External Hard Drive Suggestions?

The Darkness

Hey all!

I'm looking to buy a new external hard drive and I'm hoping for some recommendations and/or insight from the fine people of B.ie?

I'm looking to get something in the 4-8TB range; a drive that reads and writes quite fast and is reliable, sturdy and steady, but also reasonably mobile.
I'll predominantly be using it for downloading, watching and storing HD/Bluray/4K films and TV shows etc - so something suitable for those activities and that can handle x265 and UHD, is a must.

My current drive is a 3TB Seagate Expansion Drive, which has served very well after the previous (WD) incumbent died-in-action, but is now full.

My budget is approx €150-200; but there is a little wiggle room for something particularly worthwhile, should someone suggest it.

Thanks in advance!

28064212

• Write speeds are pretty irrelevant, you're going to be limited by the speed of the USB connection and/or your download speed
• Read speeds are pretty irrelevant, you're never going to come close to maxing out the speed with media files.
• Not sure what you mean by "that can handle x265 and UHD", they're all just files, a hard drive doesn't care what type they are
• Reliability is more or less irrelevant so long as you're not buying a Chinese knockoff. All hard-drives will fail, and there's little difference between the major brands

With the above in mind, you're as well off just going to Amazon (or any of your other preferred electronic retailers) and filtering by the criteria they provide. Or keeping an eye on "deals" type sites.

Worztron

I've always opted for Seagate drives (both internal HDDs & external HDDs) - never once let down.

The Darkness

28064212 wrote: »

• Write speeds are pretty irrelevant, you're going to be limited by the speed of the USB connection and/or your download speed
• Read speeds are pretty irrelevant, you're never going to come close to maxing out the speed with media files.
• Not sure what you mean by "that can handle x265 and UHD", they're all just files, a hard drive doesn't care what type they are
• Reliability is more or less irrelevant so long as you're not buying a Chinese knockoff. All hard-drives will fail, and there's little difference between the major brands

With the above in mind, you're as well off just going to Amazon (or any of your other preferred electronic retailers) and filtering by the criteria they provide. Or keeping an eye on "deals" type sites.

While I appreciate you took the time to respond, suggesting that I just 'go to Amazon' defeats the whole purpose of my posting here and asking people for their help, suggestions and/or insight; and, as well as being rather unhelpful, is also likely to discourage other people here from actually doing so themselves. While I presume that wasn't your intention, it's definitely not appreciated.

Nor am I looking to just get a 'deal'; I want to get as good a drive as I can possibly afford and I'm willing to pay for it.

And reliability is never irrelevant, not in life and certainly not in tech - and I find that the longer I live, the more I understand and appreciate that.

The Darkness

Worztron wrote: »

I've always opted for Seagate drives (both internal HDDs & external HDDs) - never once let down.

Yeah, as I mentioned above, my last drive was a Seagate and it's been very good - reliable, functional and useable in all the right ways.
I'll definitely be considering them again, this time around.

Cheers for the reply Worztron, appreciate it!

The Darkness

I recently came across these on my search; does anyone have any first-hand knowledge or experience with them - are they worth buying?

"Transcend StoreJet 35T3

The StoreJet 35T3 not only supports the next-generation USB 3.1 Gen 1 standard that boosts data transfer rates, but also offers enormous storage space for a seemingly
endless amount of large files. You now have a much faster and easier way to store your digital content!

Key Features
USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface
Spacious storage capacity up to 8TB
Slim vertically-oriented design saves desk space
Fanless low-noise operation
Power-saving sleep mode (Meets European Union ErP requirements)
One Touch auto-backup button*
256-bit AES file & folder encryption*
Exclusive Transcend Elite data management software."

https://www.transcend-info.com/Products/No-316

NIMAN

Decent deal on 4tb seagate
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-PlayStation-STEA4000400/dp/B017KE8OG0

And a 5tb
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Portable-External-Creative-Photography/dp/B01LZTK3E9

mordeith

Always had WD and never had issues.

28064212

The Darkness wrote: »

While I appreciate you took the time to respond, suggesting that I just 'go to Amazon' defeats the whole purpose of my posting here and asking people for their help, suggestions and/or insight; and, as well as being rather unhelpful, is also likely to discourage other people here from actually doing so themselves. While I presume that wasn't your intention, it's definitely not appreciated.

Nor am I looking to just get a 'deal'; I want to get as good a drive as I can possibly afford and I'm willing to pay for it.

And reliability is never irrelevant, not in life and certainly not in tech - and I find that the longer I live, the more I understand and appreciate that.

There are only 3 hard-drive manufacturers: Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. For consumer-level tech, any differences in reliability are negligible, and are as likely to differ from batch-to-batch as from brand-to-brand. The only guarantee is that no matter what one you go for, it will fail eventually. By all means, buy the €200 4TB hard-drive instead of the €100 4TB one (which has every chance of having the same hard-drive inside it), but you're not buying increased reliability

The Darkness

NIMAN wrote: »

Decent deal on 4tb seagate
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-PlayStation-STEA4000400/dp/B017KE8OG0

And a 5tb
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Portable-External-Creative-Photography/dp/B01LZTK3E9

Thanks a lot for the suggestions NIMAN, I'll check them out!

The Darkness

28064212 wrote: »

There are only 3 hard-drive manufacturers: Seagate, Toshiba, and Western Digital. For consumer-level tech, any differences in reliability are negligible, and are as likely to differ from batch-to-batch as from brand-to-brand. The only guarantee is that no matter what one you go for, it will fail eventually. By all means, buy the €200 4TB hard-drive instead of the €100 4TB one (which has every chance of having the same hard-drive inside it), but you're not buying increased reliability

Well, I've had four external drives in my life, one failed within warranty and was replaced; and the other three are still going strong.
The oldest is a 500GB WD My Book that's eleven years old this month and still works as well as it ever did. Indeed, I'm listening to music playing from it right this moment, even as I type.

And while I'm under no illusions that eventually they'll all fail, as everything inevitably does in this era of built-in obsolescence; and, as such, have taken measures with my data that allows for that very eventuality, I'll not be counting them out just yet - or, indeed, the next one in advance even of its very purchase.

And I will, 'by all means', buy whichever one I want - and freely ask people's opinion here about it first too.
I have no intention of spending double the money on the same drive though; but thanks for the concern and the warning re such, it's appreciated!

NIMAN

If you actually know the complexities of how a HDD is made, it's amazing any of them work at all.

The Darkness

NIMAN wrote: »

If you actually know the complexities of how a HDD is made, it's amazing any of them work at all.

Oh yeah? Have to say I'm not really knowledgeable about the process - why's that then?

ED E

28064212 wrote: »

• Write speeds are pretty irrelevant, you're going to be limited by the speed of the USB connection and/or your download speed
• Read speeds are pretty irrelevant, you're never going to come close to maxing out the speed with media files.
• Not sure what you mean by "that can handle x265 and UHD", they're all just files, a hard drive doesn't care what type they are
• Reliability is more or less irrelevant so long as you're not buying a Chinese knockoff. All hard-drives will fail, and there's little difference between the major brands

With the above in mind, you're as well off just going to Amazon (or any of your other preferred electronic retailers) and filtering by the criteria they provide. Or keeping an eye on "deals" type sites.

Please dont post tripe like this.

Many of the 8TB drives, like the OP is requesting, are SMR. Sustained writes are sub 30MB/s on these, easily saturateable by a normal Virgin Media connection.

USB3.0 is way faster than nearly all mechanical drives, you won't be interface limited you'll be drive limited.


These only go up to 5TB at the minute but are pretty hard wearing. The biggest threat to a portable drive is its owner.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-STFR5000800-Portable-Resistant-External/dp/B079H7JVL3/

The Darkness

ED E wrote: »

Please dont post tripe like this.

Many of the 8TB drives, like the OP is requesting, are SMR. Sustained writes are sub 30MB/s on these, easily saturateable by a normal Virgin Media connection.

USB3.0 is way faster than nearly all mechanical drives, you won't be interface limited you'll be drive limited.


These only go up to 5TB at the minute but are pretty hard wearing. The biggest threat to a portable drive is its owner.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/LaCie-STFR5000800-Portable-Resistant-External/dp/B079H7JVL3/

Thanks for the input and the recommendation ED E, appreciate it.
I had seen some of those LaCie drives before, but thought they were designed for macs, no?

Tbh, I doubt I'd need one with that type of case/protection though, as it's not likely to be moved that often or treated in any way roughly.

Wrt to SMR - what exactly is it?
How would you know if the drive you're looking to buy is that, or not?
And, if that's the inferior type/format/whatever - what's the alternative/preferred designation?

I was considering this one - Seagate 8 TB Expansion Amazon Special Edition USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive (STGY8000400); which is an expansion, rather than a backup drive,
and at a pretty good price of £143.99, reduced from £179.99.

Is it SMR do you know?
And, if you don't, how might I go about finding out?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Expansion-Portable-PlayStation-STEA4000400/dp/B07DQBFQ2D?th=1


Also, what brand are best to buy, if you're looking to avoid SMR - or does it just depend on the drive?

Apologies for all the questions, this is information that I wasn't even aware of previous to your post, so am very curious about.

NIMAN

The Darkness wrote: »

Oh yeah? Have to say I'm not really knowledgeable about the process - why's that then?

Read about the process of actually making one work, especially the bit about the jumbo


http://www.dataclinic.it/data-recovery/hard-disk-functionality.htm

It really is an amazing piece of technology.

And when you hear people saying about drive failures, you have to realise that they work constantly in a lot of environments for years without issue, and yet in 2019 I still get crackling lines and dropped call when I try to use my mobile. If HDD manufacturers had this level of service and the public accepted it, we'd not be storing much data.

I have maybe 5 or 6 hard drives at home, some up to 10 years old, and all working. My only failure was one which I dropped a few years ago.

gctest50

How about buy / build a little NAS box for home and get a usb disk for stuff you want to bring with you the next day ?

You could have it download stuff overnight etc instead of leaving a pc on

Worztron

The Darkness wrote: »

Yeah, as I mentioned above, my last drive was a Seagate and it's been very good - reliable, functional and useable in all the right ways.
I'll definitely be considering them again, this time around.

Cheers for the reply Worztron, appreciate it!

You're welcome TF.

The Darkness

NIMAN wrote: »

Read about the process of actually making one work, especially the bit about the jumbo


http://www.dataclinic.it/data-recovery/hard-disk-functionality.htm

It really is an amazing piece of technology.

And when you hear people saying about drive failures, you have to realise that they work constantly in a lot of environments for years without issue, and yet in 2019 I still get crackling lines and dropped call when I try to use my mobile. If HDD manufacturers had this level of service and the public accepted it, we'd not be storing much data.

I have maybe 5 or 6 hard drives at home, some up to 10 years old, and all working. My only failure was one which I dropped a few years ago.

Sounds fascinating, I'll make sure to check it out.

Ya, it's definitely one of those unsung successes; especially when you compare it with much more widespread and unreliable tech, like mobile signal and service.

I currently have three externals, with the oldest being 11 years and counting, as I mentioned above; the other two are quite old too - but both still going strong. I had one fail as my computer crashed while I was writing to it and that unfortunately killed it; but other than that it's been pretty plain sailing; touch wood that it continues.

The Darkness

gctest50 wrote: »

How about buy / build a little NAS box for home and get a usb disk for stuff you want to bring with you the next day ?

You could have it download stuff overnight etc instead of leaving a pc on

Not sure if I'd have the tech capability to build a box, as you suggest; and while I've heard of NAS, I'm not particularly familiar with the concept or the execution.

Although being able to download overnight etc., without having to leave the computer on certainly sounds very interesting indeed - can you tell me more?

The Darkness

The Darkness wrote: »

I recently came across these on my search; does anyone have any first-hand knowledge or experience with them - are they worth buying?

"Transcend StoreJet 35T3

The StoreJet 35T3 not only supports the next-generation USB 3.1 Gen 1 standard that boosts data transfer rates, but also offers enormous storage space for a seemingly
endless amount of large files. You now have a much faster and easier way to store your digital content!

Key Features
USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface
Spacious storage capacity up to 8TB
Slim vertically-oriented design saves desk space
Fanless low-noise operation
Power-saving sleep mode (Meets European Union ErP requirements)
One Touch auto-backup button*
256-bit AES file & folder encryption*
Exclusive Transcend Elite data management software."

https://www.transcend-info.com/Products/No-316

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of using or buying these drives?

If so, anything anyone could tell me about them and whether or not they're a worthwhile purchase, would be greatly appreciated indeed - TIA!