Reliable HDDs

[Krolic]

Hi,

 

The hard drive in my work computer has been acting a little strangely lately and I am looking for a newer one. The data on the drive aren't just games and stuff, but images I use for research that really cannot be lost (and sources wont be lost, as they are backed-up, but any processing would be potentially). Because of this, I am looking for something very reliable. I have been focusing on Seagate Exos and WD Gold/Ultrastar, but I am not entirely sure what the best option is. Is there really a major difference between the two? I believe the WD would be helium sealed, but the Seagate wont be since I am not going for the >8 TB models. Or are something like a WD Black and Seagate BarraCuda Pro reliable as well? 

[NineEyeRon]

What you need is some sort of live mirroring of date then right?

 

I think any decent drive would be fine but you seem to be saying the value of work done between the frequency of your backups is high enough to warrant something more frequent than you have now. 

 

Maybe some sort of RAID is better or maybe a cloud file service that mirrors your drive or specific folders?

 

 

[Krolic]

1 minute ago, NineEyeRon said:

What you need is some sort of live mirroring of date then right?

 

I think any decent drive would be fine but you seem to be saying the value of work done between the frequency of your backups is high enough to warrant something more frequent than you have now. 

 

Maybe some sort of RAID is better or maybe a cloud file service that mirrors your drive or specific folders?

 

 

Not exactly. We have data stored on servers, but a lot of time it is just the source images/files since putting everything would be too large and expensive. I dont think a RAID config is feasible for just my local work computer, considering the time and money required. I know a lot of standard hard drives are not meant to be run intensely for an extended period of time, which was why I was moving more towards the enterprise level drives. 

[Constantin]

WD Gold! Is what you need.

Edit: have you checked your drive with DickInfo64, to see the status?

[NunoLava1998]

I would suggest backing up your data to cloud storage and a couple of external HDDs too.

[Krolic]

Just now, NunoLava1998 said:

I would suggest backing up your data to cloud storage and a couple of external HDDs too.

A lot of reasons that cant be done. 

[NunoLava1998]

Just now, Krolic said:

A lot of reasons that cant be done. 

To external HDDs then

[Krolic]

Just now, NunoLava1998 said:

To external HDDs then

Again, stuff is being backed-upped to a local server. 

[NineEyeRon]

12 minutes ago, Krolic said:

Again, stuff is being backed-upped to a local server. 

If your changes between server backs are such high value I doubt a drive failure is your biggest concern.

 

Unless you go days or even weeks between backups to the server.

[Krolic]

Just now, NineEyeRon said:

If your changes between server backs are such high value I doubt a drive failure is your biggest concern.

 

Unless you go days or even weeks between backups to the server.

Back-up to the server is constant. However, our lab deals with massive amounts of data constantly.

[Galion]

21 minutes ago, NunoLava1998 said:

I would suggest backing up your data to cloud storage and a couple of external HDDs too.

From what I'm reading, that cloud isn't an option it may be due to security reasons. If so I would suggest a micro raid server with 10 WD Gold series hdd with a auto backup to a encrypted Seagate iron wolf pro. If it ain't a security issue then a WD gold will do

[Ithanul]

54 minutes ago, Krolic said:

Back-up to the server is constant. However, our lab deals with massive amounts of data constantly.

Perhaps at minimum mirror the main drive onto another drive.  At least give yourself some redudancy if the data is so important.

 

By the sounds of it, a proper small RAID setup inside the computers need to be done.  Nothing big nor fancy, at most three drives.  Where I work we can't use cloud nor external USB drives either (security reasons), but we do have RAID5 and a daily tape backup off the main server that is then locked into a security safe.  Maybe look into doing something similiar for your sites.

 

Hmmm, not sure of what OS you use, but maybe have another client be a partner to it?  We do something similar with our video files on our system where the client copies their video files to another client that is set as a partner to it.  That way if one goes down, the other client has copies of said files.

[Krolic]

53 minutes ago, Galion said:

From what I'm reading, that cloud isn't an option it may be due to security reasons. If so I would suggest a micro raid server with 10 WD Gold series hdd with a auto backup to a encrypted Seagate iron wolf pro. If it ain't a security issue then a WD gold will do

It is security reasons. I do research at a hospital, so the data contains patient information. 

 

2 minutes ago, Ithanul said:

Perhaps at minimum mirror the main drive onto another drive.  At least give yourself some redudancy if the data is so important.

 

By the sounds of it, a proper small RAID setup inside the computers need to be done.  Nothing big nor fancy, at most three drives.  Where I work we can't use cloud nor external USB drives either (security reasons), but we do have RAID5 and a daily tape backup off the main server that is then locked into a security safe.  Maybe look into doing something similiar for your sites.

 

Hmmm, not sure of what OS you use, but maybe have another client be a partner to it?  We do something similar with our video files on our system where the client copies their video files to another client that is set as a partner to it.  That way if one goes down, the other client has copies of said files.

 

However, again, I am only looking for something reliable for myself. If I explain the setup it would maybe be easier. My research is with patient data, and mainly images (CT, MRI, histology, etc.). Because of this, cloud storage is not an option regardless of the cost. The research institute sector of the hospital (which is what I am apart of) has multiple servers that they manage and we have access to a few to store our data on it. However, because of the nature of the work the amount of data is massive. Upgrading the servers is a current issue itself as we are running out of storage, but there are a lot of other logistical issues there. Because of that, I am not looking to upgrade the server, nor am I looking into setting up a RAID for myself. The servers that we are connected to have all of redundancy and back-up and monitoring issues necessary. 

 

With the server access, I do have the data stored there and continually update the storage. However, when I am preprocessing images or doing tests I usually dont pull them off of the server because of other network connection issues (basically, super fucking slow). So I was looking for a solution for me to be able to work easily locally without excessive risk. 

[Princess Luna]

Why not use cloud storage? Mega has 50GB free!

 

Any ways, my suggestion goes to Seagate IronWolf, I have bought a few of these and they seem to be as reliable as it gets.

[Krolic]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

Why not use cloud storage? Mega has 50GB free!

 

Any ways, my suggestion goes to Seagate IronWolf, I have bought a few of these and they seem to be as reliable as it gets.

For cloud, read above. 

For IronWolf, they are NAS and I am not entirely sure how NAS specific drives work for read and write speeds compared to enterprise drives.

[Princess Luna]

Just now, Krolic said:

For IronWolf, they are NAS and I am not entirely sure how NAS specific drives work for read and write speeds compared to enterprise drives.

That's just a 'certification' the HDDs are as good as any 7200rpm current day HDD there is, if any thing even more reliable as NAS is much the same as a server workload.

[aezakmi]

2 hours ago, Constantin said:

WD Gold! Is what you need.

Edit: have you checked your drive with DickInfo64, to see the status?

They laughed of my 9cm but they haven't seen my 9mm yet

[Constantin]

18 minutes ago, aezakmi said:

They laughed of my 9cm but they haven't seen my 9mm yet

To laugh at a personal opinion is totally sick....