Question Suggestions for 2TB drives

[ien2222]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking at getting a couple of ~2TB drives mainly for storage; basic pics, vids, and various docs for the most part and I'll mirror one drive with the other.

My main considerations other than reliability is price and being quiet. Speed isn't that much of deal for me so 5400rpm drives are fine if they are quieter. I haven't really been keeping up with HDD tech, but I've read that SMR isn't that great as compared to CMR...but would that really matter that much for my needs? After the initial transfer of files from older hdds, there's probably not a lot that's going to go on after that. If it matters any I'm running Win10 on a Ryzen platform: Asus x570-I, 5700g.

I'm currently looking at the WD Blue 5400 3.5" drives (WD20EZAZ ) which are $45 per. If there are better suggestions, especially if I should get a CMR drive, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CountMike]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking at getting a couple of ~2TB drives mainly for storage; basic pics, vids, and various docs for the most part and I'll mirror one drive with the other.

My main considerations other than reliability is price and being quiet. Speed isn't that much of deal for me so 5400rpm drives are fine if they are quieter. I haven't really been keeping up with HDD tech, but I've read that SMR isn't that great as compared to CMR...but would that really matter that much for my needs? After the initial transfer of files from older hdds, there's probably not a lot that's going to go on after that. If it matters any I'm running Win10 on a Ryzen platform: Asus x570-I, 5700g.

I'm currently looking at the WD Blue 5400 3.5" drives (WD20EZAZ ) which are $45 per. If there are better suggestions, especially if I should get a CMR drive, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

I have a pair of those for few years now, both are still 100% healthy. Quite fast enough for storage.

 

[Pimpom]

I recently switched from a 2TB 5400 rpm SMR drive to a 7200 rpm CMR model. I'd read about the difference between SMR and CMR but decided to reserve judgment until I actually experienced both (some people tend to exaggerate things). Performance is noticeably better with the new drive even without benchmarks. I suppose the rpm and the recording technique both contribute to that.

The new drive is a Toshiba P300 7200 model. It's not the quietest drive I've known. I can hear it when it's busily accessing late at night but not at other times. It's certainly not loud enough to bother me. YMMV. The exact model number is HDWD120UZSVA. It's worth noting that, like other manufacturers, they have different models in the same capacity and rotational speed. Here's a link to the datasheet for their P300 series:
https://www.toshiba-storage.com/products/toshiba-internal-hard-drives-p300/?pdf

 

[ien2222]

Thanks for the replies!

So realistically speaking, other than some performance issues (which I'm not too concerned about), I should be fine with those drives. Out of curiosity are there drives that are quieter than the WD's? They'd have to be 6dB or more quieter at load for me to consider it, and I'd be willing to pay up to $80-$90 per unit. I've looked through various units by the usual makers, but just is case I've missed some that aren't listed in the main line ups it'd be nice to maybe have some options to consider.