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Are Any of These WD USB External Drives Worth the $?

TPCEA
By TPCEA
in Storage Devices
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Go to solution Solved by AbydosOne,
16 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

especially for SSD storage

None of OP's drives were SSDs?

 

13 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

To offer explanation, the OS often needs to do corrections to data that gets degraded through bit-rot. When you store it unplugged, that bit rot slowly takes over to a point where the data becomes corrupted. 

For hard drives, this is still on the order of years before you'll get an uncorrectable error (on average).

 

You should still spin disks up periodically for mechanical reasons, but unless you're using properly configured ZFS, I'm not aware of any file system that actively scrubs for bit rot.

In SSDs, the controller will shuffle data around when powered-on as the cells weaken, but an equivalent for HDDs would be overly-cautious at best and downright abusive at worst. HDDs will reallocate sectors that initially fail to read but then are read successfully, but this is done reactively, not proactively. If the sector fails unrecoverably before being read, there's nothing the HDD will/can do.

 

34 minutes ago, TPCEA said:

Are Any of These WD USB External Drives Worth the $?

See here for a price/TB breakdown of a wide array (heh) of available drives.

Posted

WD My Passport 5TB USB 3.2 (Gen 1 Type-A) 2.5" Portable External Hard Drive - Black $135

 

WD 6TB Elements Portable USB 3.2 (Gen 1 Type-C) External Hard Drive $175

 

WD BLACK P10 Game Drive 6TB USB 3.2 (Gen 1 Type-A) 2.5" Portable External Hard Drive - Black $190

I've been using computers since around 1978, started learning programming in 1980 on Apple IIs, started learning about hardware in 1990, ran a BBS from 1990-95, built my first Windows PC around 2000, taught myself malware removal starting in 2005 (also learned on Bleeping Computer), learned web dev starting in 2017, and I think I can fill a thimble with all that knowledge. 😉 I'm not an expert, which is why I keep investigating the answers that others give to try and improve my knowledge, so feel free to double-check the advice I give.

My phone's auto-correct is named Otto Rong.🤪😂

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Posted

That depends... What are you using it for? 

No way to answer that with no context on use case in all honesty 

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1 minute ago, GOTSpectrum said:

That depends... What are you using it for? 

No way to answer that with no context on use case in all honesty 

Primarily, storage of my YouTube videos and other files.

I've been using computers since around 1978, started learning programming in 1980 on Apple IIs, started learning about hardware in 1990, ran a BBS from 1990-95, built my first Windows PC around 2000, taught myself malware removal starting in 2005 (also learned on Bleeping Computer), learned web dev starting in 2017, and I think I can fill a thimble with all that knowledge. 😉 I'm not an expert, which is why I keep investigating the answers that others give to try and improve my knowledge, so feel free to double-check the advice I give.

My phone's auto-correct is named Otto Rong.🤪😂

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1 minute ago, TPCEA said:

Primarily, storage of my YouTube videos and other files.

I wouldn't be storing important data on a single external drive of any kind 

Look into proper backup methods, such as the 3-2-1 method. 

 

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

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3 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

I wouldn't be storing important data on a single external drive of any kind 

Look into proper backup methods, such as the 3-2-1 method. 

I'm looking at filling it and storing it unplugged. 

I've been using computers since around 1978, started learning programming in 1980 on Apple IIs, started learning about hardware in 1990, ran a BBS from 1990-95, built my first Windows PC around 2000, taught myself malware removal starting in 2005 (also learned on Bleeping Computer), learned web dev starting in 2017, and I think I can fill a thimble with all that knowledge. 😉 I'm not an expert, which is why I keep investigating the answers that others give to try and improve my knowledge, so feel free to double-check the advice I give.

My phone's auto-correct is named Otto Rong.🤪😂

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1 minute ago, TPCEA said:

I'm looking at filling it and storing it unplugged. 

That is probably the worst way to store data long-term, especially for SSD storage 

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

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2 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

That is probably the worst way to store data long-term, especially for SSD storage 

To offer explanation, the OS often needs to do corrections to data that gets degraded through bit-rot. When you store it unplugged, that bit rot slowly takes over to a point where the data becomes corrupted. 

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

  • CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
  • Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus B550 Elite V2
  • RAM
    32GB DDR4 @ 3400
  • GPU
    Inno3D RTX 4070 Ti + Dell RTX 2070
  • Case
    Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P
  • Storage
    WD black 2TB NVMe SSD, Seagate BarraCuda 1TB x2, Crucial 1TB SATA SSD
  • PSU
    Corsair 850e
  • Display(s)
    Lenovo L29w-30 29 Inch UltraWide, 4x Dell P2417H(portrait)
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11 minutes ago, TPCEA said:

filling it and storing it unplugged

better store raw and edit on internal HDD/SSD, then backup all on external HDD/SSD, then backup all off-site

but external HDD/SSD must bee sufficient size and from known manufacturer, WD qualifies, model must choose with best TB/€($), just calculate with Calc or calculator

 

ad infinitum

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I don't like their external 2.5" drives because the USB port and controller are integrated onto the drive's circuit board. If you accidentally break the USB port, you can't take the drive out and connect it to a SATA port (or put it in a different housing) and save your data.

I sold my soul for ProSupport.

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16 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

especially for SSD storage

None of OP's drives were SSDs?

 

13 minutes ago, GOTSpectrum said:

To offer explanation, the OS often needs to do corrections to data that gets degraded through bit-rot. When you store it unplugged, that bit rot slowly takes over to a point where the data becomes corrupted. 

For hard drives, this is still on the order of years before you'll get an uncorrectable error (on average).

 

You should still spin disks up periodically for mechanical reasons, but unless you're using properly configured ZFS, I'm not aware of any file system that actively scrubs for bit rot.

In SSDs, the controller will shuffle data around when powered-on as the cells weaken, but an equivalent for HDDs would be overly-cautious at best and downright abusive at worst. HDDs will reallocate sectors that initially fail to read but then are read successfully, but this is done reactively, not proactively. If the sector fails unrecoverably before being read, there's nothing the HDD will/can do.

 

34 minutes ago, TPCEA said:

Are Any of These WD USB External Drives Worth the $?

See here for a price/TB breakdown of a wide array (heh) of available drives.

Main System (Byarlant): Ryzen 7 5800X | Asus B550-Creator ProArt | EK 240mm Basic AIO | 16GB G.Skill DDR4 3200MT/s CAS-14 | XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 | Samsung 990 PRO 2TB / Samsung 960 PRO 512GB / 4× Crucial MX500 2TB (RAID-0) | Corsair RM750X | Silicom (Intel) X540-AT2 10G NIC | Inateck USB 3.0 Card | Hyte Y60 Case | Dell U3415W Monitor | Keychron K4 Brown (white backlight)

 

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Media Center/Video Capture (Jesta Cannon): Ryzen 5 1600X | ASRock B450M Pro4 R2.0 | Noctua NH-L12S | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s CAS-22 | EVGA GTX750Ti SC | UMIS NVMe SSD 256GB / TEAMGROUP MS30 1TB | Corsair CX450M | Viewcast Osprey 260e Video Capture | TrendNet (Marvell 88X3310P) 10G NIC | LG UH12NS30 BD-ROM | Silverstone Sugo SG-11 Case | Sony XR65A80K

 

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Network:

Spoiler 
                         ┌─────────────── Office/Rack ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
Google Fiber Webpass ──── UniFi Cloud Gateway Max ═╦═ UniFi Flex XG ══╦═ Veda (Intel X550-T2.1)
(500Mbps↑/500Mbps↓)  (Asus USB 2½G NIC) Narrative ═╬═ La Vie en Rose  ╠═ Veda-NAS (Intel X550-T2.2)
                     (uni USB 2½G NIC) Doven Wolf ═╝  (Proxmox)       ╟─ UniFi Switch 8-60W ─┬─ Veda (IPMI)
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝                      └─ La Vie en Rose
║ ┌── Closet ───┐    ┌─────────────── Bedroom ────────────────────────────────────────┐
╚═ UniFi Flex XG ═╦╤═ UniFi Flex XG ═╤╦═ Byarlant (Silicom Intel X540-AT2)
           (PoE)  ║│                 │╠═ Narrative (Cable Matters 2½G NIC w/ USB-PD)
   Kitchen Jack ══╣└─ Dual PoE ┐     │╚═ Jesta Cannon* (Trendnet Marvell 88X3310P)
      (Testing)   ║┌─ Injector ┘     └── Work Laptop (Startech USB-PD Dock)
        Bedroom ══╝│
        Jack #2    │        ┌──────── Media Center ───────────────────────────────────┐
                   └──────── UniFi Switch 8 ────┬─ UniFi Access Point nanoHD (PoE)
Notes:                                          ├─ Sony PlayStation 4 
─── is Gigabit / ═══ is Multi-Gigabit           ├─ Pioneer VSX-S520
* = cable passed from Bedroom to Media Center   └─ Sony XR65A80K (Google TV)
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9 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

None of OP's drives were SSDs?

I was just helping to educate the OP and anyone else who would come across the thread... Seeing as LTT forums come up in google searches regularly...

My Folding Stats - Join the fight against COVID-19 with FOLDING! - If someone has helped you out on the forum don't forget to give them a reaction to say thank you!

 

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. - Socrates
 

Please put as much effort into your question as you expect me to put into answering it. 

 

  • CPU
    Ryzen 9 5950X
  • Motherboard
    Gigabyte Aorus B550 Elite V2
  • RAM
    32GB DDR4 @ 3400
  • GPU
    Inno3D RTX 4070 Ti + Dell RTX 2070
  • Case
    Cooler Master - MasterCase H500P
  • Storage
    WD black 2TB NVMe SSD, Seagate BarraCuda 1TB x2, Crucial 1TB SATA SSD
  • PSU
    Corsair 850e
  • Display(s)
    Lenovo L29w-30 29 Inch UltraWide, 4x Dell P2417H(portrait)
  • Cooling
    Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360
  • Laptop
    Lenovo Legion Y540
  • Phone
    Sony Xperia 5, Sony Xperia 5 IV
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Thanks everyone. 

I've been using computers since around 1978, started learning programming in 1980 on Apple IIs, started learning about hardware in 1990, ran a BBS from 1990-95, built my first Windows PC around 2000, taught myself malware removal starting in 2005 (also learned on Bleeping Computer), learned web dev starting in 2017, and I think I can fill a thimble with all that knowledge. 😉 I'm not an expert, which is why I keep investigating the answers that others give to try and improve my knowledge, so feel free to double-check the advice I give.

My phone's auto-correct is named Otto Rong.🤪😂

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