Your preferred brand of HDD?

[Arachnotronic]

Hi all,

I'm curious as to what brand of HDD people here prefer the most and why.

I have heard generally good things about WD and HGST. Seagate seems to have had an "oopsie" in the 1TB-3TB generation with drives being exceptionally unreliable (I had one act strangely and eventually die a few years back), but 4TB+ drives (and newer 1TB-3TB) ones seem to be OK.

I recently ordered a couple of WD 5TB black drives, but I am actually in need of even more drives as I start endowing all of my systems with more storage than SSDs can provide without breaking the bank.

I'm willing (and in fact want to) try some additional brands/models as well aside from WD (if only "for science") which is my main motivation for starting this thread.

 

[Shmee]

WD blacks are the best consumer drives IMO. Probably best to stick with them.

 

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

Hey there Arachnotronic,

It depends on what exactly you are going to use the drives for. As a WD Representative I can give you more details about the Western Digital drives and which is designed for what:

WD Black drives are great for performance, extensive usage and heavier workloads but can me a major overkill for simple backups and storage and are not appropriate for RAID arrays and NAS/Server usage.

For the RAID/NAS/Server usage I would recommend checking out WD Red drives are they are much more appropriate with the additional NAS/RAID features (such as TLER). Pretty much any NAS/RAID rated drive would be a better choice for such type of usage.

For general inexpensive storage that doesn't require faster access times or great performance I would recommend checking out WD Green. They are designed for secondary storage and backups with energy-saving features and cool and quiet performance.

Here's some details about WD Green and WD Red:
WD Red: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=AY5lrY
WD Green: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=7K2Ds3

Feel free to ask if you have questions or if I can help with something else

Captain_WD.

 

[Charlie98]

I have one of those Seagate 3TB drives in my HTPC... so far I haven't had any problems with it, but the data is there for it, and I have relegated it to backup duty. All my other Seagate drives have been 100%... around 12 of them at any one time.

Many people are recommending Toshiba, I'm not so 'hot' on that idea... I have 2, a 5TB in the HTPC (that replaced the 3TB Seagate for primary media duty) and a brand new 1TB that I had planned to put in my video security recorder. BOTH of these drives run hot. The 5TB idles about 4C hotter than the other 3 drives in the case, and runs about 9C hotter when in use. Likewise, the new 1TB Toshiba runs hot, about 2C at idle and, again, about 8-9C hotter when in use... and that in an external cradle away from anything else hot, with ambient airflow.

Normally I recommend just buying what is on sale... which in my case was the two Toshibas recently, but I would have to exclude Toshiba from that, now, and to stay away from the 2-3TB Seagates.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Don't really have a brand preference. Over the years I've used disks from most manufactures, and there have been good and bad drives from everyone.

I generally find that the less physical platters there is in a HDD the more reliable it is. But this is completely anecdotal evidence.

Feel free to ask if you have questions or if I can help with something else

This doesn't have much to do with desktop drives, but actually I've been wondering for a while what makes your purple line special. Obviously they're better optimized at streaming video, but is there some fundamental hardware/firmware changes in them? And are they suited to RAID arrays?

 

[Charlie98]

This doesn't have much to do with desktop drives, but actually I've been wondering for a while what makes your purple line special. Obviously they're better optimized at streaming video, but is there some fundamental hardware/firmware changes in them? And are they suited to RAID arrays?

Not streaming... recording video, typically in a 24/7 environment.

 

[ronbo613]

Pretty much had them all one time or another. Right now, I prefer WD Black for "working" drives along with HGST for active storage. NAS has WD Reds. Seagates are the only drives that have ever failed on me in use so I don't buy them any longer.

Even if you buy the brand with the lowest problem rate, that doesn't mean you won't get a bad drive, even from the "best" company. As the experienced members here repeat over and over again; back up your data. Anything with moving parts will eventually fail, including hard drives.

 

[Deders]

Not streaming... recording video, typically in a 24/7 environment.

Would this kind of drive be a better option for reading multiple high definition audio samples in real time for audio production? I'm interested because I'm speccing a machine for a friend.

I'm leaning towards this way based on my experience with my WD Caviar blue 640 (which was a great drive for a long time but I've noticed recently performance can be highly varied.)

Rarely do I see it perform the the maximum 80+ MB/s. It usually varies between 20MB/s and 60MB/s. These are big files but they could be quite badly fragmented. Each file that is read seems to be limited to it's own speed, so one file might read at 26MB/s, as soon as it moves on to the next file it will read at around 46MB/s for the whole file.

I use Gkrell to monitor real time disk speeds for all my drives.

I think the first half of the disk is fairly full so it's playing with the 2nd half of the disk.

On the other hand my 2TB WD RE4 seems to perform much more consistently no matter where the data is or how fragmented it gets, and it seems to be quieter than the Blacks I've heard, although I do have a quiet case.

Noise will be an important factor in choosing a drive, as well as consistent performance.

To the OP, I generally go for and recommend WD unless there is a specific standout drive. I also own a Samsung F3 and a Toshiba External.

 

[Phynaz]

I've been sticking to Hitachi for the last six years. Specifically their NAS drives.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Not streaming... recording video, typically in a 24/7 environment.

Streaming work both ways surely? Anyway to clarify, I'm interested in how these drives perform during a lot of (mostly) sequential I/O from multiple sources. Like f.x. handling multiple video streams. Because I suspect they're pretty good handling multiple data streams.

 

[Coup27]

For general inexpensive storage that doesn't require faster access times or great performance I would recommend checking out WD Green. They are designed for secondary storage and backups with energy-saving features and cool and quiet performance.

What's the difference between the Green's and the new range of Blue?

 

[Puffnstuff]

I've had the best luck with wd blacks. My fastest one was a wd veloraptor 600gb that lasted just long enough for the warranty to expire then the head crashed. When I get the funds my system will contain nothing but Samsung ssd's.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Well, of the two 5TB blacks that I ordered, one was DOA sadly. Will be sending it in for a replacement.

The other one works pretty darn well, though. I am surprised at how snappy loading times are. Not SSD-class, but certainly not cringe-worthy as I had (kind of) expected.

 

[Charlie98]

Would this kind of drive be a better option for reading multiple high definition audio samples in real time for audio production? I'm interested because I'm speccing a machine for a friend.

I wouldn't think so, I believe the Purples are 5400 or 5900RPM drives. I would fetch a 7200RPM drive for what you want.

Streaming work both ways surely?

I suppose it does, but I would think there would be a better drive for streaming or large I/O work.

 

[XavierMace]

Why do you need so much storage on all your systems? Personally I run a single SSD in all my systems and run a separate file server for the mass storage. You already purchased 10TB of storage and stated you need more. That's well into the range that I wouldn't want it in a single desktop computer.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Why do you need so much storage on all your systems? Personally I run a single SSD in all my systems and run a separate file server for the mass storage. You already purchased 10TB of storage and stated you need more. That's well into the range that I wouldn't want it in a single desktop computer.

It's storage for four desktop computers

 

[Captain_WD]

This doesn't have much to do with desktop drives, but actually I've been wondering for a while what makes your purple line special. Obviously they're better optimized at streaming video, but is there some fundamental hardware/firmware changes in them? And are they suited to RAID arrays?

Hey Insert_Nickname

Surveillance-class drives have differently optimized settings and features in order to perform better and safer in DVR and NVR systems recording video footage. Such drives have well optimized sequential writing speeds while have lower than normal random ones. They also have specifically tuned caching algorithms that give priority to the writing abilities of the drive over the reading ones. Surveillance-class drives are also optimized to work under harsher conditions such as more drastic temperature fluctuations, more vibrations, extensive workloads and are optimized for RAID arrays.
WD Purple and WD Purple NV are optimized for 24/7 working. Caching algorithms are tuned for write-intensive, low bit rate, high stream count applications that are typical of surveillance applications. These drives have optimized lower power consumption and heat output. They feature TLER, though they are not recommended to be used in NAS environments. WD Purple is designed for DVR systems with up to 8 bays while WD Purple NV is designed for NVR systems, more scale-out surveillance setups and others with more drive bays. The NV version has some improvements such as the better vibration handling, backwards compatibility with DVR systems and greater workloads per year.
Have in mind that Surveillance-class drives are not recommended for regular desktop usage as they might corrupt data due to their specific settings and caching.

Here are more details if you are interested:
WD Purple: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=tDUZH7
WD Purple NV: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=sCrp1g

Feel free to ask if you need more info or if I can help with anything else

Captain_WD.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Hey Insert_Nickname

Surveillance-class drives have differently optimized settings and features in order to perform better and safer in DVR and NVR systems recording video footage. Such drives have well optimized sequential writing speeds while have lower than normal random ones. They also have specifically tuned caching algorithms that give priority to the writing abilities of the drive over the reading ones. Surveillance-class drives are also optimized to work under harsher conditions such as more drastic temperature fluctuations, more vibrations, extensive workloads and are optimized for RAID arrays.
WD Purple and WD Purple NV are optimized for 24/7 working. Caching algorithms are tuned for write-intensive, low bit rate, high stream count applications that are typical of surveillance applications. These drives have optimized lower power consumption and heat output. They feature TLER, though they are not recommended to be used in NAS environments. WD Purple is designed for DVR systems with up to 8 bays while WD Purple NV is designed for NVR systems, more scale-out surveillance setups and others with more drive bays. The NV version has some improvements such as the better vibration handling, backwards compatibility with DVR systems and greater workloads per year.
Have in mind that Surveillance-class drives are not recommended for regular desktop usage as they might corrupt data due to their specific settings and caching.

Here are more details if you are interested:
WD Purple: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=tDUZH7
WD Purple NV: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=sCrp1g

Feel free to ask if you need more info or if I can help with anything else

Captain_WD.

That explained a lot, thank you. I do appreciate it.

 

[jihe]

hitachi

 

[Lorthreth]

You can never go wrong with Quantum Bigfoot 1.2GB in a great 5.25" form factor

 

[Mantrid-Drone]

My 12 year old laptop, used most days, still has its original IDE 40GB Hitachi Travelstar HDD so I'm very favourably minded towards that brand.

But unlike some here I've also found very reliable Seagate IDE HDDs ranging from the 8GB-10GB ones which came in the original Xbox through the others I've owned from 20GB - 160GB. None have failed so far despite, in some cases extended regular use.

For cost reasons but also because they've been reliable I use 160GB Seagate IDE HDDs in external enclosures for monthly backups/longer term storage. I'm certain they read and write faster than most of the USB 2.0 flash drives I use for quick backup purposes.

Only HDD I had an (minor) issue with is a 160GB IDE WD. Very reliable but it is also noticeably noisier than any Seagate I've owned producing what I find is a slightly annoying higher pitched whine. That's the only thing that has put me off buying other WDs and choosing Seagate (ITB SATA) for my, still unfinished, desktop builds.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Hey Insert_Nickname

Surveillance-class drives have differently optimized settings and features in order to perform better and safer in DVR and NVR systems recording video footage. Such drives have well optimized sequential writing speeds while have lower than normal random ones. They also have specifically tuned caching algorithms that give priority to the writing abilities of the drive over the reading ones. Surveillance-class drives are also optimized to work under harsher conditions such as more drastic temperature fluctuations, more vibrations, extensive workloads and are optimized for RAID arrays.
WD Purple and WD Purple NV are optimized for 24/7 working. Caching algorithms are tuned for write-intensive, low bit rate, high stream count applications that are typical of surveillance applications. These drives have optimized lower power consumption and heat output. They feature TLER, though they are not recommended to be used in NAS environments. WD Purple is designed for DVR systems with up to 8 bays while WD Purple NV is designed for NVR systems, more scale-out surveillance setups and others with more drive bays. The NV version has some improvements such as the better vibration handling, backwards compatibility with DVR systems and greater workloads per year.
Have in mind that Surveillance-class drives are not recommended for regular desktop usage as they might corrupt data due to their specific settings and caching.

Here are more details if you are interested:
WD Purple: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=tDUZH7
WD Purple NV: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=sCrp1g

Feel free to ask if you need more info or if I can help with anything else

Captain_WD.

Nice explanation; I learned a bunch. Thanks Captain_WD!

 

[Coup27]

Feel free to ask if you need more info or if I can help with anything else

Feel free to answer my question

 

[Captain_WD]

~snip~

Hey Coup27,

Apologies for the late answer.

Basically WD Green is getting integrated into the WD Blue family. The drives with capacity up to 1TB will be the WD Blue drives as you know them while the 1TB+ drives from the WD Blue line will have the features of the WD Green: low power consumption, noise levels and heat and designed for massive secondary storage and backups.

Here's a quote from our website:
"All current WD Green capacity, cache and form-factor configurations will remain available through their lifecycle, but under the WD Blue brand*...
*The WD Green hard drive functionality will remain the same. However, it will now have a WD Blue label with a slight change to their model numbers (ex. WD60EZRX will now become WD60EZRZ)."

The only possibly confusing part would be the two versions of the 1TB WD Blue (5,400 RPM and 7,200 RPM versions). You can consider that as comparing a 1TB WD Blue with 1TB WD Green.

Here's WD Green's main page where there's more info on this: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=NCEuMQ

Again, I'm sorry for the late answer.

Captain_WD.

 

[rchunter]

WD. Mostly blacks and reds. I have a few seagate drives but they always seem to start dying quicker on me for some reason.