Quiet drive for long term storage that is also not ridiculously expensive

[dkm777]

Hi guys,

I need a 2TB drive for archival/backup purposes, but ever since Samsung exited the HDD business I have no idea what's good nowadays. I have their F4 EcoGreen drive and very satisfied. It never gave me any trouble and I even run multiple VMs from it. But as they say - data without backup is worthless, I need to back up the contents of my Sammy somewhere. I did some research and found that a new class of drives appeared - made for video surveillance systems. Is that just a marketing gimmick or are they really a notch above the rest as far as reliability and longevity is concerned? I'm kinda reluctant to check out enterprise class drives since they cost an arm and a leg and are probably noisy. This will be going into a case that stands on a desk so noise is important.

 

[BFG10K]

Based on your requirements I’d recommend a Caviar Red.

 

[beginner99]

WD Green. Have 3 of those and no issues.

 

[thelastjuju]

for a LONG term solution... I'd avoid WD Greens and entry level Seagates and go with a drive that they have enough confidence to at least offer a 3 year warranty.

My vote is for the Hitachi 2tb with 3 yr warranty for $135

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145473

That or possibly the brand new WD Reds, which have a 3 yr warranties too.. we just don't know how their track record will fare compared to the excellent record the Sammy F4s had before Seagate took them over and dropped them to a rather concerning 1 yr warranty.

 

[dkm777]

Checked my local outfit and they have those Hitachis in stock. What also caught my eye was WD AV-GP (WD20EURS). Almost the same price and also 3 year warranty.

 

[LoveMachine]

You might want to avoid the AV drives. They are similar to the first gen green drives that weren't so good. The do indeed have the 3 year warranty, but you might be more likely to need it.

 

[ky54]

If you want to move up to a 3 TB HDD here's a WD Green with a 2-year warranty: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136874

$169

 

[thelastjuju]

Yeah I've had my eyes on those AV Green drives for a while.. for whatever reason they don't seem that popular and there isn't nearly as much input on them as you'd expect.

I think it has a lot to do with the stigma the WD Greens developed, after so many premature failures and horror stories over the intelli-park nonsense (although I believe the newest ones no longer have it).. which is probably why WD went ahead and came up with this new "Red" line of drives, to distance themselves from all that.. though we even have some people who suspect they are just re-packaged Green drives :ninja:

That 3tb Green drive linked to above? I would avoid it at all costs .. its never a good sign when the amount of 5-star reviews are almost equal to the amount of 1-star reviews. :thumbsdown:

 

[dma0991]

It really is a difficult decision to make when there are only 2 left in the game. I really liked my Samsung F4EG and F3, they have been problem free for the longest time. I have an 80GB Seagate that is still kicking strong but I'm a little bit skeptical about Seagate's 1 year warranty which is a major turn off but their drives I would presume to be better than WD Greens except that its reliability is questionable.

What I didn't like about the current choices is that WD only sells their Green drive at the affordable price range while leaving the Blacks or Blues at a premium. What I did like is their 2 year warranty which is short from what I've known in the past but still 2x longer than Seagate. That being said, I bought a 2TB WD Green drive recently and not really pleased with it but what can you do when you're choices are only bad or worse? :\

 

[ky54]

Honestly I don't trust any vendors right now. After the flood most of the makers have rushed back to the market drives I'm not real sure are built at the same standards that were there before the flood. I'm reading about Blacks failing at a pretty good clip so right now I'm concerning myself with just SSD drives and I'll let the other folks sort out the mechs. I just put that Greenie up just as another choice. If I felt like rolling the dice on a mech right now I'd probably go for it but I'd buy two and put them in a RAID config hoping at least one would stay up while the other is RMA'd.

 

[Dessert Tears]

I have their F4 EcoGreen drive and very satisfied. It never gave me any trouble and I even run multiple VMs from it.

My requirements ([thread=2260111]my thread[/thread]) are roughly the same, so I hope this isn't too much of a thread jack. I have an F4 in an external drive that I haven't used much.

My vote is for the Hitachi 2tb with 3 yr warranty for $135

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145473

There are a lot of recent 1-egg reviews for DOA or quick failures. I don't know if they're specific to the drive or if they have anything to do with [thread=2259813]these complaints about Newegg packing/shipping[/thread].

Newegg has the F4 for $100 after promo code. It seems like an okay deal to me, but does the 1-year warranty mean avoid at any price?

 

[beginner99]

horror stories over the intelli-park nonsense (although I believe the newest ones no longer have it).

This is a non-issue for long term storage as i guess the head will be parked 99.99% of the time anyway. I have mine for 2 years and the "worst" one has about 90'000 head parks. Compared to soem people claiming 200'000 in few month that is not that bad.

However AFAIK this issue was a lot worse in Linux and hence in pre-build NAS devices.

 

[dkm777]

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm strongly leaning towards Hitachi right now. But I'm still concerned with noise since there's some sort of Hitachi inside my external LaCie Grand and the idle noise is rather high but not unpleasant. But then again, coming from Samsungs just about anything will seem loud.

 

[BFG10K]

Don’t waste your time with the WD Green – the Red is faster and has a longer warranty (3 years vs 2 years).

 

[Smoblikat]

Caviar Green, I own several and all of them are dead silent and quite reliable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136891
Just saw this one for 100$:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152245
Not a cav green, but your F4.

 

[ky54]

Don’t waste your time with the WD Green – the Red is faster and has a longer warranty (3 years vs 2 years).

Newegg, granted not the only seller on the internet but the only one I use, is mostly out of stock on the large capacity Red drives. There are some AV's that have a 3 year warranty like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136941

I think slowly the mech market is coming around once we cycle through the first generation post-flood ones. Let's hope it happens quickly.

 

[notposting]

I haven't had a problem with the Green's in my WHS, have 1x1TB, 2x1.5TB, and 6x2TB. And a stray Samsung 1.5TB F2. I sold my 2x2TB F4's right after the floods since they just weren't working out with my WHS...should've kept them in retrospect.

The WD Reds have TLER enabled and sounds like a bit of better vibrational control. Outside of that they are still dense 5400 rpm drives.

Problem with the remaining Samsung F4's is warranty replacements will undoubtedly be Seagate drives, which you may or may not appreciate.

 

[ronbo613]

I have a few of the old F4s, they are great drives. I have not been impressed with the selection of 2-3TB drives currently available, so I've gone back to 1TB drives, mostly Western Digital. I've got a few Greens but mostly I've gone to WD RE4 enterprise drives.
It is a bummer with only two major HD manufacturers; less competition means lower quality and higher prices.