3TB HDDs

[TylerLovekeeper]

im looking for more storage and the 3TB WD Red seems to be a good option as i leave my pc on 24/7.  what i would like to know from you guys is  2x2TB or a 4TB better option as ive seen a lot of things about 3TB hdds in general having a failure rate.

 

Thanks for any and all help folks

[79wjd]

The 3tb Red is fine in terms of reliability....but what you choose to go with will depend on the importance of the data/and how much of it you have. You could go with two 2tb drives and put it in Raid 1 or go with three 1tb drives in Raid 5, or just use the two drives separately, or go with a single 4tb drive. The path you choose to take really isn't that big of a deal these days since all HDDs are pretty reliable -- just decide whether you want to go with a Raid array or a single drive, and how much capacity you'll actually need (as the GB/$ is better on a 4tb Red than a 3tb Red). Also, if you're only going to be using the drives for storage (and not in a Raid environment, then you don't really need Reds).

[wardude1]

or 3 drives in raid 5? you ass will be covered.

[TylerLovekeeper]

The 3tb Red is fine in terms of reliability....but what you choose to go with will depend on the importance of the data/and how much of it you have. You could go with two 2tb drives and put it in Raid 1 or go with three 1tb drives in Raid 5, or just use the two drives separately, or go with a single 4tb drive. The path you choose to take really isn't that big of a deal these days since all HDDs are pretty reliable -- just decide whether you want to go with a Raid array or a single drive, and how much capacity you'll actually need (as the GB/$ is better on a 4tb Red than a 3tb Red). Also, if you're only going to be using the drives for storage (and not in a Raid environment, then you don't really need Reds).

 

 

i was going to go with reds just for the reliability  of having them going ALL the time,  im not looking to use raid   just bulk storage of a lot of old files i have,   looking to consolidate onto 1 or 2 drives.   If im not raiding  what would you suggest besides reds then for reliable always on 24/7 use 

[79wjd]

i was going to go with reds just for the reliability  of having them going ALL the time,  im not looking to use raid   just bulk storage of a lot of old files i have,   looking to consolidate onto 1 or 2 drives.   If im not raiding  what would you suggest besides reds then for reliable always on 24/7 use 

Greens, even barracudas are quite reliable these days. The biggest advantage to using Reds is they support TLER and have less aggressive head parking (compared to Greens). TLER is only meaningful in RAID since it basically stops the array from killing itself when the drive stalls, and the more aggressive head parking on a Red is really useful in a server-like environment when the drive is being accessed constantly but also infrequently.

 

Head parking takes some time, so on a Green the reading head moves off the platters and stops on the side after about 10 seconds of inactivity -- so if data is only being accessed every hour then head parking is a good thing....but if it's being accessed every 11 seconds then the head will park and then unpark constantly (which is why Greens -- without head parking disabled -- are bad choices for NAS/server environments).