[SOLVED] Which HDD to go with?

[Sandywich999]

So I've decided to replace my dying Seagate Pipeline HDD, and this is something I didnt think I'd encounter, but the HDD space has left me in confusion.
I'm looking at 2TB drives on a tight budget, and primarily gonna use it for gaming/media storage. Already using an SSD for boot.
Reliability is a cause of concern for me as my current HDD is dying as well. I've avoided barracuda drives because of their failure rates.

Current considerations::
Toshiba P300 7200RPM, 1 year warranty
Skyhawk 5900 RPM, 3 year warranty
WD Blue 5400 RPM , 2 year warranty

I'll be using my current HDD for backups once i get a new one. I just want thoughts/experiences that you guys have had with these or feel free to suggest something else too.

 

[faalin]

Have you thought about a Seagate Constellation ES 3TB drive? $58.99 with a 5 year warranty and is an enterprise class drive.

My normal go to drive was a WD black but now use WD Red pro drives. Have had a 6TB drive in my computer for over 6 years now with the computer on 24/7, and have now added 2 more.

I do have a few 2.5" firecuda drives in a lan rig but it hardly gets used.

 

[Sandywich999]

Have you thought about a Seagate Constellation ES 3TB drive? $58.99 with a 5 year warranty and is an enterprise class drive.

My normal go to drive was a WD black but now use WD Red pro drives. Have had a 6TB drive in my computer for over 6 years now with the computer on 24/7, and have now added 2 more.

I do have a few 2.5" firecuda drives in a lan rig but it hardly gets used.

Oh damn that looks really tempting for exactly the price Im at. Though I guess I shoud've mentioned, I'm from India and those drives aren't really a thing here sadly. Only listings I see are twice the price.
If it helps, these 2 sites are my only good options (Amazon sucks)

https://www.primeabgb.com/buy-onlin...capacity=2-tb&really_curr_tax=584-product_cat

https://mdcomputers.in/internal-hdd?bfilter=a108:1629;

 

[Satan-IR]

I don't think Barracuda failure rates are really that much higher that similar drives from other manufacturers.

Anyway, for media archiving use a 5400RPM drive would do, but for gaming that would mean longer load times and sometimes painfully slow loading times depending on game.

I'd personally go with a 2TB WD Black too.

 

[Sandywich999]

I don't think Barracuda failure rates are really that much higher that similar drives from other manufacturers.

Anyway, for media archiving use a 5400RPM drive would do, but for gaming that would mean longer load times and sometimes painfully slow loading times depending on game.

I'd personally go with a 2TB WD Black too.

I've had one fail on me, so has my friend. Then in general I've heard people having worse experience with barracude over a WD. I'd have chosen a Black from all the reviews but it's non sensically more expensive here. Like 150$ for 2TB. So yeah.. not many choices. Around 60$, there's Barracuda, Skyhawk, WD Blue, WD purple, Toshiba P300. That's it.
P300 looks nice but that 1y warranty is kinda iffy

 

[Satan-IR]

I've had one fail on me, so has my friend. Then in general I've heard people having worse experience with barracude over a WD. I'd have chosen a Black from all the reviews but it's non sensically more expensive here. Like 150$ for 2TB. So yeah.. not many choices. Around 60$, there's Barracuda, Skyhawk, WD Blue, WD purple, Toshiba P300. That's it.
P300 looks nice but that 1y warranty is kinda iffy

You and your friend are two people. Not a large enough statistical population to make those numbers meaningful when it comes to HDDs that are sold in thousands.

Yeah they are more expensive, they are good no dispute there, but part of the reason they have higher price tags is that 'people have heard they're better and others fail all the time'. 😉

I'd suggest to go for a 7200RPM drive with better price and longer warranty.

 

[Sandywich999]

You and your friend are two people. Not a large enough statistical population to make those numbers meaningful when it comes to HDDs that are sold in thousands.

Yeah they are more expensive, they are good no dispute there, but part of the reason they have higher price tags is that 'people have heard they're better and others fail all the time'. 😉

I'd suggest to go for a 7200RPM drive with better price and longer warranty.

Like I said it's not just us, I saw a few reviews that mentioned about it too.

I don't really have trouble paying a bit extra for some extra reliability, but where Black is at I could just buy 2*2TB normal drives, have one as backup and still have change left lol. Also I'm on a really tight budget (read: kinda broke), and was actually looking to buy a 1Tb drive. But 2Tb is only 50% more expensive so no brainer.

 

[Satan-IR]

Like I said it's not just us, I saw a few reviews that mentioned about it too.

I don't really have trouble paying a bit extra for some extra reliability, but where Black is at I could just buy 2*2TB normal drives, have one as backup and still have change left lol. Also I'm on a really tight budget (read: kinda broke), and was actually looking to buy a 1Tb drive. But 2Tb is only 50% more expensive so no brainer.

Not all reviews are 100% true and reliable. Some have to be taken with a grain of salt.

I'd suggest get the one with better price and longer warranty.

Yes exactly; you can get 2 for the same price and have a backup to replace immediately if one fails. Or to have a 2TB to use if/when the other one fails.

 

[faalin]

About 2 years ago i could have shown you a stack of WD drives that were dead or on their way out (tick of death) sitting on my shelf at home.

Yet i always go back to buying WD drives. Every drive will die it just a matter of time. Been using SSD's for 8 years now and i just ran into my very first dead one at work, was only active for 4 years.


Buy the largest capacity with the fastest speed for the price you can afford and move on.

 

[AllanGH]

Seagate's MTBF numbers are slipping so much so that I'm looking at HGST for my next 4TB mechanical HDD purchase....

 

[Sandywich999]

About 2 years ago i could have shown you a stack of WD drives that were dead or on their way out (tick of death) sitting on my shelf at home.

Yet i always go back to buying WD drives. Every drive will die it just a matter of time. Been using SSD's for 8 years now and i just ran into my very first dead one at work, was only active for 4 years.


Buy the largest capacity with the fastest speed for the price you can afford and move on.

Well said. Considering the fact that I'll keep backups on my replacing drives, ie a failing Seagate and a ticking 160Gb, 10 whole years old WD I got that still somehow works, I think I'll go with the P300/Barracuda and then get another better one when I can afford it.

 

[Sandywich999]

In case anyone was wondering, After a lot more more research and a heart attack after my old HDD ""temporarily"" died on me, I went with a WD Purple. Having an HDD die after 2 years makes a 3 year warranty looks nice. It was either this or Toshiba P300, which was out of stock. 2TB Blue is a rebranded (and possibly still shitty) WD Green.
Also Seagate can go f*ck itself.