your favorite hard drives?
- Thread starter thedelihaus
- Start date
fmueller
Super Member
Here is a man who likes to wear a belt and suspenders :thmbsp:
That setup would probably exceed the safety requirements of the National Archives, but for those not quite so computer savvy, I would recommend to stay the heck away from raid arrays. They provide plenty of opportunity for things to go wrong, and if you usually rely on Best Buy's Geek Squad to fix your computer problems, you'll only cause the kids additional stress induced pimples, but actually reduce your chances of seeing your data again.
Just my 2c
I'm on a couple of computer forums, and I've always managed to pick top-notch drives when they were at their peak: Maxtor, then Seagate, then Western Digital. The latest scuttlebutt is that Samsung drives are now the ones to beat.
For me, Samsung drives have been great. I currently have a HD203WI in my iMac. 2TB, 5400RPM, 32MB cache. About as fast as the 320GB Western Digital it replaced (somewhat slower access time, 50% faster transfer rates). The only audible noise it makes is on spinup and during drive access (still quiet, but not inaudible.) 3 year warranty too.
Here was the deciding factor for me: When I went to Newegg (where I end up buying all my computer parts), of all the 2TB drives the Samsung had the lowest percentage (about 12%) of 1 and 2 star reviews. By comparison, the Hitachi and Seagate drives were more than twice as likely to get a bad review (between 24 and 30%) and with Newegg, that usually means a drive failure within a couple of months. Even the Western Digitals had bad review rates of 16 to 18%.
Good luck!
Here was the deciding factor for me: When I went to Newegg (where I end up buying all my computer parts), of all the 2TB drives the Samsung had the lowest percentage (about 12%) of 1 and 2 star reviews. By comparison, the Hitachi and Seagate drives were more than twice as likely to get a bad review (between 24 and 30%) and with Newegg, that usually means a drive failure within a couple of months. Even the Western Digitals had bad review rates of 16 to 18%.
Good luck!
KLH9
A Double Pair Sounds OK
I would not recommend as complex a set up as I use for the average computer user. I provide web hosting through several owned colocated servers and I also provide 3rd party support for an html authoring software. I have been a computer "hobbyist" since the mid 70's when I soldered together my first s-100 card. I have never purchased a "canned" computer (outside of laptops) and have always assembled all of my own hardware (including the web servers I use).
So kiddies... DO not try this at home and always have adult supervision
I would not recommend as complex a set up as I use for the average computer user. I provide web hosting through several owned colocated servers and I also provide 3rd party support for an html authoring software. I have been a computer "hobbyist" since the mid 70's when I soldered together my first s-100 card. I have never purchased a "canned" computer (outside of laptops) and have always assembled all of my own hardware (including the web servers I use).
So kiddies... DO not try this at home and always have adult supervision
If you're going to start talking about RAID and reliability, then you need to get more specific about it. There is true HW Raid, and then there is the more prevalent (at the consumer level) SW Raid. The latter is not as reliable, imposes significant resource loads on the host system, and is more prone to serious failures and data loss, independent of the HDD status. Unfortunately, it is also the version that comes onboard most consumer MBs these days (and on the sub $200 controllers), and what most households call "RAID". Among techs, it is more commonly known as "fakeraid". A good HW solution will have a powerful separate processor, firmware-level operating systems, large and fast cache banks, and onboard battery backup to safely run the on-board cache operations required to achieve spectacular transfer speeds using many drives, with little to no resource demands made on the host system.
Running an array on non-enterprise and/or drives not rated for RAID duty is the second big mistake most casual users make. A RAID array works the drives in a very different fashion from a desktop drive design.
The other mistake casual users make with RAID arrays is treating them like desktops, cycling them off and on every day and configuring them for maximum energy savings. For maximum reliability, an array should be left running 24/7 with all spin down features disabled, as most HDD failures occur during or shortly after spin up, when the greatest electrical, mechanical and thermal demands occur. It should also be tethered to a high quality network-grade UPS.
And as stated, a RAID array is only protection against local HW failure (and ALL HDDs eventually fail, even the enterprise ones). It is not a data backup in the industry sense; no local model protects against site catastrophes such as fire/casualty events, user errors and malware damage. Even HW Raid controllers occasionally fail. You need a genuine off-site solution with version control for that level of protection.
A quality HW based RAID array running enterprise class drives is not inexpensive. A solid HW Raid controller solution starts at several hundred dollars, and jumps quickly over $1k (excluding HDDs), depending on the drive population. Good raid-rated drives are usually 2x+ the price of their desktop grade cousins. To fully enjoy the benefits also requires complimentary server and network systems. It can get very expensive very quickly, and is a fast moving technology curve not for the financial feint of heart.
Around here, we run a primary server HW Raid 5 array, backed up daily via gigabit lan to a second HW Raid 5 array in another part of the building. The server array is also continuously backed up 24/7 to an off-site depository via Internet, just in case the building burns down. This is a mid five-figure data setup, but it contains over 2 GB of hi-def audio and video (and a lot of irreplaceable personal data over 25 years) that can be simultaneously accessed from every room in the house over wired LAN clients of all sorts. I don't have pictures.
For the more causal user, it is probably easier and cheaper to just run a single drive desktop solution, and subscribe to a continuous off-site backup service such as Backblaze.
KLH9
A Double Pair Sounds OK
Thanks for telling the rest of the story.
Backups should be multi copy, multi location to be considered safe/secure.
online backup as well as a physical on site backup (external to the primary equipment) is about as deep as most casual users need to look.
People like myself who need "no possibility of loss" backups have to go the extra mile and provide multi on site as well as off site backups.
As pointed out. It is not inexpensive but if your data integrity is critical there are very few options.
whoaru99
Epic Member
Whoopte doo...they replace the drive. That's the least of anyone's worries when it happens.
Deacon Jubal
Active Member
I currently have three 1 TB WD drives. My new AMD QuadCore has a Green internal. I have two externals in the Antec premium cases, one is the Black (their fastest) and the backup is the Blue (medium speed and quality). I have another 750G Seagate in my old desktop (now my oldest son's) and a 1G seagate in a economy Antec case above my monitor, not currently in use. All have worked well, but not abused.
I've used mostly WDs. I've been happy with them.
I've used mostly WDs. I've been happy with them.
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