Most Reliable Hard Drive (external)

[reid]

Originally Posted by Tui

Anybody here using Buffalo drives? I recently got a USB powered 500 GB model, mostly for backups. It's not terribly fast, but totally silent and the enclosure is *tiny*. It was cheap too. I even found I can use it for streaming samples to the EXS24. In fact, I'm so impressed I might get another one.

I've got a couple of Buffalo 1TB for archiving. USB only, not the same model as you show Tui. But they're not particularly noisy, and no problems so far.....

[AB3]

Just so you know, I am not insinuating that you were referring to owner misuse. That is my own comment. For instance, one can ruin an internal drive (at least part of it) by accidentally disconnecting it while the power is on. Or overheating with poor ventilation. There are certain owner errors that can hurt drives.
But that is my statement, not meant to attribute to you.

Since you have had such good luck with the higher end Seagate drives, I am going to check at Best Buy sometime soon and see if they do say "made in china" on those lesser expensive "Seagate labelled" USB drives.

I am really looking forward to the next generation of Solid State drives. Seems like the obvious future, though for some reason I am reluctant to dive into that yet.

I would appreciate what you know about Blue Ray back up? Is it better than standard DVD backup? Anything special about it? THANKS.

All the best,
AB

Originally Posted by robertshaw

I backup on usb HDD and now blueray. I never insinuated it was owner misuse don't take me the wrong way

[Raider]

Let me try to clarify some misinformation expressed here.

There are only two major manufacturers of hard drives today, Seagate and Western Digital. Samsung, Hitachi and Toshiba still do but remain minor players. Seagate is about 70% of the worldwide market, WD about 20% and the other 10% "Others".

There is no quality difference between "Made in China" and anywhere else and no one "bins" drives for retail vs. OEM.

Seagate is much more "internally sourced" for components, while WD still relies on outside vendors, (or what's left of them).

WD is essentially being "kept alive" by vendors who need a second source for pricing leverage as well as a back up source if Seagate should have quality or delivery problems. Neither company makes any kind of margin at retail. Seagate WANTS WD to be around to keep the DOJ off it's back for Anti-Trust.

Both are equally as good as it gets. If you get one that fails you were unlucky. Whenever you buy a hard drive ALWAYS buy two to back the first up with.

As someone who worked in the hard drive industry in various capacities for over 20 years, I can say that the entire hard drive industry combined since it's inception, has NEVER been profitable; victims of their own strident competitiveness and perpetual scientific advances in storage technology.

It's all pretty settled now that all the aquisitions and mergers are done; a fully matured industry. My advice, if your not sure, by a Seagate AND a comparable Western Digital and back one up with the other. (It's like what's better, a GM or a Ford, a Toyota or a Nissan?) Hard drives are a commodity and every commodity is going to have a few rotten apples. Don't sweat brands. It's not like that anymore.

[Lemonsqueezer]

Originally Posted by drbam

Not disputing what you say, because I simply don't know, but I would be VERY interested in a verifiable source for your assertion - perhaps an article, citation, link, etc. I imagine that others may be interested as well.

Thanks!

They give a 5 year warranty on them so I can't imagine it to be true.

Also My Lacie drive uses the Segate Barracuda drive which I am a fan of. I have had loads of these over the years. Not one of them has failed yet. Shame the actual Lacie USB and FW800 ports stopped working

I will be buying a case and drive seperately in the future.

[357mag]

Originally Posted by psalad

There is one drive that is more reliable, and only one drive.

It's the one that is routinely backed up.

All drives are a crap shoot, IMHO and in my experience. I don't trust a single one. Period. It's extremely foolish to trust a drive.

Note that the brands of drives that are put in a particular enclosure will vary quite a bit, unless you buy a WD or Seagate branded external, there's no guarantee what mfgr will make the drive.

A drive is just as reliable as an optical disk. I have bought discs and used them once and then returned them to the case and then discovered when I open them a second time there are already scratches on them.

I've also had optical disks go bad to the point of being unreadable. How this happens I have no idea.

As long as a person has backups of their important data in several locations he is reasonably safe.

[Jidis]

Originally Posted by Raider

There are only two major manufacturers of hard drives today, Seagate and Western Digital.<snipped> Both are equally as good as it gets.

NewEgg just sent me a sale link with this Seagate in it. Those comments are pretty terrifying. I can't imagine who would be buying that particular model after reading those.

Take Care

PS- Not that I dispute that they're normally really good. It just seems to support the bad batch theory. FWIW, I had a SCSI RAID box with Barracudas many years back that went back to them more than once, but I've also sent back at least two WDs (not including my problematic recent ones).

[rids]

I think I'm going to get an Avastor or Glyph drive for now and backup with a Seagate drive. I want to get at least a 1TB drive. I'm not sure which to get, but I'm going to look into this a little more. The Glyph and Avastor seem like they have the best reputation, but the price is up there. Still I want something I don't have to worry about. I guess the only I personally need to worry about is turning off my HD before ejecting it.

Also, everyone is saying to spec out an enclosure for whatever drive I chose. Are you saying that because the enclosures that come with most drives aren't the most suitable for the HD inside? Or is it just cheaper to do everything yourself. I guess I'm the type (at least for now) that likes to pick and drive and not worry about matching up a drive and case.

[mokusa]

I have had several Lacie drives fail, and it's always the power adapter. It's a very very common problem. They are using the cheapest possible parts and know that when your drive fails you will pay out another 20 bucks to get an new adapter so you can recover your data. Also their customer service is rock bottom. Don't give these crooks your money!

[6strings]

Originally Posted by psalad

There is one drive that is more reliable, and only one drive.

It's the one that is routinely backed up.

All drives are a crap shoot, IMHO and in my experience. I don't trust a single one. Period. It's extremely foolish to trust a drive.

+1

It's the nature of the beast. You just don't know. I just buy from seller who'll accept returns after a month or so in case it dies right off. Cause forget calling China or Taiwan or wherever and expecting any sort of tech/warranty support from the original manufacturer...

But if you're asking about external enclosures... buy OWC. Great products and support.

[cyrano]

Originally Posted by Raider

Let me try to clarify some misinformation expressed here.

There are only two major manufacturers of hard drives today, Seagate and Western Digital. Samsung, Hitachi and Toshiba still do but remain minor players. Seagate is about 70% of the worldwide market, WD about 20% and the other 10% "Others".

There is no quality difference between "Made in China" and anywhere else and no one "bins" drives for retail vs. OEM.

Seagate is much more "internally sourced" for components, while WD still relies on outside vendors, (or what's left of them).

WD is essentially being "kept alive" by vendors who need a second source for pricing leverage as well as a back up source if Seagate should have quality or delivery problems. Neither company makes any kind of margin at retail. Seagate WANTS WD to be around to keep the DOJ off it's back for Anti-Trust.

Both are equally as good as it gets. If you get one that fails you were unlucky. Whenever you buy a hard drive ALWAYS buy two to back the first up with.

As someone who worked in the hard drive industry in various capacities for over 20 years, I can say that the entire hard drive industry combined since it's inception, has NEVER been profitable; victims of their own strident competitiveness and perpetual scientific advances in storage technology.

It's all pretty settled now that all the aquisitions and mergers are done; a fully matured industry. My advice, if your not sure, by a Seagate AND a comparable Western Digital and back one up with the other. (It's like what's better, a GM or a Ford, a Toyota or a Nissan?) Hard drives are a commodity and every commodity is going to have a few rotten apples. Don't sweat brands. It's not like that anymore.

+1

Another very good case comes from Wiebe Tech.