead of marking sectors as bad and reporting it to SMART, it instead just replies garbage data and acts like the sector isn't bad. Is there any truth to that?

I have had very good and reliable Hitachi Deskstars in the past, so the Toshiba 2TB drive that's essentially a Hitachi was appealing at $75, but the reviews report a whole lot of DOAs. Not sure why, since Hitachis used to be quite reliable.

WD Red I've seen recommended for reliability, but they're a bit pricey, and some of the things that make them suitable for RAID (low time for error recovery) make them worse for a regular standalone drive.

I could also consider an external drive. They go on sale pretty frequently so I could probably snag a 2TB external for a good price. Is it acceptable to run external drives connected to your computer 24/7? Do they have an acceptable lifetime when run that way? Are there any other downsides compared to an internal drive besides speed?
 
Are refurb drives of this nature reliable? Is that likely to be a server pull? Did a few years of 24/7 in a data center? The one year warranty seems to come from the seller (?), does that mean no WD warranty?
 
That drive in particular, I would have no problem buying referb. The warranty is through the seller, but they are top notch. The one issue I've had with drives from them was resolved in less than a week, and they paid the shipping. If you want a new drive check out these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-2-Terab...749?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d20ad565

Same warranty, I personally have 10 of them. They are the re4 drive but sometimes they ship you a Hitachi equivalent if they don't have those in stock. The Hitachi has a white label but shows up as a hitachi, even in hitachi tools.
 
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Ah cool, thanks. I may take a gamble on one of the new drives. When you say Hitachi equivelant do you mean ultrastars? You'll either get an RE4 or Ultrastar for $60(+$9)? Sounds great.

Are there any other possibilities? I'd hate to get stuck with a Seagate.
 
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SenorBeef said:
Ah cool, thanks. I may take a gamble on one of the new drives. When you say Hitachi equivelant do you mean ultrastars? You'll either get an RE4 or Ultrastar for $60(+$9)? Sounds great.

Are there any other possibilities? I'd hate to get stuck with a Seagate.
Click to expand...

Hitachi Ultrastar HUA72302

I've never seen them ship anything but the WD equivalent or the Hitachi.
 
I ended up getting one of the Hitachis, that specific model. Should I be disappointed? Is that drive as good as the RE4s? It's listed as 2 million hours MTBF so it sounds like they're expecting them to be reliable.
 
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Enterprise are generally durable and the older ES.3 has a good track record and are reasonable.
The newer v4 are more expensive of course.
You could also look into the RE line from WD.
Last gen RE4's have come down quite a bit on price. Check Amazon.
 
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