# Need recommendation for good reliable hdd



## ae86trueno (Mar 6, 2011)

Hi all,

Any recommendation for good reliable hard disk?
I prefer reliable hard disk compared to fast/performance.
In the past 4-5 years I've experienced about 9 or 10 hard disk that gone bad..
I used to buy Seagate but my Seagate hdd seem just gone kaput in 2-3 years time (some even hardly used, just connecting to backup my data then keep in storage.. even those gone bad)
I do alot photography and photo editing.. need something reliable for backup without worrying the hdd gone kaput.


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## Laurijan (Mar 6, 2011)

Samsung F3 from what I have heard is top notch - I personally dont trust: Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi and stuff like Exelstor


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## slyfox2151 (Mar 6, 2011)

+1 samsung F3s


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## codyjansen (Mar 6, 2011)

Western Digital


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## blkhogan (Mar 6, 2011)

Ive always trusted WD. Never really had a problem in recent years. F3s are another good choice.


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## RejZoR (Mar 6, 2011)

WD Caviar Black series. Quite reliable and they have 5 years warranty. If reliability is important i suggest you also run CrystalDiskInfo as a resident program so it will constantly monitor your HDD condition. It's not ideal but it might save your data before the drive goes completely dead, meaning you can transfer data somewhere else before it's too late.

SSD's, even though they advertise 2 million hours MTBF they seem to have tendency to just die without any reason anytime from zero to these 2 million hours... I wouldn't just yet trust them as a storage of very important data. At least not without a proper backup. HDD's do die as well, no denying of that but they also tend to show symptoms before they go dead like weird noises, really bad performance etc. I don't remember any classic HDD to just go from working to a completely dead state directly. So there is a thought.


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## Solaris17 (Mar 6, 2011)

samsungs.


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## Melvis (Mar 6, 2011)

+1 on the WD Black's, i have two 1TB Blacks and they have been brilliant. Seagate's lately i have just had them die, or get errors etc, haven't been pleased with Seagate's at all in the past few yrs.


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## claylomax (Mar 6, 2011)

Hitachi.


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## Andy_007 (Mar 6, 2011)

Western Digital all the way. Ive had 2 640GB Blue Edition drives that went over 20k hours with not one fault or error. I currently have a 1TB Blue and 2TB Green both no issues. The first seagate 1.5TB drive ive brought new started having errors after 1 month started making odd noises after 6 months. I'll never buy segate again


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Mar 6, 2011)

Western digital is probably your best bet, but I think reliability as a whole has gone down since samsung hit the market and forced prices down. Last drives I had total confidence in were the older 640 WD blue/blacks. I just recently ditched both my 2 tb and 1 tb samsung due to errors.


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## Swamp Monster (Mar 6, 2011)

Western Digital RE4. They are enterprise HDD's with MTBF 1200000 hours. I've been using RE2 for about 3 years with no problems so far.


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## Mussels (Mar 6, 2011)

samsung F3 and F4 have been the best for me so far. havent had any failures.


in total contradiction to LAN_deRf_HA, the WORST drives i've had were WD 640GB blacks. i had three fail on me within 24 hours of ownership, and havent touched WD since.


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## Jan Kyster (Mar 6, 2011)

For some +20 years I've always said get a Seagate, but since appr. a year ago it's been Samsung F3 and recently swapped to WD Caviar Black 6GB/s.

Seagate - have RMA'ed at least 10 drives and completely lost faith :shadedshu
Samsung F3 - quiet and very fast. Cheap too!
Western Digital Black 6GB/s - quiet and very, _very_ fast


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## Solaris17 (Mar 6, 2011)

i personally love seagates but samsungs as of late have really great bang for buck and tend to be cheaper then the seagates.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Mar 6, 2011)

Jan Kyster said:


> Western Digital Black 6GB/s - quiet and very, very fast



I've owned 2 of the new sata 6 blacks, they are not quiet. Very very far from quiet. Almost as bad as a raptor. Plenty of newegg reviews echoing that sentiment. There probably wasn't a lot of options for maintaining their famed access time while matching samsung's sequential, so noise sacrifice. My guess is it may be less noticeable if your case is further away or you have a lot of ambient sound.



Mussels said:


> samsung F3 and F4 have been the best for me so far. havent had any failures.
> 
> 
> in total contradiction to LAN_deRf_HA, the WORST drives i've had were WD 640GB blacks. i had three fail on me within 24 hours of ownership, and havent touched WD since.



To be blunt that doesn't hold a lot of weight. Short term drive failures are a metric I ignore unless truly epidemic. Shipping impacts, batch problems. Focus on reliability should always be on the long term. I've never had a WD die long term, I've had samsungs go to hell though.

Ultimately the current HDD market doesn't really have a perfect go to drive. It's in a bad place, and SSDs have a whole other set of issues. So far the best I've managed is to put all my drives into quiet mode. Haven't noticed a speed impact outside of my fraps bmp screenshot folder.


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## Jan Kyster (Mar 6, 2011)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I've owned 2 of the new sata 6 blacks, they are not quiet. Very very far from quiet. Almost as bad as a raptor...


My WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX is defect then?! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 Great! 

Up till now I've handled four of these drives and they all were, what I consider noiseless. Otherwise we wouldn't have used them.

Even with ears to case, I can not hear the drive. Maybe sometimes very faint when under heavy load, but at least as quiet as Seagates...


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## Completely Bonkers (Mar 7, 2011)

ae86trueno said:


> Any recommendation for good reliable hard disk?
> ...
> In the past 4-5 years I've experienced about 9 or 10 hard disk that gone bad..



Out of how many? What is your loss rate? And HOW are you using them? Are they in external enclosures and getting moved around a lot?

I've never seen fail rates that high (unless that is 9 or 10 out of a couple of hundred+), so something, somewhere, is wrong.

It's either physical, e.g. knocked/damaged, or electrical, e.g. you have rotten PSU stability, or user, e.g. you power off your PC from the socket and don't "shut down" from windows.


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

Thank you guys for the fast responses and all the suggestion. At where I live, a lot of the shops have Seagate and WD. I used to trust Seagate but been having alot of issues.. 

@Completely Bonkers: Excellent point I think.. you might be right with the external. I just realised most of these hdd gone with the external casing / docking, 3 of them is inside PC when they died (my PC running almost 24/7). I got total maybe about 15 HDDs.. so yeah that ratio is very very high  . 

I don't remember having a lot of issues, when I only have HDD inside my PC.

Btw few minutes ago I just found out the 11th time I lost HDD.. this time is WD 500GB green. I docked the drive in HDD docking and Windows said I need to initialize the disk... 

I got several HDD.. i think at the moment about 6 HDD that still working (have not check all of them)... I wont be able to fit them all into my PC. thats the reason why i use external casing / docking...


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## BarbaricSoul (Mar 7, 2011)

I've been real happy with my 7200.12


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## Mussels (Mar 7, 2011)

i use E-sata enclosures myself for 9 external drives (with port multipliers, two enclosures for 9 drives), and except for those 3 WD 640's i've never had a drive fail inside them.


externals on a desk wont increase failure rates, externals that get transported a lot, might.


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## mrhuggles (Mar 7, 2011)

what is a good program to put a hdd into quiet mode?


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## Wile E (Mar 7, 2011)

I've been having th ebest luck with Samsung over the past couple of years. I have 5 of them in my server, and one in an enclosure, and no failures at all. Have had 2 WD's and 1 Seagate go in that time.


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

I used to use external casing as well, those with the adapter and usb connector right?
I do move them a lot (normally from my cabinet to my desk). Especially with docking, just by changing HDD I already move them isn't it? I do however take care to make sure they don't get shaken or knock. When I move them I never make any sudden move.

Mussels, sorry I don't quite get it. how to use multiplier? so you able to connect to all 9 of them at same time? or 2 at one time and changing any of them when you need from the other HDD?


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## techtard (Mar 7, 2011)

Any brand will do. The only reason that you hear about bad drives is because people love to complain. You never hear from the millions of uses that have perfectly functional, and long lasting drives.
You only hear from the few people (relatively speaking) who got burned by a bad drive. And they NEVER forget, and feel compelled to badmouth a manufacturer forever, even if they resolved the problem.


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## qubit (Mar 7, 2011)

Lots of good suggestions on here.

I recommend Western Digital. I've used them for years and not had any problems with them. Also, if you get the right models, they come with a 5 year warranty.

Finally, I hope you do keep backups? Regardless of what drive you use, at least one backup is essential, otherwise it's simply data that you haven't lost yet. Given your line of work, I recommend a minimum of 2 up to date backups at all times.

I use the free Karen's Replicator, which is very good: www.karenware.com/powertools/ptreplicator.asp


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## Mussels (Mar 7, 2011)

ae86trueno said:


> I used to use external casing as well, those with the adapter and usb connector right?
> I do move them a lot (normally from my cabinet to my desk). Especially with docking, just by changing HDD I already move them isn't it? I do however take care to make sure they don't get shaken or knock. When I move them I never make any sudden move.
> 
> Mussels, sorry I don't quite get it. how to use multiplier? so you able to connect to all 9 of them at same time? or 2 at one time and changing any of them when you need from the other HDD?




port multipliers are inside the enclosure. i get 5 drives (or 4, in my second enclosure) off a single E-sata cable. no USB.


i had a link to them in my sig, but it seems i broke it, lol.

edit: fixed. second link under image.


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## AsRock (Mar 7, 2011)

mrhuggles said:


> what is a good program to put a hdd into quiet mode?



HDTune has the option in the payware version and think it was called AAC
http://hdtune.com/

There was another app i used to use but sadly cannot remember the name of it lol.


WD here no issue's Don't like lesser named HDDs and hate Seagates  although they might of improved since i last used them but i don't see why i should when WD has never gave me issue over 9 years now..


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

techtard said:


> Any brand will do. The only reason that you hear about bad drives is because people love to complain. You never hear from the millions of uses that have perfectly functional, and long lasting drives.
> You only hear from the few people (relatively speaking) who got burned by a bad drive. And they NEVER forget, and feel compelled to badmouth a manufacturer forever, even if they resolved the problem.



You are right about millions of uses that perfectly functional.. I guess we all take things for granted  however if we all keep praising.. I think the message will flood the internet like no tomorrow .

Well I don't complain about a brand or any, what I mention is what I experienced. Well I guess it also because I used to buy Seagate only so those HDD that gone is pretty much only Seagate. However what I really want is not complain, I want any suggestion or solution for my problem. Just today I had the 11th HDD went kaput. it will be silly if I do nothing and just keep counting..  I can't afford these failure rates.. thats why I ask, just like the title of the thread, I ask for recommendation, not complain or bad mouth.


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

Mussels said:


> port multipliers are inside the enclosure. i get 5 drives (or 4, in my second enclosure) off a single E-sata cable. no USB.
> 
> 
> i had a link to them in my sig, but it seems i broke it, lol.
> ...



Hi Mussels, thank you for the direction. the cages you have, what do they call? I went to the link and to http://www.pccasegear.com/ but I'm not quite sure what should I search for.
I found section about NAS, ... they are expensive


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## Mussels (Mar 7, 2011)

ae86trueno said:


> You are right about millions of uses that perfectly functional.. I guess we all take things for granted  however if we all keep praising.. I think the message will flood the internet like no tomorrow .
> 
> Well I don't complain about a brand or any, what I mention is what I experienced. Well I guess it also because I used to buy Seagate only so those HDD that gone is pretty much only Seagate. However what I really want is not complain, I want any suggestion or solution for my problem. Just today I had the 11th HDD went kaput. it will be silly if I do nothing and just keep counting..  I can't afford these failure rates.. thats why I ask, just like the title of the thread, I ask for recommendation, not complain or bad mouth.



then check the link in my sig about my e-sata enclosures, perhaps storing them in a safer/more stable enclosure with its own dedicated power supply and cooling fan(s), will help prevent the deaths.


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## BlackMagic (Mar 7, 2011)

If I experienced 11 hd failures in 5 years I would not think 11 hds went bad just by themselves. The math says you are buying a new hd every 6 months.
That's sort of hard to believe to me.

You want recommendations? Look elsewhere besides the harddrive.
Power Supply?
Virus? (Naw, I'm sure you check.)
Heat problems?
Electrical connection?
MB issue?


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

Mussels said:


> then check the link in my sig about my e-sata enclosures, perhaps storing them in a safer/more stable enclosure with its own dedicated power supply and cooling fan(s), will help prevent the deaths.



Yep, reading your e-sata enclosure solution. I think this might be my best solution.. to create a stable enclosure with minimum movement. I need to do case modding for this solution? (I built a lot of PCs before but I never done any modding)



BlackMagic said:


> If I experienced 11 hd failures in 5 years I would not think 11 hds went bad just by themselves. The math says you are buying a new hd every 6 months.
> That's sort of hard to believe to me.
> 
> You want recommendations? Look elsewhere besides the harddrive.
> ...



Yes, hard to believe but hard for me to swallow too.. after around 4-5th I sort of get used to death HDD but now I think this start to get too much and need solution.

Virus, I think I got it pretty covered, I use AVG and occasionally macafee, my browser is firefox with noscript add-on so i think i'm pretty safe

Power supply, not sure how to check.. I only use the adapter that comes with the casing

Heat problem, so far I think my case is ventilated well. though I noticed 2 of the HDD that went death felt very hot when I hold them.

Electrical, how do I check this?

MB, this issue start happen across 3 generation (my old gateway amd 700mhz, msi kt8neo, asus pt6) so I think issue is elsewhere


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## qubit (Mar 7, 2011)

There's no way that a virus can physically damage a HD. A quick format is all that it would need.

Are you handling your drives roughly, perhaps? "Roughly" means any kind of shocks, especially while they are running. Moving your PC case and letting it thump and bump against the table or another heavy object is enough to transmit significant shocks to them. I see an aweful lot of people do this.


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

qubit said:


> There's no way that a virus can physically damage a HD. A quick format is all that it would need.
> 
> Are you handling your drives roughly, perhaps? "Roughly" means any kind of shocks, especially while they are running. Moving your PC case and letting it thump and bump against the table or another heavy object is enough to transmit significant shocks to them. I see an aweful lot of people do this.



Normally I tried to handle as smooth as possible (no bump, shake, or sudden movement). However I cannot be 100% sure that it always safe since its normally on top of desk and naked so anything can bump to it..


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## TheMailMan78 (Mar 7, 2011)

I have a dead WD "Black" sitting on my desk right now. With that being said Ive had all brands die on me. So just go with whatever you can afford. But whatever you do by two. One as a primary and one as a backup.


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## HookeyStreet (Mar 7, 2011)

techtard said:


> Any brand will do. The only reason that you hear about bad drives is because people love to complain. You never hear from the millions of uses that have perfectly functional, and long lasting drives.
> You only hear from the few people (relatively speaking) who got burned by a bad drive. And they NEVER forget, and feel compelled to badmouth a manufacturer forever, even if they resolved the problem.



THIS!! 

Personally, I used to always use WD drives until someone told me how good Samsung HDDs are  (particularly the F3 as most are saying).


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## techtard (Mar 7, 2011)

The only drives I've had die on me are ones that I dropped, or got roughed up in shipping.
Heck, in my garage on my internet linux box, I'm still running an old Quantum fireball IDE/PATA drive.
My dad's machine has one of my old maxtor IDE/PATA drives in it... still chugging away.

I never got how peoples hdds kept dying. Maybe they don't get enough ventilation or bad electricity. 
Get a quality UPS system for your computer, one that filters the power.


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## BlackMagic (Mar 7, 2011)

Whoops, I shouldn't have mentioned "virus" because a virus won't physically kill a harddrive.
Although a virus could indeed affect a BIOS to where there is no instruction to read or recognize a harddrive.
But that's obviously not the case here.
Any computer component with moving parts inside has, by comparison with parts that don’t, an expected shorter lifespan and sometimes they fail sooner than expected. But 6 months average life? Something else is obviously going on.

Hard drives are made up of two main moving parts – the motor/disk platters assembly and the read/write head assembly. Taking each in turn, the motor/disk assembly consists of a ‘micro motor’ that spins the disk platters in excess of 7000 rpm (faster than most car engines can achieve without self-destructing very quickly). This spinning motion begins as soon as the PC is turned on and continues until it as soon as it is switched off, so as you can see it is important that these parts are well made! The read/write head assembly consists of another small motor and actuator assembly that is manufactured to and operates at incredibly small tolerances – in the order of micrometres (millionths of a centimetre).

While hard drives are reasonably robust, it doesn’t take much to cause a failure. How? Several things can cause damage to drives to occur – namely: by being knocked or bumped while turned on, by running at excessive temperature or by being subjected to a power surge. Other than those events, sometimes drives fail for no apparent reason and because of this a regular backup strategy should be used to safeguard any valuable data stored on them.

What life expectancy can be we assume a hard drive to have? Modern thinking is 3-5 years. Many do go for much longer periods.

I'd look for Power Surges, Vibration, Heat.


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## qubit (Mar 7, 2011)

ae86trueno said:


> Normally I tried to handle as smooth as possible (no bump, shake, or sudden movement). However I cannot be 100% sure that it always safe since its normally on top of desk and naked so anything can bump to it..



Sounds like your handling them gently enough.


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## ae86trueno (Mar 7, 2011)

Yes i think im handling them gentle enough. But maybe the constant moving fom storage to desk can cause the issue. In regard to power, buying the power cord with surge protector is good enough? Or the external adapter can cause the surge? Pc wse i think im safe enough i use corsair hx850.

I think from all the input. The solution is to build an e-sata casing with power surge protector and also putting fan on each drive. I got it correct?


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## yogurt_21 (Mar 8, 2011)

wd greens for reliability, wd blacks for performance. 


thats said 11 in 5 years is excessive for a home user (not even close to my numbers but a single server can have 40 hd's in it so...)


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## Mussels (Mar 9, 2011)

yogurt_21 said:


> wd greens for reliability, wd blacks for performance.
> 
> 
> thats said 11 in 5 years is excessive for a home user (not even close to my numbers but a single server can have 40 hd's in it so...)



i've never had a WD green fail on me, but i've never seen a fast one either. samsungs are tons faster at the same price, at least around here.


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## Salsoolo (Mar 9, 2011)

i think its a hit or miss with all brands. i have a Seagate 7200.7 IDE since 2003 and the drive was still going healthy untill i retired it last year for upgrade reasons. 
while a seagate 7200.11 didnt complete its second year with me 

saw friends with WDs and Samsungs also die after a while, you may get an unlucky drive from all manufacturers.


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## ae86trueno (Mar 10, 2011)

Im overseas so pardon me for slow reply. Yep i know there will be hit n miss on all manufacturer. Will definitely look at setting up small box so i dont need to move he hdd around alot. The last 2 was wd green so i think he movement or adapter the culprit


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## 95Viper (Mar 10, 2011)

mrhuggles said:


> what is a good program to put a hdd into quiet mode?



Crystal Disk Info can do it.
HDDScan can do it, too.


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