Which drives to get for mirrored backup

[Valantar]

I'm wondering which 4TB HDDs I should get for my backup setup. They will be running in a mirrored Storage Space in my HTPC, set up as backup destinations for the three other PCs in the house. In other words, not 24/7 operation, and not actually a NAS, but close enough in terms of usage. They will be replacing my current 2x2TB setup, which is ~90% full. I don't see the need to go higher than 4TB as of now.

I've seen countless people advising against buying identical drives at the same time to avoid them failing at the same time. So, which drives should I get? Ideally, I'll be buying them from the only computer store near where I live, Digital Impuls.no. There are also loads of online stores, of course, but I like to help keep them in business. Also, they have great customer service.

My thinking is to get one WD Red 4TB and another from another brand. I already have one 4TB Red as a media drive, and I'm very happy with it. What should the other one be? I guess it should match both endurance and performance as much as possible.

The options:
Seagate NAS 4TB. Comparable price, looks good spec-wise, but I can't find it on Seagate's site any more. Is this an expired model? Is there any reason not to get it?
HGST Deskstar NAS 4TB. This one has a faster rotational speed. Will it be significantly noisier than the Seagate? And is there any reason to avoid mixing rotational speeds?

My current 2x2TB setup is so awfully slow I can't really believe it. I'm hoping this will improve things slightly.

 

[Billb2]

BackBlaze report

 

[Valantar]

BackBlaze report

Thanks, but unfortunately that doesn't help me much. Neither of my options are on that list, and it seems pretty obvious that there are no significant inter-brand differences.

Also, that report doesn't tell me if a 7200 rpm drive is significantly more noisy than a 5400rpm one.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've seen countless people advising against buying identical drives at the same time to avoid them failing at the same time.

That is very much contrary to standard practice. You get similar drives so performance is similar. You back up so you don't lose your data if there are simultaneous failures (but those aren't nearly as common as the pearl-clutching paranoids would have you believe.)

So, which drives should I get? Ideally, I'll be buying them from the only computer store near where I live, Digital Impuls.no. There are also loads of online stores, of course, but I like to help keep them in business. Also, they have great customer service.

My thinking is to get one WD Red 4TB and another from another brand.

Get two Reds. That's fine.

 

[Valantar]

That is very much contrary to standard practice. You get similar drives so performance is similar.

That's why I'm asking how dissimilar they can be. Also, similar, sure. But I've seen quite a few people specifically advise against buying drives from the same production run (which is what you'd typically get if you buy the same model from the same vendor at the same time).

You back up so you don't lose your data if there are simultaneous failures (but those aren't nearly as common as the pearl-clutching paranoids would have you believe.)

Yes, that's why you back up. This is my backup - but as I don't have unlimited HDD budgets or storage space, some of it is only stored there (as it gets deleted from its original location). Which is why I'm trying to be careful about simultaneous failures. I'm not a business (duh), so outside of Onedrive and Dropbox, I don't have offsite backup.
I've also had very bad luck with HDDs throughout the years (not recently, but I've seen more than my fair share of drive failures). Which, again, is why I want to be as safe as I can.[/QUOTE]

 

[dave_the_nerd]

That's why I'm asking how dissimilar they can be. Also, similar, sure. But I've seen quite a few people specifically advise against buying drives from the same production run (which is what you'd typically get if you buy the same model from the same vendor at the same time).

Don't worry about it.

Yes, that's why you back up. This is my backup - but as I don't have unlimited HDD budgets or storage space, some of it is only stored there (as it gets deleted from its original location). Which is why I'm trying to be careful about simultaneous failures. I'm not a business (duh), so outside of Onedrive and Dropbox, I don't have offsite backup.
I've also had very bad luck with HDDs throughout the years (not recently, but I've seen more than my fair share of drive failures). Which, again, is why I want to be as safe as I can.

If you don't have a second copy, you don't have a backup. Consider a Crashplan subscription.

 

[Valantar]

If you don't have a second copy, you don't have a backup. Consider a Crashplan subscription.

I'm well aware of that, which is why anything truly irreplacable (photos and the like) are also in my Onedrive. And why I'm running a mirrored setup, as anything on it is by definition in two places. Perhaps, instead of backup, I should say "file history/mass storage". Also, holy sh*t, the price of that Crashplan family plan was not nice at all. Unlimited storage is nice, though. I'll have to look into it.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm well aware of that, which is why anything truly irreplacable (photos and the like) are also in my Onedrive. And why I'm running a mirrored setup, as anything on it is by definition in two places. Perhaps, instead of backup, I should say "file history/mass storage". Also, holy sh*t, the price of that Crashplan family plan was not nice at all. Unlimited storage is nice, though. I'll have to look into it.

Nah. Just a single-computer subscription. You back all your systems up to the NAS, and then you back up the NAS as a single system. Crashplan has info on that.

 

[Valantar]

Nah. Just a single-computer subscription. You back all your systems up to the NAS, and then you back up the NAS as a single system. Crashplan has info on that.

So I just set up the free version and set it to place data on the NAS, and then set up the paid account on the NAS? That's pretty clever.

Also, I guess I'll get two reds. At some point my HDD luck has to turn, no?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

So I just set up the free version and set it to place data on the NAS, and then set up the paid account on the NAS? That's pretty clever.

No. You back them up to the NAS some other way. Crasplan won't back up "other peoples'" files to your paid cloud subscription.

Windows and OS X both have decent built-in backup utilities, and if you're running Linux you presumably already know how to jerry-rig something with rsync, dd, gzip, cron, and some ruby scripts. So there's no need to be running the Crashplan agent as well.

Also, I guess I'll get two reds. At some point my HDD luck has to turn, no?

Not necessarily. You may be doomed.