Need a new HDD for data storage

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Flogger23m

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Looking to get a new HDD for data storage. This will be primarily for backups, meaning I won't be accessing the data much. I will need a large amount of space, 3-4TB. Leaning towards 4TB for longevity. What is the best model to buy for this task as of now? I have been weary of Seagate HDDs, although price wise they're much cheaper than WD and also run at 7200 RPM whereas the Green drives run at 5200. Any particular model I should look for or avoid?

I am trying to replace a 750GB and 1TB drive with a single new drive, but I may consider replacing the 1TB with a 2TB drive to save money, but then I'd still have two extra HDDs sitting in my PC. And I'd run out of space sooner. Currently running two SSDs and three HDDs so I am trying to reduce the number of drives in total.
 
Depends on your budget.

If you're using these for archive purposes, don't bother paying the extra cash for a 7200 RPM drive, it's not worth it.

If you're using this as a "media" drive for your videos/music, then it might be worth the extra money. But only "might".

I don't know how much space you need for OS/games and why you have two SSDs, but that's one place to start cutting back on drives. I'd say a good 4TB for media and such would be better than getting a 2TB that might be near-full from the start would also be a good idea. But I'm not sure what you mean by "primarily for backups". Are you backing up something external to this machine? Or are you backing up the OS drives onto another local drive in the same machine?
 
Mainly archive. Backing up things such as .PSD files in the event my main drives get damaged. I intend to leave it unplugged when not backing up most of the time. I use Google Drive and the like for smaller files, but I like to have local backups to. SSDs I plan to upgrade; I have four games installed currently that take up 60-70GB each so they fill up quickly.

As for the HDDs, is WD green still the best for reliability? They're rather pricey as is.
 
Flogger23m said:
Mainly archive. Backing up things such as .PSD files in the event my main drives get damaged. I intend to leave it unplugged when not backing up most of the time. I use Google Drive and the like for smaller files, but I like to have local backups to. SSDs I plan to upgrade; I have four games installed currently that take up 60-70GB each so they fill up quickly.

As for the HDDs, is WD green still the best for reliability? They're rather pricey as is.
Click to expand...
HGST is bar-none the best for reliability.
 
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Flogger23m said:
Mainly archive. Backing up things such as .PSD files in the event my main drives get damaged. I intend to leave it unplugged when not backing up most of the time. I use Google Drive and the like for smaller files, but I like to have local backups to. SSDs I plan to upgrade; I have four games installed currently that take up 60-70GB each so they fill up quickly.

As for the HDDs, is WD green still the best for reliability? They're rather pricey as is.
Click to expand...

I'd get an external drive for that type of use, and make sure you only plug it in to perform backups. Helps to avoid viruses/ransomware/etc if it's not always online and such.

I'd personally go with a 500GB-1TB SSD for your main OS/game drive. That should be plenty if you only keep 4-5 games installed. (that's why I do personally, no reason to keep your entire Steam library when you only play a few games at once). Then get a 2-4TB slow "media" type drive for everything else. I've personally had good luck with WD and Seagate, and I've heard good things about HGST. I've only had to deal with warranty service with WD for a portable drive and they replaced it with no questions after 23 months of use.

Hard drive brands are a polarizing topic for some reason. Some people swear BY Seagate, some people swear AT Seagate. Same for WD, Samsung, HGST, Tosiba, etc, etc.
 
The backblaze report shows the Seagate ST4000DM000 performing decently ( It's in the link by rive22, second picture/chart). The ST3000DM001 has reliability issues noted by both backblaze and anecdotal evidence here on [H] and other forums.

The WD Blue 5400RPMs are supposedly rebranded WD Green drives that aren't top performance but shouldn't be bad either.
 
whatever you go/went with, do not leave it on the floor under your desk by your feet just waiting to have your keyboard dropped on it :)
 
Damn good deal on the Toshiba 7200 RPM 5TB drive at Newegg right now - just $125.

Whatever you decide, it's very simple: Don't count on any data on that drive surviving without a backup. Can't stress that enough. Worrying about the reliability of a single drive is just plain stupid. It might be different if you were buying several drives, or dozens or hundreds, because then a failure becomes a matter of labor in rebuilding arrays and replacing drives. But you have to convince yourself that the drive _will_ die and plan accordingly. If you don't and it fails, you're screwed, because any drive can fail without warning.
 
Just to note, there have been multiple reports of bad sector issues on the 5TB and 6TB Toshiba's. Including myself, I've bought handfuls of the 5TB model at different times from different sources and every single one of them encountered many bad sectors before a years time frame, both models previous P series and new X300. To support that my setup isn't the issue, I have very many WD and HGST that are perfectly fine, new and old. It honestly could have just been bad batches, who knows. But given the different sources and times, combined with similar reports from another user it was enough for me to write them off.

The large WD Blue's are rebadged Green's but they aren't bad drives and seem to have corrected the overly frequent head parking issue from the past.
 
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