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Which Hard Drive brand do you recommend?
- Thread starter seeyomai
- Start date
goombawaho
MIS
The answer to this question is more opinion than fact.
Interesting article though:
The problem with this survey is that it's always looking backward. Any drive could have a new/bad firmware version leading to poor reliability in an otherwise good series of drives.
I've always liked Western Digital. And if you can afford the extra money, the RE4 drives are enterprise class, which theoretically, should mean they are a bit beefier. And they are the correct drives to use if you set up RAID on your PC (recommended). Regular drives are NOT designed to be in a RAID array.
Interesting article though:
The problem with this survey is that it's always looking backward. Any drive could have a new/bad firmware version leading to poor reliability in an otherwise good series of drives.
I've always liked Western Digital. And if you can afford the extra money, the RE4 drives are enterprise class, which theoretically, should mean they are a bit beefier. And they are the correct drives to use if you set up RAID on your PC (recommended). Regular drives are NOT designed to be in a RAID array.
goombawaho
MIS
I should also have said that within any given brand, some drive series are more reliable than others. You almost can't predict a current brand and model reliability until three years down the line. By then, it's too late.
You can't get future reliability rates today. One word - BACKUP and your bacon will be covered.
You can't get future reliability rates today. One word - BACKUP and your bacon will be covered.
rclarke250
Technical User
If you have the money, for gaming go SSD, I use a crucial M4 256 GB, and my wife has a standard WD 7200 rpm drive, the rest of our systems are identical. We play a new mmo called secret world. Whenever there is a transition from one area to another, and the map has to load, she can enter the transition before me, and I always pop on the other side 20-30 seconds faster. In games, faster is always better.
goombawaho
MIS
I missed the gaming angle. Probably the same different opinions would be heard about SSDs as with traditional drives.
rclarke250
Technical User
Oh, I agree, most people would side with what they have had god luck with, and vote against any failed drive they have had. But the fact is, that the drives today perform very close, and odds of getting a failure are the same between manufacturers. That is not to say a particular model, or a certain run may have issues, as we have all seen that happen. That being said, at this time, I own WD,Fujitsu,Seagate,Hitachi,and Toshiba drives as a standard drive, and Kingston,and Crucial in SSD. I have not had a failed drive in several years, the last was an old 200GB seagate, I let get too hot in my NAS.
- Thread starter
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BionicJohn
Technical User
FWIW, a replacement WD Caviar Green has just failed, so WD are sending a third, FoC.
But as stated above, it's hard to pick out any particular brand as being better or worse than others. Usage and environment are factors too.
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.
But as stated above, it's hard to pick out any particular brand as being better or worse than others. Usage and environment are factors too.
Iechyd da! John
Glannau Mersi, Lloegr.
goombawaho
MIS
Right - not worth much. We all know that a batch of drives might be bad (factory contamination, new "improved" firmware that kills the drive).
You take your chances when you buy a drive unless you're buying way behind the curve - like a 500GB drive right now. There should be some info on there about it by now if it was a problem child. If you're buying a 2 or 3TB drive, there will be less evidence available.
As far as WD, though, I can say this: They have EXCELLENT EXCELLENT support on their drives.
As an example...
About a year ago, roughly, I had 2 WD Black 2.5 laptop drives bite the bullet... well, one was probably a year ago, and one was probably 6 months ago, I guess..
Anyway, they just sat, b/c I was forgetful to get them replaced, as I had others to use anyway.
So, I finally remembered one day, and looked 'em up... both sure enough still under the 5 year warranties, so I filled out an RMA for the 2 of them - same RMA, 2 drives, boxed 'em up, and dropped off at a UPS store. B/c of using UPS store, and maybe paying a little extra on insurance - I forget - I spend $12 and change, I think.
Literally, less than one week passed, and I had a new hard drive on my front porch. Waited a few days, checked RMA status, nothing changed, so I called Western Digital. On hold 3 to 5 minutes, talked to a human, and they said sorry b/c one drive was replaced, but not other... and sent the 2nd replacement.
Here's the kicker...
My original drives were 250GB and 320GB. The ones they sent out were both 750GB!!! All b/c that's what they had in stock.
Even with making the phone call, I had both drives replaced in about 2 weeks. I think that's just incredible!
Generally speaking, if I didn't have the time or want to take the time to investigate specific models, specs, etc, I'd likely just go with Western Digital. Yeah, I've had problematic drives from diff manufacturers, good ones from diff manufacturers, but Western Digital overall has performed well, and support is second to none (well in my limited experiences - I had also gotten one replace some time back, few years I guess).
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57
As an example...
About a year ago, roughly, I had 2 WD Black 2.5 laptop drives bite the bullet... well, one was probably a year ago, and one was probably 6 months ago, I guess..
Anyway, they just sat, b/c I was forgetful to get them replaced, as I had others to use anyway.
So, I finally remembered one day, and looked 'em up... both sure enough still under the 5 year warranties, so I filled out an RMA for the 2 of them - same RMA, 2 drives, boxed 'em up, and dropped off at a UPS store. B/c of using UPS store, and maybe paying a little extra on insurance - I forget - I spend $12 and change, I think.
Literally, less than one week passed, and I had a new hard drive on my front porch. Waited a few days, checked RMA status, nothing changed, so I called Western Digital. On hold 3 to 5 minutes, talked to a human, and they said sorry b/c one drive was replaced, but not other... and sent the 2nd replacement.
Here's the kicker...
My original drives were 250GB and 320GB. The ones they sent out were both 750GB!!! All b/c that's what they had in stock.
Even with making the phone call, I had both drives replaced in about 2 weeks. I think that's just incredible!
Generally speaking, if I didn't have the time or want to take the time to investigate specific models, specs, etc, I'd likely just go with Western Digital. Yeah, I've had problematic drives from diff manufacturers, good ones from diff manufacturers, but Western Digital overall has performed well, and support is second to none (well in my limited experiences - I had also gotten one replace some time back, few years I guess).
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57
I agree, WD has had in the past the best service from any of the big drive manufacturers out there...
Goom, pointed out the RE4's, great drives, I would stay away from the Greens and Blues, and just stick with the Blacks or with the newer Red label drives...
Seagate, though fast in returning a bad drive, sent me a replacement drive that went south within a month after receiving it. It was a refurbished unit!
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"
Goom, pointed out the RE4's, great drives, I would stay away from the Greens and Blues, and just stick with the Blacks or with the newer Red label drives...
Seagate, though fast in returning a bad drive, sent me a replacement drive that went south within a month after receiving it. It was a refurbished unit!
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"
goombawaho
MIS
While no doubt true, all stories of "failed within a month, arrived DOA, two of them died in one year" are all anecdotal and can't be counted on as representative of a brand or even model.
I got an email from IBM once. Apparently, a large batch of server drives purchased from Seagate/Western Digital/whatever had been contaminated at the factory causing huge failure rates. Not IBM's fault. They wanted you to check your drive brand and serial number to see if affected. So that means that 98% of those drives were good and happy drives - the 2%, ouch.
I think we've strayed from the original post since the OP is likely going for a SSD for gaming.
I got an email from IBM once. Apparently, a large batch of server drives purchased from Seagate/Western Digital/whatever had been contaminated at the factory causing huge failure rates. Not IBM's fault. They wanted you to check your drive brand and serial number to see if affected. So that means that 98% of those drives were good and happy drives - the 2%, ouch.
I think we've strayed from the original post since the OP is likely going for a SSD for gaming.
goombawaho
MIS
Maybe Seagate is scared of you after all these failures at your hands!!
That's your own thread, so it's DOUBLY anecdotal not to mention circular. I always buy behind the curve to avoid the "latest and greatest firmware fiasco" effect.
That's your own thread, so it's DOUBLY anecdotal not to mention circular. I always buy behind the curve to avoid the "latest and greatest firmware fiasco" effect.
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