Best Reliable 4TB Harddrive

[mntheerdesh]

Planning to buy storage drive of 4tb capacity.
Could anyone suggest me reliable one?(I'll be using it to store heavier files) And also what kind of drives to buy? HDD,SSD,SSHD,etc,
Fine with both internal and external drives,just looking for something reliably best.

 

[bennie101]

Well if you go SSD route expect to pay a arm leg and alot more. But I prefer Seagate I have always had the best luck with them .The worst luck I have had is from toshiba once had a drive with just 600 hours on it go bad followed by Western Digital. Alot of people will tell you to buy Western Digital and thats fine but im a system builder and refurb computers and the drives I see fail most are toshiba and western digital.. Both new and used. Hope this helps.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Nas drives for secondary storage are pretty good and reliable -
WD Red, Seagate Ironwolf.
Samsung 4TB SSD will cost you ~1400 eur.

You can put 2x 4TB drives in RAID 1 (mirror). This will save your data even, if one drive fails.

 

[mntheerdesh]

Well if you go SSD route expect to pay a arm leg and alot more. But I prefer Seagate I have always had the best luck with them .The worst luck I have had is from toshiba once had a drive with just 600 hours on it go bad followed by Western Digital. Alot of people will tell you to buy Western Digital and thats fine but im a system builder and refurb computers and the drives I see fail most are toshiba and western digital.. Both new and used. Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot!! That was valuable.I too had the same with my WD passport ultra.

 

[photonboy]

1) SEAGATE statistically is not more reliable.

2) Using USB adds points of failure such as the SATA/USB circuits inside the enclosure, the power supply and the USB cable.

In fact, my 4TB Seagate USB drive had a bad power supply, bad USB cable, and bad enclosure. Yep.

3) NAS drives are not necessarily more reliable for desktop users.

4) Amazon reviews are somewhat USELESS as they continue to mix scores for similar models (across most or all products) and you'll often see comments relating to similar products below.

5) Model reliability varies within the same company. (just like not all Ford cars are the same reliability)

6) A model that's been around for the longest is statistically more reliable as they often iron out manufacturing bugs (thus some comments about reliability may no longer apply).

7) *WDMYCLOUD also exists which attaches to your ROUTER and thus is accessible to all wired and wireless devices on your network.

8) USB drives constantly switch the model of drive they use internally due to availability so it's difficult to ascertain reliability (it's hard to start anyway as there's little reliable data for any drive)

Here's some choices:
a) SATA internal:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zZ38TW/seagate-barracuda-4tb-35-5400rpm-internal-hard-drive-st4000dm005
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rkV48d/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd40efrx
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jp2rxr/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd40ezrz

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&O=&Q=&c3api=1876%2C72666209402%2C%2C&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwM3LgtPK2QIVSrjACh18BgBiEAYYAiABEgLOTPD_BwE&is=REG&pcur=CAD&sku=1322879

(if link problem I was trying to recommend the Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB for $140USD)
http://www.storagereview.com/hgst_4tb_deskstar_nas_hdd_review

b) USB
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1277275-REG/wd_wdbyft0040bbk_wesn_4tb_my_passport_portable.html
https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN/dp/B0713WPGLL/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519891461&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=wd+mycloud+4tb

and other similar (not sure I trust Seagate as just a few drives had multiple issues as discussed above. statistically not relevant I guess but three problems with parts sourced from different companies? The PSU, USB cable, and converter board are probably all having problems?)

Fastest are 7200RPM, 3.5" desktop... the 2.5" passport drives are slower but more portable and don't need AC adapters.

c) WDMYCLOUD (I use to backup laptop via wi-fi, and to playback videos on both PC and multiple media players attached to TV's).
- reviews look crappy mainly because people don't seem to understand how to use it, though that's a fair reason to avoid it if not computer savvy
- cheapest price is $180USD so far

 

[mntheerdesh]

Nas drives for secondary storage are pretty good and reliable -
WD Red, Seagate Ironwolf.
Samsung 4TB SSD will cost you ~1400 eur.

You can put 2x 4TB drives in RAID 1 (mirror). This will save your data even, if one drive fails.

Thank you very much! what about SSHDs?and could you brief me about NAS?

 

[SkyNetRising]

SSHDs are not worth it. I'd ignore them completely.

NAS drives are designed for 24x7 operation with sequential data access in mind - good for large data storage.
Random data access on NAS drives usually is not so good. It's not recommended to use them for OS drive.

 

[mntheerdesh]

1) SEAGATE statistically is not more reliable.

2) Using USB adds points of failure such as the SATA/USB circuits inside the enclosure, the power supply and the USB cable.

In fact, my 4TB Seagate USB drive had a bad power supply, bad USB cable, and bad enclosure. Yep.

3) NAS drives are not necessarily more reliable for desktop users.

4) Amazon reviews are somewhat USELESS as they continue to mix scores for similar models (across most or all products) and you'll often see comments relating to similar products below.

5) Model reliability varies within the same company. (just like not all Ford cars are the same reliability)

6) A model that's been around for the longest is statistically more reliable as they often iron out manufacturing bugs (thus some comments about reliability may no longer apply).

7) *WDMYCLOUD also exists which attaches to your ROUTER and thus is accessible to all wired and wireless devices on your network.

8) USB drives constantly switch the model of drive they use internally due to availability so it's difficult to ascertain reliability (it's hard to start anyway as there's little reliable data for any drive)

Here's some choices:
a) SATA internal:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zZ38TW/seagate-barracuda-4tb-35-5400rpm-internal-hard-drive-st4000dm005
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rkV48d/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd40efrx
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jp2rxr/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd40ezrz

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&O=&Q=&c3api=1876%2C72666209402%2C%2C&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwM3LgtPK2QIVSrjACh18BgBiEAYYAiABEgLOTPD_BwE&is=REG&pcur=CAD&sku=1322879

(if link problem I was trying to recommend the Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB for $140USD)
http://www.storagereview.com/hgst_4tb_deskstar_nas_hdd_review

b) USB
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1277275-REG/wd_wdbyft0040bbk_wesn_4tb_my_passport_portable.html
https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN/dp/B0713WPGLL/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519891461&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=wd+mycloud+4tb

and other similar (not sure I trust Seagate as just a few drives had multiple issues as discussed above. statistically not relevant I guess but three problems with parts sourced from different companies? The PSU, USB cable, and converter board are probably all having problems?)

Fastest are 7200RPM, 3.5" desktop... the 2.5" passport drives are slower but more portable and don't need AC adapters.

c) WDMYCLOUD (I use to backup laptop via wi-fi, and to playback videos on both PC and multiple media players attached to TV's).
- reviews look crappy mainly because people don't seem to understand how to use it, though that's a fair reason to avoid it if not computer savvy
- cheapest price is $180USD so far

Waoh!Thanks,thats a lot of info.All of those seems to be a bit expensive.I am looking for something that can hold my data for pretty long periods and also at a budget,cause i had trust issues with WD previously....lost almost 1.8TB of data.

 

[mntheerdesh]

SSHDs are not worth it. I'd ignore them completely.

NAS drives are designed for 24x7 operation with sequential data access in mind - good for large data storage.
Random data access on NAS drives usually is not so good. It's not recommended to use them for OS drive.

Thanks again.

 

[seagate_surfer]

Where you've run into trouble with data loss and seem concerned with reliability and data loss, the best option for you might be buying an internal drive as your main copy of your data and then also an external drive which you regularly back that data up to. This can be done manually, automatically through a script if you know that kind of stuff, or through a software which does backups automatically.

As far as internal drives go, 4TB is a point where there is actually a speed drop-off in our desktop-grade drives (BarraCuda). 3TB and smaller capacities are 7200 RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) which is what you generally want in a main internal drive. Starting at 4TB (and larger), the speed of the drives drops to 5900 RPM. So if this is the route you go, your options for 7200 RPM lie in one of 2 directions:

1. Drop the capacity to something like 2 or 3 TB.
2. There is a Pro version of the BarraCuda which comes with 5 year warranty, 2 free years of rescue services, more robust workload ratings, and all capacities are 7200 RPM.

We don't recommend NAS drives that aren't going to be used in RAID, as RAID is the intended use of these drives and there are certain features that, while ideal for NAS/RAID use, cause the drive to run into errors when used in a different manner. For example: A feature called error recovery control. A normal desktop hard drive encounters an error and it will aggressively try to correct that error. A NAS drive on the other hand, communicates with the controller, and if the drive starts spending a long time trying to correct an error, the controller says "Hey buddy, you're taking too long, I'm giving you the hook" and passes data to the next drive in the array. Great for NAS performance and longevity, but can cause errors to pile up on a drive when it isn't part of a NAS or RAID array.

Which finally brings us to external drives for the purpose of backups. We offer 2 main lineups in this segment, one is called Backup Plus and the other is called Expansion. Both have portable versions which run off of USB only, these are convenient for moving around but can be a bit slower (If being used for backups, that isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world), and desktop or hub versions which generally have an AC adapter (plug into the wall). They can be a little faster, but the need for a plug and sometimes their size can make them a bit clunkier and less portable.

Here is a CNET review on the Backup Plus Hub which is useful because there is a chart with performance comparisons on different external drives, you may find it handy:

https://www.cnet.com/products/seagate-backup-plus-hub/review/

Conclusion: a solid route for you to go here is an internal drive + an external to back it all up to. It may seem expensive at first, however the cost of professionally recovering data makes it seem a whole lot cheaper, as those services often run in the high 3 or 4 figures.

Regardless of which brand/route you decide to go in the end, thank you for considering Seagate.

 

[mntheerdesh]

Where you've run into trouble with data loss and seem concerned with reliability and data loss, the best option for you might be buying an internal drive as your main copy of your data and then also an external drive which you regularly back that data up to. This can be done manually, automatically through a script if you know that kind of stuff, or through a software which does backups automatically.

As far as internal drives go, 4TB is a point where there is actually a speed drop-off in our desktop-grade drives (BarraCuda). 3TB and smaller capacities are 7200 RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) which is what you generally want in a main internal drive. Starting at 4TB (and larger), the speed of the drives drops to 5900 RPM. So if this is the route you go, your options for 7200 RPM lie in one of 2 directions:

1. Drop the capacity to something like 2 or 3 TB.
2. There is a Pro version of the BarraCuda which comes with 5 year warranty, 2 free years of rescue services, more robust workload ratings, and all capacities are 7200 RPM.

We don't recommend NAS drives that aren't going to be used in RAID, as RAID is the intended use of these drives and there are certain features that, while ideal for NAS/RAID use, cause the drive to run into errors when used in a different manner. For example: A feature called error recovery control. A normal desktop hard drive encounters an error and it will aggressively try to correct that error. A NAS drive on the other hand, communicates with the controller, and if the drive starts spending a long time trying to correct an error, the controller says "Hey buddy, you're taking too long, I'm giving you the hook" and passes data to the next drive in the array. Great for NAS performance and longevity, but can cause errors to pile up on a drive when it isn't part of a NAS or RAID array.

Which finally brings us to external drives for the purpose of backups. We offer 2 main lineups in this segment, one is called Backup Plus and the other is called Expansion. Both have portable versions which run off of USB only, these are convenient for moving around but can be a bit slower (If being used for backups, that isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world), and desktop or hub versions which generally have an AC adapter (plug into the wall). They can be a little faster, but the need for a plug and sometimes their size can make them a bit clunkier and less portable.

Here is a CNET review on the Backup Plus Hub which is useful because there is a chart with performance comparisons on different external drives, you may find it handy:

https://www.cnet.com/products/seagate-backup-plus-hub/review/

Conclusion: a solid route for you to go here is an internal drive + an external to back it all up to. It may seem expensive at first, however the cost of professionally recovering data makes it seem a whole lot cheaper, as those services often run in the high 3 or 4 figures.

Regardless of which brand/route you decide to go in the end, thank you for considering Seagate.

Thanks a lot.