Storage Talk: 2TB vs 5TB / SATA vs SSD vs Cloud

[patent10021]

I already have 3 of these 2TB drives. Have had them for at least 5 years and zero problems ever. Perfect for storing unimportant data that your Mac doesn't have space for.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00FRHTTJE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A26WHA4EX5Y0CA&th=1

I'm thinking of getting a couple of 4TB or 5TB versions. The reviews are very mixed but the reviews are for all of them not for specific versions.

Over the years I've heard not to buy large capacity versions like the 4TB/5TB versions.

What do you think?

 

[HDFan]

I've heard not to buy large capacity versions like the 4TB/5TB versions.

Er, why? If you look at what Backblaze is doing they are phasing out 4 TB drives in favour of 10, 12 and 14 TB drives. As I write this I am erasing a 2 TB drive which is going into the recycle bin with my old 4 TB drives. My working drives are all 6 or 10 TB.

 

[jterp7]

I already have 3 of these 2TB drives. Have had them for at least 5 years and zero problems ever. Perfect for storing unimportant data that your Mac doesn't have space for.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00FRHTTJE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A26WHA4EX5Y0CA&th=1

I'm thinking of getting a couple of 4TB or 5TB versions. The reviews are very mixed but the reviews are for all of them not for specific versions.

Over the years I've heard not to buy large capacity versions like the 4TB/5TB versions.

What do you think?

main reason to get the 2tb is because its the slim one now (used to be the 1tb) otherwise my 5TB has treated me just fine and its always on sale somewhere.

 

[mdwsta4]

I do the same. Have 3 2TB Seagate drives. 1 is for time machine and the other 2 are for RAW photo and video backups. My thought process with this is that I always have 1 backup of whatever information I need if a single drive fails. Been using Seagates for probably a decade now without a single issue. Upgrade every few years.

While 2TB is fine for me, I'm more mulling over switching to SSD drives instead, but the cost has been the main deterrent. Think it's like $300 for a 2TB drive which would get me 3 standard 2TB drives

 

[LorenK]

I have a number 3TB drives in RAID for my back up and use 2TB for my day to day, and am moving to 4TB drives in RAID. I don't think that reliability is any longer a factor in larger drives as they've been doing this for a long time, so the question really comes down to initial cost be TB.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I just tossed my 1TB and 2TB drives (or gave away) --- and got a 8TB Seagate 3.5' external drive. Got tired of the REALLY slow 4TB passport drives.

Got the 8TB for $160 at Costco a few months ago. Comes with 2 USB 3.0 ports on the front too. Kept one of my old 2TB Passport drives for a CCC backup that I keep at work while the 8TB sits at home.

Planning on using it for some time.

 

[velocityg4]

I don't see a reason not to get larger capacity drives. Looking at Backblaze's Reliability Reports. Large capacity drives are just as reliable. HGST (Hitachi) has a lower annual failure rate on average than Seagate. Toshiba seems to be the best but has a tiny sample size. So, that data is not as reliable. With HGST be careful. A lot of the cheap deals seem to be used and refurbished drives on Amazon. Which are only revealed in the customer reviews.

I included 2016 and 2019 years. Due to what sizes are available in data samples. Also to see how drives from a few years ago stand up to current drives.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-reliability-stats-q1-2016/
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-hard-drive-stats-q1-2019/

I've been using 4TB/5TB drives for my media library and backups for four to five years now. The sad thing is the price I paid for a 5TB drive four years ago has only creeped up to 6TB on Internal drives and 8TB on external drives.

Er, why? If you look at what Backblaze is doing they are phasing out 4 TB drives in favour of 10, 12 and 14 TB drives. As I write this I am erasing a 2 TB drive which is going into the recycle bin with my old 4 TB drives. My working drives are all 6 or 10 TB.

If you are just throwing them out. Why bother taking the time to do a secure erase? Just drill a hole or open them up and the data is toast. If overly concerned. Dump them in a bucket of water afterward.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Two people citing Backblaze hard drive statistics.... brings a tear to my eye. <cries>. I'm so happy.

 

[patent10021]

Well the reason I posted the question was because I occasionally heard that the smaller capacity drives were more reliable. Don't know the exact reason. Maybe they were talking about larger drives that ran at 7200 failing often.

I have 4 of the Seagate Slim 2TB drives and same here; no problems for years. My drives fill up pretty quickly though so I'm thinking of a couple more 5TB Seagate Backup Plus drives. They're about the same size as the WD Passport drives which I avoid.

I'm still surprised in almost 2020 there are no places to simply upload > 5TB of data to the cloud for free at blazing speeds. Almost 2020 and we're still stuck with free 15GB cloud storage limits. I stored tons of stuff in Google Drive & Microsoft One Drive last year but that took forever.

 

[velocityg4]

Well the reason I posted the question was because I occasionally heard that the smaller capacity drives were more reliable. Don't know the exact reason. Maybe they were talking about larger drives that ran at 7200 failing often.

I have 4 of the Seagate Slim 2TB drives and same here; no problems for years. My drives fill up pretty quickly though so I'm thinking of a couple more 5TB Seagate Backup Plus drives. They're about the same size as the WD Passport drives which I avoid.

I'm still surprised in almost 2020 there are no places to simply upload > 5TB of data to the cloud for free at blazing speeds. Almost 2020 and we're still stuck with free 15GB cloud storage limits. I stored tons of stuff in Google Drive & Microsoft One Drive last year but that took forever.

Drive cost has languished. Partly because drive capacity hasn't been increasing at the pace it used to. Also cost per TB of available storage for someone like Google is much more than for us. Because of all the accompanying server hardware, in house software, infrastructure and multiple layers of redundancy.

 

[HDFan]

Have 3 2TB Seagate drives. 1 is for time machine and the other 2 are for RAW photo and video backups.

I'm more mulling over switching to SSD drives instead,

SSDs are a waste of money when just used for backups.

I'm still surprised in almost 2020 there are no places to simply upload > 5TB of data to the cloud for free at blazing speeds. Almost 2020 and we're still stuck with free 15GB cloud storage limits.

There are a number of inexpensive cloud services that will allow unlimited storage for a cost ~$100 a year. Upload speeds vary, some much faster than others. I'm not sure who would be interested in providing such a service for free.

 

[patent10021]

I'm not sure who would be interested in providing such a service for free.

Not free, but a lower tier for free. A significant lower tier like 2TB at the least. Even Apple has 2TB @ $10 USD / month which seems ok actually. What if I want to pay $20 for 4TB with Apple?

Noticed Google has some decent options. Way more storage than Apple.

2TB for $9.99 a month - Same price as Apple
*5TB for $25 a month (should have this plan but they don't)
10TB for $99.99 a month - Why is it 10x the price and not 5x the price of the 2TB plan?
20TB for $199.99 a month
30TB for $299.99 a month

 

[HDFan]

Google has a $10 a month plan for 5 TB. I have read reports that they do not enforce this limit.

Backblaze is unlimited for $6 a month.
Crashplan business is unlimited at $10 a month, but uploads are slow

I use all 3, backup up ~18 TB to the latter two.