Reliable HDDs these days?

having had another hard disk die recently (my Buffalo Ministation) I am "in the market" - but unsure what stuff is good these days, reading online reviews would seem to suggest all the brands are hopeless and Hitachi seem to have sold out

probably looking for a basic 3.5" 7200rpm 1/2TB to put in my desktop (mostly got WD Black in my current laptops) - I know we have quite a few tech professionals here so good to hear opinions

I highly recommend the SSHD Hybrid drives.... Currently got a Seagate 2TB SSHD, and my is it quick.. not quite SSD speeds, but damn close (from power on to desktop (including typing my pin) in under 30 seconds....

Seagate seem to have fixed the issues that plagued the 1TB a few years back (I got hit with that - still buy Seagate, find them the most reliable over all I have ever had/used)

I personally don't like WD drives, they are always louder and seem clunkier to me... but I think it's personal preference...

Toshiba drives aren't too bad, Samsung are very quiet.... as for reliability of both, I have no idea, not heard much about them, maybe it's a good thing? - I don't know!

Just go with sold state drive (ssd). No moving parts so alot less likely to break.

Hello,

I agree with Ghozer. SSHD's are a lot faster than HDD's and are quite reliable. Although, SSD's are even better but it has different maintenance rules. Like, you should never ever defragment SSD. But yeah, SSD is something that does not have any moving parts, so it can withstand the falls and knocks (if it's in the laptop). SO it's more reliable if you use computer on the go most of times. The problem of SSD's - price and capacity. It dropped down quite a bit in last 5 years, but still, 512GB SSD costs around £160, which is the whole £100 more, compared to same capacity SSHD.

thanks folks, this is intended as a cheap archive drive for photos and backups really, alas SSD isnt in budget - but a 1TB Hybrid for a few quid more than a 7200rpm equivalent seems a decent idea. In a year or two would look to get a 2drive NAS to put it in

The next question is who to buy it from, apart from not paying their taxes I really don't trust Amazon packaging for something like this and would rather buy local or from someone who packages up properly - suggestions?

thanks folks, this is intended as a cheap archive drive for photos and backups really, alas SSD isnt in budget - but a 1TB Hybrid for a few quid more than a 7200rpm equivalent seems a decent idea. In a year or two would look to get a 2drive NAS to put it in

 

The next question is who to buy it from, apart from not paying their taxes I really don't trust Amazon packaging for something like this and would rather buy local or from someone who packages up properly - suggestions?

The cheapest I found when I got my 2TB was ebuyer, but I think the current cheapest 1TB is box.co.uk

https://www.box.co.uk/Seagate_FireCuda_ST1000DX002_1_TB_3.5_I_1984764.html

thanks folks, this is intended as a cheap archive drive for photos and backups really

Have you considered OneDrive? It comes bundled with Office 365, and includes 1tb of online storage.

There are various situations where you might be able to get it free (i.e. if you have an edu or sch e-mail address). If not, you can often pick up a year's subscription (Personal Edition) for around £30.

Have you considered OneDrive? It comes bundled with Office 365, and includes 1tb of online storage.

 

There are various situations where you might be able to get it free (i.e. if you have an edu or sch e-mail address). If not, you can often pick up a year's subscription (Personal Edition) for around £30.

A subscription based service, that totals a higher cost for less storage, and it's also MUCH slower depending on your internet connection..

I don't like the idea of backing up to 'the cloud',

A) it's expensive,

B) it uses lots of bandwidth

C) if you loose your internet connection, you loose access to the backup..

D) if the cloud host is hacked, your files are compromised

E) if the host dies for any reason, you loose access to your files..

Also, if an infected file gets uploaded by someone else, there is a risk of it spreading to your files... it's already happened with some ransomware and other things, so it's only a matter of time...

I'd put my life on Western Digital Red drives. I've had 4 or them running in my server for the last 5 years

I'd put my life on Western Digital Red drives. I've had 4 or them running in my server for the last 5 years

I go with WD too. Had some pretty grim experiences with Seagate/Maxtor (including them refusing to honour a warranty).

I go with WD too. Had some pretty grim experiences with Seagate/Maxtor (including them refusing to honour a warranty).

Where as I have had several WD die, and imho they are very noisy..... really dont like WD personally

I have to agree with Ghozer on that as I have had the same problems with WD drives and since then I have always gone for Segate.