Hi All,
I've been thinking about getting an external hdd for my windows laptop and wanted to see what other people here think are more reliable (and preferably reasonably priced) hard drives.
At this stage, I am thinking at least 4TB.
What brands are more reliable?
SATA vs SSD ?
USB vs self-powered?
Imo an ssd is going to be a hell of a lot more reliable/resilient than a HDD, especially if it's portable and moved around a lot.
BUT remember always have your data stored in 2 places if you don't want to lose it, no matter how 'high end' your data storage is, everything can fail!
I've had super expensive server grade disks last 12 months, have had the cheapest of the cheap consumer grade disks last 10 years.
There really is no such thing as the most reliable hard disk, that is what backing up your data is for, however looking at the specs of the disk and the Mean Time to Failure or MTBF for short is the main indicator of reliability.
USB powered is the go for convenience because a mains powered drive will suck if you are nowhere near a power point.
like the posts above say, ill repeat here to really stress the point - ssds are better than hdds, but dont trust any drive, ssd or hdd or whatever brand.
Is this 4tb just for temporary data that you dont care about? what are you wanting to use it for and why did you arrive at 4tb?
My advice is don't overthink it… if what you're storing is something you can't/don't want to lose, then:
* Work out which devices meet your size/speed/price needs
* Buy two from the list - preferably from different brands & around the same size.
* Keep them in sync using one of the free tools. I use robocopy that comes with windows, but the command line can be a bit messy.
* Sleep well knowing that when one dies, you won't be wrecked.
* Bonus stage: Look at saving your really important stuff offisite either with a third drive, or using an online service.
If I am storing data that I don't want to lose, I just pay Google Drive (or One or whatever its called now) a yearly subscription and put it on there. For a 20 year time frame, works out slightly more expensive at today's storage rates compared to purchasing an external disk. But the data is almost guaranteed to be there when I need it - even if am travelling. If Surveys are your thing, you can pretty much have all the storage you want for free.
yahms - the drive is a backup drive that I want to keep all my documents/data/movies in.
Cheers for all the info guys!
Me personally, I have had decent luck with Seagate and Western Digital.
Getting into the 4TB range an SSD is much more expensive than a spinning drive.
USB powered is more convenient to use as you won't require any external power.