Jump to content

Question on Drive Types

DabzerG
By DabzerG
in Storage Devices
 Share
Posted

Let's say I need 2tb of data, and I need hard drives only. Let's also say I don't have a lot of money for this amount of storage, but I need it to backup my data. Would second hand 2.5 inch hard drives benefit me or would first hand 3.5 inch hard drives benefit me.

d o u b l e g t x 1 0 8 0 t i p e n e t r a t i o n

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/1291073-question-on-drive-types/
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

If they all run at the same speed/have similar amounts of cache, I'd expect performance to be about the same. But I wouldn't recommend buying hard drives second-hand. They're one of the few components in modern PCs that can experience unexpected mechanical failure, and that rate of failure increases exponentially the more time they spend online. 

Main PC:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X • Noctua NH-D15 • MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk • 2x8GB G.skill Trident Z Neo 3600MHz CL16 • MSI VENTUS 3X GeForce RTX 3070 OC • Samsung 970 Evo 1TB • Samsung 860 Evo 1TB • Cosair iCUE 465X RGB • Corsair RMx 750W (White)

 

Peripherals/Other:

ASUS VG27AQ • G PRO K/DA • G502 Hero K/DA • G733 K/DA • G840 K/DA • Oculus Quest 2 • Nintendo Switch (Rev. 2)

 

Laptop (Dell XPS 13):

Intel Core i7-1195G7 • Intel Iris Xe Graphics • 16GB LPDDR4x 4267MHz • 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD • 13.4" OLED 3.5K InfinityEdge Display (3456x2160, 400nit, touch). 

 

Got any questions about my system or peripherals? Feel free to tag me (@bellabichon) and I'll be happy to give you my two cents. 

 

PSA: Posting a PCPartPicker list with no explanation isn't helpful for first-time builders :)

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
5 minutes ago, DabzerG said:

Let's say I need 2tb of data, and I need hard drives only. Let's also say I don't have a lot of money for this amount of storage, but I need it to backup my data. Would second hand 2.5 inch hard drives benefit me or would first hand 3.5 inch hard drives benefit me.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mwrYcf/seagate-barracuda-computer-2-tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm008 heres a 2tb hdd with 256mb cache. less than 60 bucks is still pretty cheap

OUTDATED JAN 2021 ===========> Check out my pc building guide! might be useful tho

It's great for planning new builds, getting a reference on where to start, or seeing what you need to play what games.

It also shows what I recommend for upgrading your stuff!

cpu - ryzen 5 3600

gpu - gtx 1070

ram - (2x8) 3200mhz

ssd - 970 evo plus 500gb

ssd2 - 860 qvo 1tb

mobo - asrock b450m hdv r4.0

psu - evga b5 550w bronze

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

If you're using these drives to backup data then I wouldn't trust second hand drives. 

Main System: Phobos

AMD Ryzen 7 2700 (8C/16T), ASRock B450 Steel Legend, 16GB G.SKILL Aegis DDR4 3000MHz, AMD Radeon RX 570 4GB (XFX), 960GB Crucial M500, 2TB Seagate BarraCuda, Windows 10 Pro for Workstations/macOS Catalina

 

Secondary System: York

Intel Core i7-2600 (4C/8T), ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3, 16GB GEIL Enhance Corsa DDR3 1600MHz, Zotac GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB, 240GB ADATA Ultimate SU650, Windows 10 Pro for Workstations

 

Older File Server: Yet to be named

Intel Pentium 4 HT (1C/2T), Intel D865GBF, 3GB DDR 400MHz, ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB (HIS), 80GB WD Caviar, 320GB Hitachi Deskstar, Windows XP Pro SP3, Windows Server 2003 R2

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
18 minutes ago, richodude said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mwrYcf/seagate-barracuda-computer-2-tb-35-7200rpm-internal-hard-drive-st2000dm008 heres a 2tb hdd with 256mb cache. less than 60 bucks is still pretty cheap

Beware the SMR, if data needs re-writing at all.
https://blocksandfiles.com/2020/04/15/seagate-2-4-and-8tb-barracuda-and-desktop-hdd-smr/

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
25 minutes ago, DabzerG said:

Let's say I need 2tb of data, and I need hard drives only. Let's also say I don't have a lot of money for this amount of storage, but I need it to backup my data. Would second hand 2.5 inch hard drives benefit me or would first hand 3.5 inch hard drives benefit me.

Don't buy 2nd hand disks, especially not for backup purposes! 

@richodude's suggested drive is fine, for  backups. But do be aware that the drive is SMR, not CMR. This basically means it will slow to crawl if you re-write data - eg if you do a full backup of 2TB each time. If you just add files to it, without taking any away, you'll be fine. Read performance is unaffected. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Storage Devices

×