Most Reliable 3Tb HDD for storage.

[thelastjuju]

You have to be on crack to actually buy a 3tb HDD.. The highest capacity drive that is still reliable, with minimal failure rates, is the Samsung 2TB F4 drive.. but I don't consider it as trustworthy as the WD1TB (1001FALS).

You don't need a special drive either.. "consumer" drives are ran 24/7 for years and years by many many people who don't fall for marketing gimmickry the way average consumers do.

.. also HDDs are NOT cheap right now.. we have been getting priced gouged for months thanks to flooding, where have you been? Although in the past two weeks actually, they dropped somewhat significantly, although nowhere near back to normal.

 

[rana_kirti]

So I read all the replies many times over... and I'm still confused.

I was hoping to buy 2 x 3tb. Planned to use the first one for data and second one for backup of that data. But I'm now so confused I don't know what to do....

I'd love the extra space of a 3tb hdd but if it comes at the cost of reliability then guess I'll just have to buy a 2tb hdd.

Can other members confirm that a 2tb is positively more reliable than a 3tb ? Is there any study/research done on this ? A link to a report on findings for same...?

Thanks.

 

[JustMe21]

Or buy 3 2TB or larger hard drives and set them up in a RAID 5 array, so if one fails, the others will still retain the data, though operate in a degraded performance mode until you get the failed drive replaced.

 

[Charlie98]

So I read all the replies many times over... and I'm still confused.

I was hoping to buy 2 x 3tb. Planned to use the first one for data and second one for backup of that data. But I'm now so confused I don't know what to do....

I'd love the extra space of a 3tb hdd but if it comes at the cost of reliability then guess I'll just have to buy a 2tb hdd.

Can other members confirm that a 2tb is positively more reliable than a 3tb ? Is there any study/research done on this ? A link to a report on findings for same...?

Thanks.

If you need 6TB of storage, I would just go with 3x 2TB single-platter drives... cost-wise it may wind up being a tad more expensive, but as long as your case can hold all that (and the mobo...) I think it would be a better solution.

No, HDDs aren't as cheap as they were just last year, but they are coming down to more reasonable levels. Were I looking for a 2TB drive, this is where I would go.

 

[rana_kirti]

i already have an crucial m4 128gb for games/OS.

thats a 7200 rpm. should i not go for a 5400 rpm since this will be for storage..?

 

[Charlie98]

i already have an crucial m4 128gb for games/OS.

thats a 7200 rpm. should i not go for a 5400 rpm since this will be for storage..?

That would be a less expensive alternative...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145475

 

[Siddhartha]

Hi fellas,

Just became a proud owner of a Crucial 128Gb M4. The difference it made to my system is night and day.

Everyone Please buy an SSD for OS/Apps/Games.!! :thumbsup:

So now i need to buy a 3tb HDD for storage. I simply want the most reliable HDD out there. I just can't deal with RMA. I'm willing to compromise on power consumption and noise but it has to be 100% reliable. So guys, which 3tb HDD would be most reliable option ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...78&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

Thanks,

Rana.

I have a HITACHI Deskstar H3IK30003272SW that shit the bed after using it for about six month.

I would not recommend that model...

 

[rana_kirti]

so i think i've decided to stick with 2tb and my choice will most likely be Hitachi 5K3000. BUt i got something to ask...

i read that it is usually the first version of a new larger capacity which mostly has issues. But don't we already have 2nd and 3rd revisions/version of 3tb HDDs ? Then why is it that 2tb is considered to be more reliable than 3tb...?

I don't get it...

 

[rana_kirti]

so i think i've decided to stick with 2tb and my choice will most likely be Hitachi 5K3000. BUt i got something to ask...

i read that it is usually the first version of a new larger capacity which mostly has issues. But don't we already have 2nd and 3rd revisions/version of 3tb HDDs ? Then why is it that 2tb is considered to be more reliable than 3tb...?

I don't get it...

bump...

 

[philipma1957]

it is not that 2tb breaks less say 1 percent in 1 year and 3tb is 1.5 percent. the fear factor is greater with a 3tb hdd due to the loss of more data. lets say you record tv using eyetv software 1 hr not compressed is 6gb so 333 hrs fits on a 2tb hdd. losing 333 hours of recordings would be really bad. lets say you used a 3tb hdd at 6gb an hour it is 500 hours of recordings. a lot worse.


so lets say you do good backups. it takes 14 hours to clone a 2tb drive at usb speeds. 7 hours at firewire 800 speeds and 4.5 hours at sata speeds.

a 3tb drive is 21 10.5 and 6.75 hours.
given human nature people will clone backups more often on a smaller drive then on a bigger one.

I no long use 3tb hdds for this very reason. backups are too slow.

I run sets of 2tb hdds in raid0 faster to use and and copy them for backups. I never fill the 4tb volume I get it to about 2.4tb. At raid0 in a sata box they clone in 2 to 3 hours.

I use a lot of these 2 bay cases.

http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts2ct.html

good fast case will clone tv shows at 200MB/s reliable. I built some of these for hollywood type sound studios. Used re4 drives from western Digital still working after 2 years.

I also rotate out my hdds I sell them on ebay with a year on the warranty. I use western digital because they have the best rma setup.

I use the caviar blacks and the re4's because they have long warranties 5 years. I have extra drives and extra copies due to the importance of the data on them. I also do about 2 percent returns each year. 2 or 3 drives a year go bad. out of 100 or so.

My pick is western digital not because they do not break, it is that they make returns easier.

 

[rana_kirti]

thanks for that explaination,

so really then 3tbs are as reliable as 2tbs. i've decided to go for 2tb.

i'm very keen on wd green but the head parking thing is a concern to me. i'm not experienced enough to use widdle and then monitor stats/data. hence i'm looking at hitachi 5k300. i just want plug and play.

since hitachi is bought by wd if i buy a hitachi and in the future it breaks and i have to do an rma to hitachi or maybe wd ( since they own hitachi ) then will they be sending in a wd green as an replacement ? or will wd keep the desktar line alive ?

 

[Anteaus]

I think the 3TB WD green drives are as reliable as they can be, but then again we shouldn't compare them directly to the Black series which are built to higher specs. I think the 3TB WD Greens are as reliable as any of the competitors, perhaps even more in some cases.

That being said, the new 3TB drives come with more than new drive space. They also come with a new sector size and unless you have a newer system with a 64-bit OS (Vista/7) and a EFI bios that supports GPT partitions, I would avoid them. Using the full drive without full native support means using workarounds which are never a good thing and can affect reliability.

All that said, I have two 3TB WD Green drives (one internal and one external) and have had nothing but success with them. My recommendation is that no matter which way you go, storing that much data on one drive is ALWAYS a gamble and you should have a proper backup if you consider any of that data important. If you worry about reliability, just make sure you're in a position to replace a drive immediately if it fails and you shouldn't have any issues.

 

[rana_kirti]

i agree.. but isn't the 3tb limitation only associated to it being used as a OS drive ?

i read that if you use a 3tb as an Data drive then you can use it without having "Windows 7-64 and a EFI bios that supports GPT partitions"

would the above be correct ?

 

[Anteaus]

i agree.. but isn't the 3tb limitation only associated to it being used as a OS drive ?

i read that if you use a 3tb as an Data drive then you can use it without having "Windows 7-64 and a EFI bios that supports GPT partitions"

would the above be correct ?

EFI is required to have GPT, and GPT is required to use the full 3TB, as MBR is limited to ~2.2TB due to the fact that it uses 512 sector sizes instead of the 4096. 64-bit is required because 32-bit also can't use 4096. In order to see 3TB on a system without said requirements, the drive must be realigned to use 512MB, and even then you still have the ~2.2TB limitation so you either have to use multiple partitions or some other "cheat", just like we used to do in the earlier days when we have larger drives than our bios would support.

 

[rana_kirti]

so my vista sp2 32bit does not cut it then...?

not challenging you knowledge but only clarifying my doubts...

1. this diagram at bottom says...

http://www.hitachigst.com/internal-drives/above-2tb/

- used as a data drive windows vista 32 bit "will work with hitachi gpt disk manager"

will this method show the 3tbb hdd as 3tb or 2.2tb + 750gb ?

2. The page also says...

"As a USB Drive

USB drive enclosures must be configured to work with high-capacity drives so it is important to confirm with the manufacturer that the enclosure will support capacities greater than 2.2TB. The enclosure may require a driver or firmware update to support the larger capacity."

Does that mean that if i use a 3tb hdd in an external enclosure then as long as the enclosue supports 3tb via latest firmware then i'll be able to see 3tb while using it connected to my pc which has vista sp2 32bit ?

3. this video shows hitachi gpt disk manager in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfsEn9LuP8

in the end the 3tb hdd shows up as a single 3tb drive on an xp pc.

So can the hitachi gpt disk manager be considered a solution to people with 32bit OS or would you consider it as a "cheat" solution ?

pardon my confusion

 

[Anteaus]

I found the following link that might be helpful :

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/tech...0235119/$file/Deskstar_3TB_FAQ_finalwebv2.pdf

I'm not certain if you will see the whole drive, though probably thats the whole point of the disk manager to see the whole drive, since I believe (i'm not certain) you can still do multiple partitions (< ~2.2TB)and use the whole drive. In any event, the disk manager supplied by Hitachi is basically a software workaround. I don't know if there is a speed penalty or if the drive must be reformatted prior to moving it to a machine that natively supports EFI/GPT so I would keep that in mind.

As to the USB question, every enclosure has a SATA --> USB interface so if the SATA interface is older and doesn't support 4k sectors, I can see why the need for the firmware update, but that's about all i know about that.

 

[rana_kirti]

guys,

decided to go for 2tb. Now only thing left to decide is which brand/make...

Added Poll... Kindly vote...!

Regards,

Rana

 

[pandemonium]

2TB is the market point of choice for price/TB - good choice.

So far I've owned 4 WD HDDs and all of them still work flawlessly. When a friend held a 15lb speaker magnet to one, and it booted up afterwards without any problems with all of the data intact, the OS loaded and no errors found, I decided then I'm pretty much a fan for life.

 

[rana_kirti]

guys come'on lets have some more people voting in.... Cheers

 

[rana_kirti]

requestin more votes.. lets make this interesting...

 

[Arcanedeath]

I'd vote for HGST I have 5 7k2000 that have been very solid, the WD 1TB Fals were good too I also have a 2TB WD black drive but I have not had it long enough to see if it's good.

 

[Husky55]

With HDD so cheap, do a RAID 1 array as well as regular backups of important files

Cheap? You mean before the flood.

 

[GrumpyMan]

I'll just throw out there that I had a WD green external die on me when it fell over on my desk, nothing too serious, but apparently enough to brick it. And I have been reading about Seagate drives dying on all the tech site's forums more than usual this year. I haven't tried Hitachi drives yet.

 

[Anteaus]

I'll just throw out there that I had a WD green external die on me when it fell over on my desk, nothing too serious, but apparently enough to brick it. And I have been reading about Seagate drives dying on all the tech site's forums more than usual this year. I haven't tried Hitachi drives yet.

Gravity is a known destroyer of electronics. It shouldn't count against it's reliability rating lol.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Gravity is a known destroyer of electronics. It shouldn't count against it's reliability rating lol.

True, but I have a ton of old WD drives that I just throw into a box and they still spin up just fine. That green drive was a pussy. :hmm: