What do you think are the best budget ($30 and under per TB) consumer desktop hard drives?

[cbn]

Here are a few I found while browsing this morning:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178993 (Seagate BarraCuda ST2000DM006 2TB 64MB cache, 7200 rpm, PMR platters, $54.99 free shipping)

https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Desktop-7200rpm-Internal-Drive/dp/B013JPLOQQ (Toshiba P300 3TB, 64 MB cache, 7200 rpm, PMR platters, $74.17 free shipping)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822178994 (Seagate BarraCuda ST3000DM008 3TB 64MB cache, 7200 rpm, PMR platters, $84.99 free shipping)

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822235012 (Western Digital Blue 3TB, 64MB cache, 5400 rpm, PMR platters, $84.99 free shipping )

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822235011 (Western Digital Blue 4TB, 64MB cache, 5400 rpm, PMR platters, $99.99 free shipping after promo code )

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179009 (Seagate BarraCuda ST4000DM005 4TB 64MB cache, 5900 rpm, PMR platters, $94.99 free shipping)

https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-Performance-Desktop-Internal-HDWF180XZSTA/dp/B013JPKUU2?th=1 (Toshiba X300 4TB, 128MB cache, 7200 rpm, PMR platters, $105.99 free shipping)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013JPLKQK/ref=twister_B073XBPG6S?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (Toshiba X300 5TB, 128MB cache, 7200 rpm, PMR platters, $129.99 free shipping)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013JPLKJC/ref=twister_B073XBPG6S?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (Toshiba X300 6TB, 128MB cache, 7200 rpm, PMR platters, $152.99 free shipping)

 

[cbn]

Surprising to see the WD Blue 4TB listed with a Sequential of 150 MB/s:

https://www.wdc.com/content/dam/wdc/website/downloadable_assets/eng/spec_data_sheet/2879-771436.pdf

As a reference point the WD Black 4TB is listed at 202 MB/s:

https://www.wdc.com/content/dam/wdc/website/downloadable_assets/eng/spec_data_sheet/2879-771434.pdf

This, in contrast, to the Seagate Baracuda drives which are rated at 210 MB/s for the 2TB model (7200 rpm, PMR platters) and 190 MB/s for the 4TB model (5400 rpm, SMR platters):

https://www.seagate.com/www-content/datasheets/pdfs/3-5-barracuda-3tbDS1900-9-1710US-en_US.pdf

And 190 MB/s for the older model Seagate Barrcuda 4TB (ST4000DM005, listed in the opening post for $94.99 free shipping) with 5900 rpm 1.33TB PMR platters:

https://www.seagate.com/www-content...a-fam/barracuda-new/en-us/docs/100804656b.pdf

EDIT: In the video below (@ 2:14) the WD Blue 4TB (WD40EZRZ) had around the same sequential as the Seagate Barracuda 4TB (ST4000DM005):

 

[cbn]

Looking strictly at the Newegg reviews (specifically the distribution of eggs) there are three standouts among the drives in the opening post:

Seagate Barracuda (ST2000DM006) 2TB
Western Digital Blue 3TB
Toshiba X300 6TB

2nd tier:
Toshiba P300 3TB
Seagate BarraCuda (ST4000DM005) 4TB
Toshiba X300 5TB

 

[sdifox]

Hitachi He8

 

[cbn]

Added Seagate Barracuda (ST8000DM004) 8TB to the opening post. (NOTE: This one has SMR platters)

(No reviews for this one on Amazon and Newegg doesn't have it listed)

EDIT: I took out the listing because it was sold by a third party with reviews (that I missed seeing) indicating these were units pulled from an external enclosure. (So no warranty)

 

[sdifox]

Added Seagate Barracuda (ST8000DM004) 8TB to the opening post. (NOTE: This one has SMR platters)

(No reviews for this one on Amazon and Newegg doesn't have it listed)

SMR is good only for WORM duty.

 

[cbn]

SMR is good only for WORM duty.

I have a 2.5" 2TB Firecuda with SMR platters and it has been working fine.

 

[sdifox]

I have a 2.5" 2TB Firecuda with SMR platters and it has been working fine.

That is a hybrid drive, the flash memory is masking the SMR performance.

 

[sdifox]

Fry's is advertising HGST 4TB Deskstar for 99

 

[cbn]

Fry's is advertising HGST 4TB Deskstar for 99

Deckstar NAS?

 

[sdifox]

Deckstar NAS?

Oui, of course you need the email code

 

[Smoblikat]

Back in my day everyone was all about the Spinpoint F3 1tb's..........my how times have changed.

 

[pcslookout]

WD Black 6 TB.

 

[aigomorla]

i don't think i have a seagate that has lasted more then 3-4 yrs, and even on their nas line.

There drives are so bad and notorious for failing they had to offer data recovery services included in RMA to earn back some of the trust on there drives.

So i would think twice before getting seagate again.

And i really dont like or accept there warrenty policy of starting on the date the drive was made and not purchased.

 

[dlerious]

i don't think i have a seagate that has lasted more then 3-4 yrs, and even on their nas line.

There drives are so bad and notorious for failing they had to offer data recovery services included in RMA to earn back some of the trust on there drives.

So i would think twice before getting seagate again.

And i really dont like or accept there warrenty policy of starting on the date the drive was made and not purchased.

I think I have a 1TB Seagate that's 5 or 6 years now. Not sure why I bought it, but I was using nothing but WD Blacks for a long time. Grabbed a bunch of Reds and HGST NAS drives for builds last year (with a few Blues).
Grabbed 4 of the HGST 2.5" (5K1000) and 3 of them have died already

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Back in my day everyone was all about the Spinpoint F3 1tb's..........my how times have changed.

Those were good. I still have two of them in one of my rigs.

AigoMorla warns about Seagate, but I've had four 2TB NAS drives in my server for almost four years. There haven't been any problems. I've had 1TB WD Blue drives fail -- once or twice.

 

[cbn]

SMR is good only for WORM duty.

I have a 2.5" 2TB Firecuda with SMR platters and it has been working fine.

That is a hybrid drive, the flash memory is masking the SMR performance.

The 8GB MLC is for read only*, so I am thinking it must have to do with the media cache (which is a certain amount of PMR located at the outer edge of the platters).

*Although I suppose the NAND could help writes indirectly by reducing the activity of the actuator somewhat.

 

[snoopy7548]

For storage, nothing beats the 8TB WD Red which regularly go for ~$160 at Best Buy (the WD easystore external drives contain them).

I guess for general use/game installations, probably any WD Blue that fits your required capacity. WD Black doesn't seem worth the extra cost for the small increase in performance unless you're doing some intenstive I/O work, at which point it's probably better to go to an m.2 SSD.

 

[cbn]

The Toshiba X300 8TB (7200 rpm, 128MB cache, CMR platters) is now $219.99 FS:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822149698

Seagate Barracuda ST8000DM004 8TB (5400 rpm, 256MB cache, SMR platters) is now $209.99 FS:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822183793

(The two drives above are the first 8TB to make this list).

Seagate Barracuda ST4000DM004 4TB (5400 rpm, 256MB cache, SMR platters) $83.99 AP FS:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179299&reviews=all

($21 per TB is the lowest I have seen so far)

P.S. If I was shopping for 8TB now (and I had the spare drive bays, power and cooling) I would seriously consider going 3 x $84 4TB drives for $252 and putting them in RAID-5. One downside though is I wouldn't be able to use the volume with Intel Optane software or AMD StoreMI. Primocache (for Windows) would work as would Bcache (for Linux).

 

[JujuFish]

I bought two of these for $140 each in December. Cracked them open and got WD Reds. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-eas...-3-0-hard-drive-black/5792401.p?skuId=5792401

 

[thecoolnessrune]

SMR's only real pain point is in modifying data. As long as you're just occasionally modifying existing data, you shouldn't notice that large of a difference between an SMR and a PMR Drive. But if you are doing something like Virtualization Storage, or Records that you're constantly modifying, yeah that's going to hurt alot. But for general growing storage (WORM workloads as other's mentioned), they're very affordable for what you get.

 

[cbn]

Price of the SMR 6TB Barracuda is now below $20 per TB:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822183794

^^^^ Seagate BarraCuda ST6000DM003 6TB 5400 RPM 256MB Cache, $119.99 Free shipping

And the SMR 4TB Barracuda is close to $20 per TB:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822179299&ignorebbr=1

^^^^ Seagate BarraCuda ST4000DM004 4TB 5400 RPM 256MB Cache, $82.99 After promo code, Free shipping.

With that mentioned, what I think is much more interesting about these drives is their recently boosted URE spec----> https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...rracuda-and-non-pro-iron-wolf-drives.2563113/

(With that noted, I do wish we could get some short stroked drives based on the 4TB and the 6TB......maybe 3TB short stroked from 4TB and 4TB short stoked from 6TB. This so we could build RAID-5 arrays with a higher level of minimum performance)

 

[VirtualLarry]

The most recent drives that I've picked up, in 3.5" size, are 4x 4TB WD MyBook External Desktop HDDs (factory-direct refurbs, zero POH) for $54 ea. or so, and just this week, a pair of 6TB Toshiba X300 7200RPM drives. I was thinking of making those workstation / Steam game drives, for a couple of my rigs. Even temped to run them in RAID-0 for that, but that's probably a mistake. Maybe I should run them in RAID-1. I already have one of my PCs set up with RAID-0 NVMe Intel 660p NVMe SSDs.

 

[cbn]

The most recent drives that I've picked up, in 3.5" size, are 4x 4TB WD MyBook External Desktop HDDs (factory-direct refurbs, zero POH) for $54 ea. or so, and just this week, a pair of 6TB Toshiba X300 7200RPM drives. I was thinking of making those workstation / Steam game drives, for a couple of my rigs. Even temped to run them in RAID-0 for that, but that's probably a mistake. Maybe I should run them in RAID-1. I already have one of my PCs set up with RAID-0 NVMe Intel 660p NVMe SSDs.

240GB BX500 + 4TB or 6TB HDD using both StoreMI and Crucial Momentium cache?

 

[VirtualLarry]

240GB BX500 + 4TB or 6TB HDD using both StoreMI and Crucial Momentium cache?

That could work. I've got another B450 AORUS PRO WIFI board incoming soon, open-box special for under $90. (MSRP for new is $130 or $120.) Using a new purchased one in my current rig.