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Looking for a reliable USB drive

Ken g6

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
I have this PVR device. It requires a USB drive to record. In general it works, except that it seems to have a habit of killing drives over time.

First I had a 2TB Samsung external drive. Worked fine for a year without the PVR. Used it occasionally with the PVR for 6 months, and it's dead. The USB controller still works with other drives, but the drive is dead.

Then I got a Touro Mobile/Western Digital 1TB USB-powered drive. After about 3 months the device wouldn't read it - though my computer would - and it had a click-of-death thing going.

So I bought a Sandisk 64GB USB stick. After about 6 months, mostly of occasional use, ~32GB/week, it's dying too.

So, I need a reliable USB drive. Minimum 64GB. Needs to accept up to 32GB/day written to it over, say, 5 years. So 60TB of writes over its lifetime.

Suggestions? (I suppose buying and killing lots of cheap 64GB USB sticks is an option too, but not a great one.)
 
😕 That's not a USB drive. I'm also not looking to archive everything I record.
 
VirtualLarry said:
External SSD?
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about this. I have an unused 32GB SSD, and a USB converter from that Seagate drive that should work with it. But it's less than 64GB. 🙁 I also wouldn't call it portable.

LTC8K6 said:
SD card and USB adapter? SD cards typically have a lifetime warranty.
Click to expand...

I also have a somewhat-available SD card. 🙂 Of only 32GB. 🙁 I don't think most things could read larger SD cards at the time.

The good news is both of these sound like interesting solutions to my other recording device, my hard drive-less old laptop, if its 32GB USB drive fails. It dumps everything to my computer every night over WiFi, so it doesn't need quite so much storage. I thought about a drive with WiFi for the PVR, but when the PVR thing stops recording, it kills power to the USB port.

I wonder which is more reliable, the SSD or the SD card? I'd think SSD, but I never thought of SD cards as more reliable than USB drives. :hmm:
 
LTC8K6 said:
Sandisk has a "high endurance" micro SD line...
Click to expand...

Now we're talking! 🙂

LTC8K6 said:
Panasonic also has such SD cards.
Click to expand...

Searching for "Micro SD Industrial" led me to a 4GB card for $133. 😱 Must be one of those $100 screwdrivers the government buys. D:

I think the Sandisk high endurance thing might work, though.

Or I could get an external enclosure and SSD. I notice most 2.5" enclosures don't have AC adapters. Which is nice for portability. But the PVR device cuts power to the USB when recording ends. So remind me, which SSDs handle sudden, unexpected power cuts well? (I thought there were a few.)
 
There are also dedicated USB SSDs which might already have the necessary power safety features
 
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