Thread: HDD help

Originally Posted by imakemeanpho

I'm archiving my movies in a WD My Book and I'm scared it might fail in 1-2 years, when I was thinking of storing it there until I'm a grandpa.

I would definitely back up your data to another source. Why take the chance? The general life span of hard drives is probably about 5 years but will be shortened if you're using it continuously. It's not so much a matter of it will fail but when.

But then what's the point of backing up in another hard drive if it's gonna die eventually as well? Why don't hard drives last as long as dvd's???

Originally Posted by imakemeanpho

But then what's the point of backing up in another hard drive if it's gonna die eventually as well? Why don't hard drives last as long as dvd's???

i wonder how you make DvD last long..I have big problem with DvD's they get scrath in a week or two and I will loose my software and stuff which will give Data recycle error/.......
HDD's ar emuch more relable and I never saw a HDD falure I was using 160GB for like 3years on my last system and now have 500Gb seagate adn 500GB WD and they doing gr8...Sry for taking topic to other side but was just curious over this comment...

My luck with externals has been terrible I will never buy another one. 1 Maxtor and 1 Seagate Free Agent, both died within 100 days, fortunately all was backed up but I didn't want to send the drive to manufacturer with torrent data on it and it was very difficult to erase so I scrapped them.

I think but I'm not sure that many external failures are not due to the drive itself but instead are due to the low quality of the enclosures.

Ok to expand on this a bit, first of all I’m by no means a hardware expert but I have read many reviews on various hard drives as well as many editorial opinions. From what I can tell there is a definitive trend showing that drives in external enclosures tend to die much faster than drives in a standard computer tower. There may be any number of reasons for this from user abuse to overheating. While this is simply an opinion, since there is no true scientific study that I know of, I think that it’s fair to say several things:

Externals can’t possibly get the same level of cooling available to an internal device. Most do not have fans or much in the way of heat sinks. You can’t open the enclosure to add these things without voiding the warranty. They get jostled and possibly damaged due to being external to the main tower, one drop is all it takes. Now think of the over worked, underpaid, box boy at Wal-Mart handling a pallet of these lunch box sized packages. Not pretty.

I’ve opened both of the cases on the externals that died on me and while I’m no expert there seemed to be a lot of foam padding inside the case to tighten things like the Firewire port up from wiggling loose. I’m sorry but when we’re counting on foam to hold the connectors in place that’s already a problem, I’ve never seen a regular computer tower with this type of foam shimming up the connecting points. Again I’m by no means an expert though.

Internals have fans, heat sinks and can be upgraded with more/better fans, heat sinks. This is huge because heat is enemy #1. They are more stable and virtually impossible to damage during everyday use, no knocking it over because someone kicked the desk or tripped on the power cord. They are very cheap and super easy to replace.

To verify some of this you can read the reviews on popular externals and see that there is an alarmingly high percentage of failures. I’ve often found that 15-20% return rate is not that uncommon on external drives. Just read the reviews at Amazon, Wal-Mart, Best Buy or any other retailer.

I now use an old pc that I've simply bought a new internal HD for. I've had 0 issues when plugging new HD in old computer, power supply, air flow and many other things just seem better than standard external enclosures. My last internal is 6 years old and still running strong.

This is the HD I now use it is a well tested, highly rated mid sized HD that is very affordable. Easily pops in with minimal experience. Just make sure you know what type of drive is already in the old pc or you may end up buying an adapter (which isn't a big deal).

One final note, I've heard various warnings/concerns from tech guys about going over the TB mark with a single HD; unfortunately I can’t find the articles or blogs to support this opinion. The basis for the idea though is that drive platters (where your data is stored) are currently able to store roughly 320 GB of data (it used to be 250GB hence the 250, 500 and 750GB drives) and they felt that too many platters in a single case presented certain problems with heat etc thereby making a single platter failure more likely. With this in mind the smaller drives with only two platters are though to be a better solution and less likely to fail, so they say.

seagate is best bought one 4 years back still working fine.a month back bought another working fine.if you go for usb power it will cost you more so go for powered one come around 100$ for 1tb

Originally Posted by forbidden

i wonder how you make DvD last long..I have big problem with DvD's they get scrath in a week or two and I will loose my software and stuff which will give Data recycle error/.......
HDD's ar emuch more relable and I never saw a HDD falure I was using 160GB for like 3years on my last system and now have 500Gb seagate adn 500GB WD and they doing gr8...Sry for taking topic to other side but was just curious over this comment...

DVD is last longer than HDD because it's supposed to be rarely accessed (e.g. sorted, delete files, like HDD case) and it's not magnetic disc.

But DVD is smaller in size and can't be used to store big size and often used files so DVD is only suitable to use on rarely used files/as a backup only.

To make DVD last longer you just need to keep it tidyly with plastic case and in non-direct sunlight place. Also, just use it when needed (once a month for example).

I'm waiting for Blu-ray burner and media get cheaper so It's a kind of win-win solution for no stratch, bigger size and reliable.

I have had a 1TB Western Digital Elements External HDD, and I must say, it has given me no problems at all. I would recommend it.

Originally Posted by PIKMIKY

hey guys, soim thinking of buying an external HDD,
and i was thinking of WD but im having second thoughts since they crashed for waffles.
so, can anyone of you guys recommend a good HDD for me, 1.5 tb or 1TB

please tell me why you have chosen it too, this is not a spam thread where ou can just post your favorite HDD brand.

thanks guys!!.

I recommend WD ... but recently I have been looking for any HDD which is not made in CHINA "sorry but I hate chinese manufacturing" .. and because I am in shitty country all HDD are made in china except buffalo, and in some stores they have WD Malaysian made.

So my recommendation is ... don't pick your HDD by it's manufacture, but see where it is made "I personally prefer HDD made in USA, Japan, Malaysia"

Free info, heat accelerates decline in electronic devices, particularly hard drives.

I only buy small form 2.5 external USB drives. They generate less heat. A 3.5 inch drive in an external enclosure with no fan is generating much more heat, and will decline faster.

I buy Seagate Freeagent Go drives for external USB stuff. The "Go" part is the small form factor. They are also faster when compared to most other external USB drives.

I have full size SCSI drives in external enclosures, but they all have fans circulating air over them and cooling them.