Question WD_BLACK P10 for BackUp Storage

[Osga53]

I was looking for a drive to use as backup storage, preferably external.
I want something with at least 2 TB and USB-C drives are very expensive.
I found the WD Black P10 which has 4TB at a very low price (while discounted).
I don't need huge transfer speeds, I'll be using this drive mainly to store away projects and data that are no longer in use. But I was wondering if these drives would be reliable as backup.

What do you think?

 

[Satan-IR]

Any drive can fail, mechanical HDD or SSD. To some extent it's a matter of luck. I have HDDs that have worked for almost 7 years and still going. I had an HDD used for archiving that failed in under 2 years (both internal drives). But you can't leave your data to luck 😉

If you have more than one copy (second copy) of the backup data you don't want to lose on a separate drive (preferrably kept in a different place) you don't have to worry about anything. So one copy as is in your current system + one copy on the WD Black for example + one copy on some other drive or storage medium.

That's basically the 3-2-1 backup rule/streregy. 3 copies, 2 backups on different /drives storage media, 1 preferrably offsite.

If you do this the drive doesn't matter really. If you don't really need 4TB now I'd get two 2TB drives and do the 3-2-1 with them. On Newegg the 4TB is listed at $129 here the 2TB is $69 same page. Two 2TB is almost same price as one 4TB.

 

[Osga53]

I also Have an internal HDD drive for storage that has been running for probably 10 years??? That's why I am afraid it might just go poof.
I'll go for the 4TB because its 70€ vs 55€ for the 2TB. I'll try to get a different drive later.

I was asking just to make sure it isn't a really bad drive because it's almost half the price...

 

[Satan-IR]

I also Have an internal HDD drive for storage that has been running for probably 10 years??? That's why I am afraid it might just go poof.
I'll go for the 4TB because its 70€ vs 55€ for the 2TB. I'll try to get a different drive later.

Yes that makes sense.

I was asking just to make sure it isn't a really bad drive because it's almost half the price...

I know, there are some relibility reports on drives like annual HDD failure statistics by Backblaze here. But those are not 100% applicable to predicting whether the drives you get would fail sooner than expected and if if yes when. Again a drive with a bit higher than average failure rate can live for a few years.

I'm afraid I'm repeating myself, but if the data is important and you don't want to lose it there should be backups (2 of them). One copy on your current drive and one on the WD P1 might be OK for now. I would get the second backup drive and copy the first backup to it ASAP.

 

[Osga53]

Thanks for the help.
I'll go for the 4tb p10 since I don't see any awfull reviews or comments about it.
If I could I'd buy 2 backups now but I'll have to leave if for later and hope it lasts a couple of months.