Drive setup and reliability

[longbowman]

Hi all,

Building a DAW and ordered an 850 EVO 256G for the OS and programs.

Considering a 2TB or 3TB internal drive for audio and video projects, and one for backup too. A few questions:

-I'm on a budget but HDD's seem quite unreliable. I've considered WD Black's but they're awfully loud. Barracuda's seemed like a good bet, but the 1.5 and 3TB's had horrific failure rates according to a few sites. Is the 2TB Barracuda a good bet? If so, is buying 3 year replacement warranty for $10 a good idea so I don't have to deal with Seagate?

-If Seagate is a no-go, other recommendations for a quite, decently fast, reliable drive around the pricerange?

-Any recommendations for backup storage? WD Green?

-Is getting a cloud storage account a good idea too for backing up?

 

[dark_lord69]

"Any recommendations for backup storage?"
WD NAS drives were made for backup storage.
However, unless there are some additional changes I don't know about, I believe classifying a hard drive is a marketing gimick.

2TB drives are a good size to get right now with lower failure rates... it's that or jump to 4TB.

"Is getting a cloud storage account a good idea too for backing up?"
Yes, if you trust the cloud storage company to keep your data secure. (I like personal cloud storage instead.)
Corporations tend to use tape backup systems with offsite storage (of the tapes).

Hard drive warranties are often not worth it...
Reason: Drive manufacturer's offer a free warranty with purchase. Also, some drives have a 5 year warranty. (I wouldn't pay the extra.)

 

[longbowman]

Thanks. Any comments specifically on the reliability of the Seagate Barracuda's in 2TB?

Is a hybrid drive possibly a better idea? i.e. the Seagate ST2000DX001

The reason I asked about the extended warranty is that Canada Computers will either replace the drive or offer a gift certificate, whereas Seagate's 3 year plan is 90 day (I think) replacement, and after that, it's repair/refurbish. The opt-out option might be nice if the drive ends up being crappy.

For backup storage, I was thinking Backblaze or the like more so than conventional cloud storage. Purely a backup storage company as far as I understand, some of them encrypt your info as far as I know. I'm assuming this would be different than simply cloud storage which seems more of a consistent access concept.

PS - Awesome avatar, Diablo 1 is one of my favourite games. Amazing atmosphere.

 

[longbowman]

Bump.

So I'll probably go with a WD Green 3TB for backup since they're cheap and write/read speed doesn't matter.

I don't get why WD doesn't make 2+TB in Blue, that's what I'd be opting for.

Are 2TB Barracuda's actually a good value? What about 4TB?