WD Blue vs Red vs ? - Long Term Video Archiving

[CC268]

Since I don’t do a ton of editing and do this simply as a hobby I am thinking I would like to archive my videos/projects by using a SATA dock (aka toaster oven) and some desktop HDs (WD Blue, Red, etc). I’ve been told to stay away from Seagate.

 

I am trying determine if I should go with WD Blues (4TB drives) or WD Reds (a bit more expensive). I’ve seen a lot of folks using WD Blues (what we’re the WD Greens) for this purpose. Keep in mind this is to simply store old videos/projects. These will sit on the shelf and will only be pulled to archive more videos/projects.

 

Thanks!

[PlayStation 2]

Reds are made more for NAS usage, unless you plan on doing that, you might as well get a Blue.

[Classic-master]

1 minute ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Reds are made more for NAS usage, unless you plan on doing that, you might as well get a Blue.

what's said here is perfect

[ARikozuM]

I’d go with BarraCudas. Newer tech vs the Blue 4TB (rebranded Green controller). 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Life span will be about the same for cold storage. The big difference is the tler in the reds and some vibration restance, and you don't seem to need either of those.

 

ALso look at the seagate drives.

 

If you want to keep data safe, make sure you have good backups. All drives will die.

 

 

[Guest]

i have a raid setup for 3tb Seagate drives (raid 10 3tb x4 (12tb raid x2) and i havnt had 1 drive fail yet

[Egg-Roll]

Avoid blues that are bigger than 1TB unless you like the looks of this: (this is a WD Green, the only one I still have running, I can be playing a video back and it jitters every 5 min because of head parking)

 

Compared to a 5 year old Toshiba:

 

Compared to a 6TB 6 month old WD Blue I shucked around Xmas

 

I would go with reds, they might be meant for NAS setups but I've not noticed anything wrong with using them. If possible Toshiba drives are very reliable (or for me) and they have 7200 RPM for the price of a 5200 RPM.

[CC268]

1 hour ago, ARikozuM said:

I’d go woth BarraCudas. Newer tech vs the Blue 4TB (rebranded Green controller). 

I do like the BarraCudas and they are priced reasonably. I’ve just heard people say to stay away from Seagate 

[CC268]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Life span will be about the same for cold storage. The big difference is the tler in the reds and some vibration restance, and you don't seem to need either of those.

 

ALso look at the seagate drives.

 

If you want to keep data safe, make sure you have good backups. All drives will die.

 

 

Yes I will have an A & B drive for redundancy. Later on I can upgrade to an NAS or a RAID 5 setup.

[CC268]

50 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

Avoid blues that are bigger than 1TB unless you like the looks of this: (this is a WD Green, the only one I still have running, I can be playing a video back and it jitters every 5 min because of head parking)

 

Compared to a 5 year old Toshiba:

 

Compared to a 6TB 6 month old WD Blue I shucked around Xmas

 

I would go with reds, they might be meant for NAS setups but I've not noticed anything wrong with using them. If possible Toshiba drives are very reliable (or for me) and they have 7200 RPM for the price of a 5200 RPM.

I am inclined to go with Reds even though they are meant for NAS, I have seen a lot of folks use them for long term storage.

[Electronics Wizardy]

31 minutes ago, CC268 said:

Yes I will have an A & B drive for redundancy. Later on I can upgrade to an NAS or a RAID 5 setup.

Make sure to keep then in different locations aswell. Id also look into cloud solutions.

 

30 minutes ago, CC268 said:

I am inclined to go with Reds even though they are meant for NAS, I have seen a lot of folks use them for long term storage.

Really it won't make a difference. These examples are just one case study. Id get more of a cheaper drive.

[CC268]

29 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Make sure to keep then in different locations aswell. Id also look into cloud solutions.

 

Really it won't make a difference. These examples are just one case study. Id get more of a cheaper drive.

 

Yes I will do a backup with BackBlaze as well. That should be PLENTY of redundancy for a hobbyist like me who is just taking some family vacation videos, etc.

 

Yea...ha...idk I could go with Blues or BarraCudas. Thing about using Reds is that I could use them later in an NAS

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 minutes ago, CC268 said:

 

Yes I will do a backup with BackBlaze as well. That should be PLENTY of redundancy for a hobbyist like me who is just taking some family vacation videos, etc.

 

Yea...ha...idk I could go with Blues or BarraCudas. Thing about using Reds is that I could use them later in an NAS

you can also use blues and barracudas in a nas, they will work fine. Its mostly marketing between the drive sku's. And many nas boxes won't even benfit from the tler features, and the vibration restance isn't needed that much as there is often rubber to absorb vibrations.

[CC268]

1 hour ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you can also use blues and barracudas in a nas, they will work fine. Its mostly marketing between the drive sku's. And many nas boxes won't even benfit from the tler features, and the vibration restance isn't needed that much as there is often rubber to absorb vibrations.

Interesting - thanks for the feedback

[Egg-Roll]

7 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you can also use blues and barracudas in a nas, they will work fine. Its mostly marketing between the drive sku's. And many nas boxes won't even benfit from the tler features, and the vibration restance isn't needed that much as there is often rubber to absorb vibrations.

A NAS would murder the Blue (not sure about the barracuda)... What do you think my 6TB has been doing? (it gets continuously accessed by multiple sources threw out the day) Every second it can it will park. It's a software flaw they call a "feature" that was supposed to save energy. Redundancy only works if you don't have a crappy drive to begin with, a Blue assuming the head doesn't fail sooner than anticipated should last about 500K-1 million cycles, assuming a 500K mark it's 10% threw its life inside 9 months, 5% for 1 million. Hard Disk Sentinel claims I should be good till 2026 or something based on the numbers, I personally wouldn't trust it past 2 years. The worst part is based on the same numbers HDS claims based on cycles alone my 8TB red might outlast me as a living human... $20 more for a obviously superior drive from the same company, casual or not data is data and losing it is never a good thing (unless you're a criminal, then it's a great thing).

[Electronics Wizardy]

38 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

A NAS would murder the Blue (not sure about the barracuda)... What do you think my 6TB has been doing? (it gets continuously accessed by multiple sources threw out the day) Every second it can it will park. It's a software flaw they call a "feature" that was supposed to save energy. Redundancy only works if you don't have a crappy drive to begin with, a Blue assuming the head doesn't fail sooner than anticipated should last about 500K-1 million cycles, assuming a 500K mark it's 10% threw its life inside 9 months, 5% for 1 million. Hard Disk Sentinel claims I should be good till 2026 or something based on the numbers, I personally wouldn't trust it past 2 years. The worst part is based on the same numbers HDS claims based on cycles alone my 8TB red might outlast me as a living human... $20 more for a obviously superior drive from the same company, casual or not data is data and losing it is never a good thing (unless you're a criminal, then it's a great thing).

you can also disable this in software if you want with most drives, and still thats a pretty long lifespan.

[Egg-Roll]

7 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

you can also disable this in software if you want with most drives, and still thats a pretty long lifespan.

The only way I know of disabling the feature has been reported not to work on newer drives, it was done threw some old software no longer supported by WD. 2026 is a theoretical lifespan based on specs, a 3TB no longer really works (it works but recovering the data on it seems impossible now), another 2TB failed a full drive scan... I've yet to have any issues with my Reds 2 of which are approaching 7 years old.

 

https://community.wd.com/t/wdidle3-not-working-on-new-blue-drives-any-help/193353

I don't like it, but with my personal luck I'll keep buying WD Reds and Toshiba's If the OP wants to try saving a buck or 2 they could always try shucking drives tho it should be noted the reds are in 8TB only it seems, but when you can grab a 8TB red for the price of a 6/8tb blue

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/7gw6d3/nesn_my_book_8tb_17999_wpromo_code_emcbcrb55/dqn8laj/

[CC268]

1 hour ago, Egg-Roll said:

The only way I know of disabling the feature has been reported not to work on newer drives, it was done threw some old software no longer supported by WD. 2026 is a theoretical lifespan based on specs, a 3TB no longer really works (it works but recovering the data on it seems impossible now), another 2TB failed a full drive scan... I've yet to have any issues with my Reds 2 of which are approaching 7 years old.

 

https://community.wd.com/t/wdidle3-not-working-on-new-blue-drives-any-help/193353

I don't like it, but with my personal luck I'll keep buying WD Reds and Toshiba's If the OP wants to try saving a buck or 2 they could always try shucking drives tho it should be noted the reds are in 8TB only it seems, but when you can grab a 8TB red for the price of a 6/8tb blue

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/7gw6d3/nesn_my_book_8tb_17999_wpromo_code_emcbcrb55/dqn8laj/

 

My plan is to buy WD Reds. No doubt. I’ve done enough research and that’s what I’m set on.

 

I did see the WD My Element that has the WD Reds 8TB for cheap, but I’ll be honest...I don’t really want to shuck them. Loses warranty...and idk I just don’t feel like doing it.

 

For now I will start out with a set of 4TB Reds

 

Would my best bet just be a SATA dock since I don’t need access to this drives all the time? I’m really thinking that is the best option

[Egg-Roll]

52 minutes ago, CC268 said:

Would my best bet just be a SATA dock since I don’t need access to this drives all the time? I’m really thinking that is the best option

I'd avoid docks, I own 2 and when you buy the dual ones they will run hotter. Try finding enclosures with fans if possible, else buy singles or a dual if you can put it near a intake fan for your computer to force airflow.

 

My drives in my computer hit around the low 30's (C not F) while my duals usually idle around 42C.

 

52 minutes ago, CC268 said:

I don’t really want to shuck them. Loses warranty...

The warranty is mostly on the hdd, when I looked up mine it claimed out of region, but that's because I bought it off of Amazon likely... Plus they don't offer data recovery with the warranty (unless you paid extra for the service) so anything not doa imo is fair game (I always do a full drive check on any drive, it'll take a day but if it fails that I'd return it)

 

But yea if I had better things to do than shucking them I prob wouldn't have, as it was fairly time consuming

[CC268]

21 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

I'd avoid docks, I own 2 and when you buy the dual ones they will run hotter. Try finding enclosures with fans if possible, else buy singles or a dual if you can put it near a intake fan for your computer to force airflow.

 

My drives in my computer hit around the low 30's (C not F) while my duals usually idle around 42C.

 

The warranty is mostly on the hdd, when I looked up mine it claimed out of region, but that's because I bought it off of Amazon likely... Plus they don't offer data recovery with the warranty (unless you paid extra for the service) so anything not doa imo is fair game (I always do a full drive check on any drive, it'll take a day but if it fails that I'd return it)

 

But yea if I had better things to do than shucking them I prob wouldn't have, as it was fairly time consuming

The thing is these drives will be hooked up for a very short period of time (long enough to transfer files onto them). Then they will be disconnected and set on the shelf or in my safe. 

 

I had had a hard time finding a decent enclosure that wasn’t quite expensive. The cheap ones (Vantec, etc) have horrible reviews. The more expensive bays seem pointless as you might as well just buy a Synology NAS at that point.

 

I am open to an enclosure though...just haven’t found a good one for reasonable cost. A nice 4 bay would be a good setup.

[CC268]

Idk...the more I think about this more I think about just getting a Snyology NAS. Archive footage on there and then back it up using Backblaze. Or maybe even just a Mediasonic 4 bay enclosure with 4 WD Reds.

[Egg-Roll]

35 minutes ago, CC268 said:

Idk...the more I think about this more I think about just getting a Snyology NAS. Archive footage on there and then back it up using Backblaze. Or maybe even just a Mediasonic 4 bay enclosure with 4 WD Reds.

Using a actual enclosure like that is prob the best, because the one thing I forgot to mention (I replied during a power outage on my phone) is the ports on the docks do wear out, in some cases rather fast... (Mine: 1/4 ports are sticky feeling 1 is loose the other 2 don't like unlocking always and feels like I am breaking the unit to remove the drive)

 

As long as they are not on for more than 5 or so hours you shouldn't have much if any heat issues. Plus the mobility aspect of it is safer.

[CC268]

45 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

Using a actual enclosure like that is prob the best, because the one thing I forgot to mention (I replied during a power outage on my phone) is the ports on the docks do wear out, in some cases rather fast... (Mine: 1/4 ports are sticky feeling 1 is loose the other 2 don't like unlocking always and feels like I am breaking the unit to remove the drive)

 

As long as they are not on for more than 5 or so hours you shouldn't have much if any heat issues. Plus the mobility aspect of it is safer.

Yea...I think I will probably end up with an actual enclosure. Either this MediaSonic (http://www.mediasonic.ca/product.php?id=1515799029) or pay a bit more for a nice OWC (https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MEQCTJBT00/)

 

I need to confirm the MediaSonic would allow me to use some sort of software RAID.