[mr.noob]

I have 1TB of "Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX " Since a year and 3 months its working without problems.
Last year I did a big mistake by uploading my files on a cloud storage website, The site went down and I lost like 700GB of files it was a big pain because it was expensive for me and I lost some parts of my archive, Never ever going to trust and upload stuff on cloud storages again...

Also Im a bit confused,Ive read single plattered HDD's Has lower failur chance than multiple ones, My "WD Caviar Black 1002FAEX " Has multiple platters 2x500GB If Im not mistaken.

Also Ive read power on time is important for magnetic HDD's.

So my questions

1- Can I de-attach the HDD after I finish the storage? Will it help to extend the lifespan?
2- Is single plattered "WD Caviar Blue WD10EZEX" Better than mine vs failure/lifespan?
3- And the main question,Whats the best reliable HDD for storage which will last for extra long of time?

Note: I dont care about noise levels and stuff, I will store the files and not going to install anything and usethem.

Thanks!

 

[RX7-2nr]

The WD Black that youve got is fine. If you are really wanting to make sure you dont lose anything, run a RAID 1 setup. Itll basically use two identical hard drives and write the same data to each. If one of them fails and loses everything, the other one has an identical copy.

 

[junkerde]

wd blue is faster speed cuz single platter, but high acces times so copying alot of files at once is longer than say using the wd black.

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RX7-2nr

The WD Black that youve got is fine. If you are really wanting to make sure you dont lose anything, run a RAID 1 setup. Itll basically use two identical hard drives and write the same data to each. If one of them fails and loses everything, the other one has an identical copy.

RAID is not backup. If losing access to the data for a day or two in the event of a failure is not a big deal, it'd be much better to take a periodic backup of it to a second drive, and preferably store that off-site.

 

[RX7-2nr]

I suppose it depends on how often hes moving things to and from backup, but yeah- that works too.

 

[nleksan]

RAID1 should be viewed as a "temporary means of reducing the likelihood of data loss in the time periods between regular scheduled backups to an external hard drive"... My suggestion would be to get a 2-3TB external HDD, and do your backups 1-2x a week (or however often you need). eSATA and/or USB3.0 is ideal, as I would not leave the eHDD plugged in overnight to do the backup, as the whole point is to have it disconnected from ANY other electronics at ALL times, except when there is actually data being transferred (and as USB3.0/eSATA are relatively quick, you'll be much less tempted to leave it plugged in and go to sleep/leave/etc).

Just a suggestions

 

[Sean Webster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nleksan

RAID1 should be viewed as a "temporary means of reducing the likelihood of data loss in the time periods between regular scheduled backups to an external hard drive"... My suggestion would be to get a 2-3TB external HDD, and do your backups 1-2x a week (or however often you need). eSATA and/or USB3.0 is ideal, as I would not leave the eHDD plugged in overnight to do the backup, as the whole point is to have it disconnected from ANY other electronics at ALL times, except when there is actually data being transferred (and as USB3.0/eSATA are relatively quick, you'll be much less tempted to leave it plugged in and go to sleep/leave/etc).

Just a suggestions

This.

A WD Caviar Blue WD10EZEX will be fine.

 

[QuietlyLinux]

WD Red???

 

[Sean Webster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuietlyLinux

WD Red???

I wouldn't when you can get 7200 RPM drives for the same price or cheaper.

 

[justarealguy]

Two biggest killers of HDD - spin up and heat.

Keep it always on and nice and cool and you'll last a long time. As for reliability - roll the dice. Everyone has had different experiences with brands and will offer you their own opinion. Pick a good warranty, that's the only way to go about these things.

 

[Fan o' water]

I am not sure if disconnecting a hard drive extends its life, but I have been doing it for years without any issues.
I used to use a WD "My Book" external hard drive and just backed everything up once a month. After I filled that I switched to a Thermaltake BlackX docking station and a WD Green 2 tb drive.
It is slow, but what do I care - I am doing other things. When I unplug the drive I store it in its anti stat bag with the moisture pouch.

 

[mr.noob]

Thanks for your suggestions. My whole point is on (Long lifespan & reliability) rather than speed and performance.
Quote:

Originally Posted by RX7-2nr

I suppose it depends on how often hes moving things to and from backup, but yeah- that works too.

Not too often, Just want to store them.

Okay lets make it clear now, Im an addictive gamer, I want to store 1TB of archive (My favourite old classic games & retro DOS games in rars) safely for years ,(I really cant live without them theyre my good old memories...) not going to use them everyday nor every week/month or maybe Im not going to touch them even for a year, I just want to store and throw them in a HDD without worrying they'll get missed/deleted by failure.

My current HDD tempreture is 32C I hope its not that much, I should start to read about Raid0-1 stuff Because getting more confused, As for now "WD Caviar Blue WD10EZEX" Seems conviencing because of the single platter, More advice!

 

[BorisTheSpider]

32c is fine. In fact, in a large study I read that looked at tens of thousands of drives in datacentres, they found that there was an _inverse_ correlation between drive temperature and failure rates - ie. drives running hotter lasted longer. Correlation is not causation though, so I wouldn't necessarily read too much into that, but it does seem likely that normal (even warmish) operating temperatures doesn't cause drives to fail.

For your needs, an external USB3 or esata HDD as has been recommended would be best. If you can afford it, the best solution is two of them - one stored off-site at all times, then periodically when the data has changed, you swap the one on-site over with the one off-site, so you're always updating the off-site copy, and there is always (even during backups from the live HDD to the on-site backup) a copy that is not connected to anything and not in the same place.

An alternative (although you did say you were worried about cloud storage) is to have a single on-site external HDD, and also backup to BackBlaze or CrashPlan, both of which are big enough they are very unlikely to disappear. That way, even if they do disappear, you still have your own copy on an external HDD, and if you have a disaster (fire/flood etc.) you have an off-site copy, but it will take quite a long time to upload all that data unless you have very fast internet. This option is obviously suitable if you don't have a good place to rotate your own external HDDs off-site to.

 

[mr.noob]

For now seems like Im going to get a HDD, Probably "WD Caviar Blue WD10EZEX" I will backup everything inside and unplug it. I dont have any disasters where I live and non of the cloud storage sites offers warranty on backup except nasuni.

I have more questions, Will I be able to unplug my new "Backup HDD" After I finish my transfer and keep it in a safe place? And later when someday my windows crashes or something wents wrong like HDD failur will I be able to plug the "Backup HDD" With a new windows and transfer the files I want? Will it work if the windows isnt same?

Im also confused my case has esata box like thing it came with "Cooler Master Haf 912 +" What is that box? I cant find a review and explanation, is it like I can use my backup HDD externally as a regular external HDD?

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr.noob

I have more questions, Will I be able to unplug my new "Backup HDD" After I finish my transfer and keep it in a safe place? And later when someday my windows crashes or something wents wrong like HDD failur will I be able to plug the "Backup HDD" With a new windows and transfer the files I want? Will it work if the windows isnt same?

Yes, that will be fine.

Probably the best thing to do though, assuming you are running Windows 7, is use the built in backup tool to create a system image. That creates a backup that is bootable - ie. if your main HDD crashes, you can get a new one, restore the backup, and boot into your windows exactly as it was when backed up.