[Meta] External Drives | Megalinks MegaDB

zaxelrose | 19 points | Dec 22 2016 18:59:32

[Meta] External Drives | Megalinks MegaDB [Meta] External Drives

So, my drives are completely full now, so I'm looking for a good deal on new ones. I'm looking for anything 3TB and up, but I don't want to spend a lot. Are there going to be good sales shortly, I missed the Black Friday sales, and now I'm kicking myself.

[-] [deleted] | 10 points | Dec 22 2016 20:27:09

[deleted]

[-] PossiblyNSA | 1 points | Dec 22 2016 23:56:19

What's wrong with the SeaGate 3TB?

[-] GldRush98 | 7 points | Dec 22 2016 23:57:43

Extremely high failure rates in them. The 4tb's are fine though.

[-] PossiblyNSA | 2 points | Dec 22 2016 23:59:44

Only high failure rates with the 3TB? That's weird, but it's good to know if I ever need a new external hd

[-] belligerantsquids | 4 points | Dec 23 2016 00:33:47

Weird but true, I suggest the 4T

[-] alakaboem | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 03:45:07

Yup. Weird interactions with the 1tb and 2tb drives they stick in there that ain't present in the normal 1's, 2's, or evens. Just skip the odd TB's.

[-] fob911 | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 07:19:23

can confirm, it always goes on sale for a "too good to be true" price, and it has noticeably worse scores across all major sites in comparision to the other Seagate variants

[-] ChinAqua | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 07:26:28

I've had one that's been under a lot of use for a couple of years now, just counting down the days until it fails.

[-] jodorowsthesky | 10 points | Dec 22 2016 20:28:00

Hitachi/HGST>WD>Toshiba>Seagate

In the end it all comes down to the specific model
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-failure-rates-q2-2016/

[-] [deleted] | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 00:14:48

[deleted]

[-] jodorowsthesky | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 04:41:06

Of course,always do proper research by yourself.But i think the statistics in the link and the ones from previous years are a good indicator for what models to avoid when it comes to long term 24/7 usage.
Seagate has a bad reputation in general when it comes to the cheaper models/3tb ones.All manufacturers have good and bad ones.I posted the link to dampen my
Hitachi/HGST>WD>Toshiba>Seagate
statement.

[-] fob911 | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 07:20:30

(Not including the Barracuda 3tb) in my experience Seagate is better than Toshiba. I had to send my Toshiba drive in 3 times before I got one that lasted more than a year.

[-] jodorowsthesky | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 08:33:01

I had similar experiences with Seagate drives.We're all biased in that way i guess.

[-] fob911 | 8 points | Dec 22 2016 19:18:00

Never go Toshiba, WDs are generally reliable, Seagates I would put in between those, some people swear by Hitachi but I have no idea about those ones

[-] JudasOpus | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 01:31:56

Hitachi is a subsidiary of WD these days. I haven't used one in years, but I suspect they're still quality. I try to stay with WD, but when you buy a new machine you get what they have...Seagate in my case. I agree about Toshiba.

[-] Dude036 | 4 points | Dec 22 2016 20:00:21

Depending on how much space you plan on obtaining, I'd recommend the subreddit /r/DataHoarder. They have an IRC channel to ask questions to and are constantly obtaining more memory. You may even be able to buy an old one off of them for cheap.

My personal recommendation is to get a hard drive enclosure if you access your media as frequently as I do. I'd recommend a Drobo if you want security for not loosing data. If you're like me and want to maximize space and reduce redundancy, check out ORICO on NewEgg. They're having a sale on hard drive enclosures. I'd recommend this one of you want a simple interface.

Sadly I'm not seeing a sale on Hard drives at the moment. But you can't go wrong with Seagate or WD.

[-] Dodgy_Past | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 05:00:46

I've gone for Storage Spaces on Windows 10 for amalgamating all my drives into a pool with redundancy ( parity ) because I don't want to get tied into drobo hardware, but still want the varied drive size feature.

The one thing I've learnt is the Seagate 8Tb archive drives are incredibly slow for this but it was the only way I could afford enough space to start with 3 decent sized drives.

[-] Dude036 | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 08:00:33

Well, the most cost effective drive I have noticed is the 4TB models. And it doesn't require specialized software to run it. Keep in mind that redundancy isn't the main objective on most drive though. Only RAID enclosures.

[-] Dodgy_Past | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 09:10:15

I was just comparing an alternative solution to the Drobo.

Storage Spaces is a feature built into Windows 10 from Home upwards.

Personally I've gone for the 8TB due to the fact that I've used all 6 3.5" bays in my case so I need the density.

[-] gazil8 | 2 points | Dec 22 2016 19:02:36

I prefer Seagate, since it's usually the cheapest. I bought way too many hard drives. I started off thinking 1TB was going to be enough, and then bought another 1TB, and then 2TB and then 5TB and then another 5TB and now I recently bought 8 TB couple weeks ago thinking this is going to be it. But it's now almost full....

[-] rowanobrian | 8 points | Dec 23 2016 04:38:13

delete button doesnt work on your pc?

[-] Lego349 | 2 points | Dec 22 2016 19:42:57

I have a WD. Always been happy with it. Mines 1TB, so smaller than you're looking for, but it's reliable, a good size and look (fits behind my laptop on my desk, stores well, small discrete black square shape, decent cord length), never had any issues with it. I basically just use it as a library for my videos and it's always performed well.

[-] maldek1 | 2 points | Dec 22 2016 19:58:16

Still got Seagates, WD & Toshibas that I've had for over 3 years. No problems with any them so far. Maybe I'm just lucky?

[-] heatproofmatt | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 06:11:22

i've been using seagates for years. never had a problem.

i even used the 3TB one.

[-] pm_me_ur_WBC_fanmail | 2 points | Dec 22 2016 21:42:05

keep an eye on slickdeals.net.

[-] SteelbiteGaming | 2 points | Dec 22 2016 23:22:07

NEVER get a seagate one.

Hitachi and WD are by far the most reliable ones.

[-] mooglobe | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 00:49:17

r/hardwareswap and r/buildapcsales

[-] UltraMegaMegaMan | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 02:07:16

I bought an 8TB external off Amazon for $170 recently when it was on sale. It's a Seagate, and I haven't had any problems but I've had it for less than a month so it's too early to tell really.

Keep an eye on /r/buildapcsales and something will pop up.

You can break it down by component also

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/search?q=hdd+OR+Hard+Drive&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all

[-] alakaboem | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 03:46:30

Pretty much all the even-TB Seagates are reliable as hell, it's just the odds that poop out pretty frequently, for whatever reason.

[-] UltraMegaMegaMan | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 09:17:28

That's good to hear, the comments in this thread had me worried. I'm hoping this will hang in there a long time, it's got everything on it.

[-] Dryu_nya | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 13:55:41

You might want to check out /r/DataHoarders.

[-] shifty21 | 2 points | Dec 24 2016 23:57:20

/r/DataHoarders not only tells you what is the best deals are for storage, but also the best way to setup your storage.

[-] hungsoloo | 2 points | Dec 23 2016 21:24:56

So....get a RAID set up.....RAID 1, Raid 5, Raid 10 or 01.

Personally, I like Raid 5's because you can take a drive out if it fails and it will repair itself.

[-] [deleted] | 1 points | Dec 26 2016 01:23:48

Best advice right here. Even if you don't want redundancy long term go raid 5 for first year of your drives life at least because that is when they are most likely to die. Then turn your raid array into one big volume so you'll go from 4tb to 8tb then expand from there

[-] Pharaoh313 | 1 points | Dec 22 2016 22:54:16

I suggest something...Raid clone drives have a back up of your drives. It sucks when good content gone from drive failure.

[-] ruralcricket | 1 points | Dec 22 2016 23:20:59

Try this tool: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/external-hard-drive/#S=3000000,25000000&sort=a5&page=1

Also, I've had good luck with ebay.

[-] alakaboem | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 03:44:25

4tb Seagate Expansion is outstanding. I adore mine to the ends of the Earth and back.

[-] tomato065 | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 06:59:31

If you're willing to buy from Amazon Warehouse, I'm guessing they'll get some returned merchandise after Christmas. If you live in the US, MLK Jr. Day (Jan 16) often brings some modest sales. And you can also set alerts on sites like Slickdeals.

[-] JustAPrivateBuffalo | 1 points | Dec 23 2016 11:00:03

Can't remember where I saw it but I will have a look, or if someone else know what I'm talking about. There was an article a while back somewhere, some datacenter company released all of the data on drive failures for all of the different makes and models of hard drives that they used.

Edit. Found it, heres the link:

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-failure-rates-q3-2016/

Doesn't really help with which ones are going on sale but it does help work out which drives to avoid