Author Topic: External HDD - Reliability  (Read 2822 times)

Garry

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 251
External HDD - Reliability
« on: October 06, 2020, 09:00:32 PM »
Hello

I intend to purchase an ext HDD mainly for storage and also back up for my OS. I'm not intending to 'run' anything from it.

I'm looking at either a 6 or 8 TB capacity, USB 3.

I'd welcome any recommendations particularly where reliability/durability is concerned, preferably from first hand experience.

Thanks.


R7 5800X RTX4070ti 12gb 32gb 3200 DDR4 Corsair 110h v2  34" UW 1440p 100hz  1tb SSD-OS 1Tb M2 Cambridge 5.1 audio Honeycomb A + B TM pedals Corsair K55+M55 Seasonic 750w plat

stiletto2

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2,342
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2020, 11:00:02 PM »
Hi Garry,

I use Western Digital My Book drives.  I have never had a problem.  The one I am currently using is a 4 TB My Book.  I noticed that the WD 8TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive, USB 3.0 - WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN,Black is currently available on Amazon for $150.

Rod

Garry

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 251
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2020, 08:17:25 AM »
Hi Rod

Yes, I saw that also in my investigations. There are deals out there where the going rate is less than $20 per TB.

I am leaning towards a WD drive. But my concern with WD, having owned one or two of their drives previously, is not so much the drive but the power supplies. They are somewhat suspect, or at least they used to be, in my experience. For this reason alone I might go for a 4TB which I believe runs from USB.

Seagate has some tempting offers but I'm reading a lot about their poor reliability, though.

Thanks for the info.


R7 5800X RTX4070ti 12gb 32gb 3200 DDR4 Corsair 110h v2  34" UW 1440p 100hz  1tb SSD-OS 1Tb M2 Cambridge 5.1 audio Honeycomb A + B TM pedals Corsair K55+M55 Seasonic 750w plat

nbrich1

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3,461
  • Misty Flying Club VA, Sim Troubleshooting & Help
    • Misty Flying Club (MFC)
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2020, 08:29:14 AM »
I have two seagate 6tb external expansion hdd for storage/backup. Usb 3.0..fast drive for copying to or from. Had the 1st for over 3 yrs and bought another one in January 2020. Great drives..   No issues ever.. yet.. try to watch for a sale perhaps before Christmas or boxing days sales for a good deal.

https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STEB6000403/dp/B07CX8QBG4
Regards from Toronto, Canada. Home Airport CYYZ.
^----------------- Misty Flying Club -----------------^

kaha

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,443
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2020, 09:27:11 AM »
I have two 4TB Seagate Expansion+ external drives. Very reliable drives.

Karl
i9-9900K@5.0 | RTX 3080TI | 55" 4K | MSFS2020

kaha

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,443
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2020, 09:35:36 AM »
This reminded me to make a backup over night. So I just set them up.

Karl
i9-9900K@5.0 | RTX 3080TI | 55" 4K | MSFS2020

corbu1

  • RTMM Team Test Pilot
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2,107
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2020, 02:39:45 PM »
Hello Gary,
I have a 4TB WD my Book external drive USB3 drive.
I use it for Flightsim addons storage and backup. Works fine for me.
In the near future i‘ll also plan getting a bigger one.




P3Dv5.2HF1,ASP3D,MV WR,FirefighterX,OVRtoolkit,FreeAirMap;RXP GTN, VRK
i9 10900K;32GB3600RAM;Strix3090;SSD 970EvoPlus500GB Win10;SSD 970EvoPlus2TB P3D;SSD 970EvoPlus2TB XPlane;SSD 860Evo1TB DCS;HDD 4TB;VivePro;HOTASWarthog;Komodo Pedals

Garry

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 251
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2020, 04:07:50 PM »
Hi Corbu

You allude to another issue in terms of how much storage space we will need as flightsimmers?

Just how much extra storage will be necessary/desired as add on scenery packages get larger. Am I going over the top with 8TB for flightsimming purposes or will 4TB be sufficient?

Thanks for your response.


R7 5800X RTX4070ti 12gb 32gb 3200 DDR4 Corsair 110h v2  34" UW 1440p 100hz  1tb SSD-OS 1Tb M2 Cambridge 5.1 audio Honeycomb A + B TM pedals Corsair K55+M55 Seasonic 750w plat

Garry

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 251
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2020, 04:08:56 PM »
So sorry Klaus!


R7 5800X RTX4070ti 12gb 32gb 3200 DDR4 Corsair 110h v2  34" UW 1440p 100hz  1tb SSD-OS 1Tb M2 Cambridge 5.1 audio Honeycomb A + B TM pedals Corsair K55+M55 Seasonic 750w plat

corbu1

  • RTMM Team Test Pilot
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 2,107
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2020, 04:35:53 PM »
Hello Garry,
In the past the 4TB was big enough as I used P3dv3, 4 and 5 the last few years.
Before P3d I had stored a lot of FSX stuff. Most of that I already deleted.

With my new Flightsim PC I want to give more sim plattforms a try.
I have already installed DCS, want to take a look into X-Plane and AeroflyFS, as all these plattforms offer good helicopter Flightmodels.
MSFS not yet, but maybe in the future with VR and helicopter supported, I‘d give it a chance.

In the past I also tended to collect tons of freeware addons from different websites. Most of this I did never install....So I changed my behaviour and reduced downloading addons drastically.

Also newer PC technology has effects on the quality of scenery Addons with better textures resolution etc. resulting in a rise of data to be stored.....
Maybe MSFS with it‘s leads to a new trend, but third party addons payware or freeware will be developped anyway I guess.


P3Dv5.2HF1,ASP3D,MV WR,FirefighterX,OVRtoolkit,FreeAirMap;RXP GTN, VRK
i9 10900K;32GB3600RAM;Strix3090;SSD 970EvoPlus500GB Win10;SSD 970EvoPlus2TB P3D;SSD 970EvoPlus2TB XPlane;SSD 860Evo1TB DCS;HDD 4TB;VivePro;HOTASWarthog;Komodo Pedals

kaha

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,443
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2020, 05:33:44 PM »
I will get another drive in addition. Reason is that I tend to create backup generations, not overwriting the last backup. This of course needs more space.

Most corrupt backups don't happen because of faulty drives, they result fom overwriting good backup data with bad data. So, if you, as an example delete something important and don't realize it before you overwrite your last backup, the data is gone for ever.

Karl
i9-9900K@5.0 | RTX 3080TI | 55" 4K | MSFS2020

Garry

  • Misty Moorings Team
  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 251
Re: External HDD - Reliability
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2020, 09:10:40 PM »
Klaus, your 'freeware kleptomania' seems to match my own! I'm currently in the middle of a major review of my collection.

No MSFS for me just yet also. My broadband is a share of a 5mb feed and my system could be better.


R7 5800X RTX4070ti 12gb 32gb 3200 DDR4 Corsair 110h v2  34" UW 1440p 100hz  1tb SSD-OS 1Tb M2 Cambridge 5.1 audio Honeycomb A + B TM pedals Corsair K55+M55 Seasonic 750w plat