Most reliable HDD? - Hardware & Software

So I'm unsure of what HDD to buy, the main thing i'm looking for is reliability, it'll be on pretty much 24/7 and will contain valuable data, I need a capacity of around 1 terabyte, i'm willing to go a bit higher and lower

Spinpoint F3.

F3 Spinpoint.

WD

Spinpoint F3, I've had mine for a while now and hasn't failed me yet :buddy:

The F3 isn't all that great. Sure it's fast and cheap, but mine is already starting to show bad sectors and is loud as fuck. Buy a WD drive if you want reliability.

[QUOTE=Darkimmortal;27872866]The F3 isn't all that great. Sure it's fast and cheap, but it has an incomplete SMART implementation (no error log), and mine is already starting to show bad sectors. Buy a WD drive if you want reliability.[/QUOTE] Specify please? I had a 1 terabyte caviar green that failed me in about 6 months

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27872936]Specify please? I had a 1 terabyte caviar green that failed me in about 6 months[/QUOTE] I had a 160 GB Western Digital Blue that failed after 4 years of constant use. But it didn't actually fail, just the computer's BIOS being a dick.

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27872936]Specify please? I had a 1 terabyte [b]caviar green[/b] that failed me in about 6 months[/QUOTE] There is your problem. Get a black for best performance and blue for decent.

I was going to recommend the ST-225 until you specified that you needed a terabyte.

F3's fantastic for the price, it's the fastest consumer drive you can buy. Had mine for a year with no difficulties at all. WD Black drives are bastardly expensive for what is essentially the same stuff, immortal probably just got a bad drive

Samsung F3 But seriously, consider Raid 1 or regular backups if you [B]REALLY[/B] think your data is invaluable. Preferable a combination of both.

[QUOTE=leach139;27873132]immortal probably just got a bad drive[/QUOTE] Looks like it. My raw read error count is up from 3 to 5 in less than 24 hours and the drive keeps getting louder and slower. Thankfully I've got a 2TB F4 on the way so I will finally have space for a full backup image. Also for anyone interested, the drive is ~6 months old, 2593 power on hours.

[QUOTE=Van-man;27873277]Samsung F3 But seriously, consider Raid 1 or regular backups if you [B]REALLY[/B] think your data is invaluable. Preferable a combination of both.[/QUOTE] Pretty stupid of me to say this, but I don't really understand how to get an HDD in raid/what raid actually does Explain please...? Seeing as everyone recommended the F3, and its only 65 bucks, i'll probably get it

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27873451]Pretty stupid of me to say this, but I don't really understand how to get an HDD in raid/what raid actually does Explain please...? Seeing as everyone recommended the F3, and its only 65 bucks, i'll probably get it[/QUOTE] Raid 0 mirrors the data on the other hard drive So if 1 fails the other one can be used

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27873451]Pretty stupid of me to say this, but I don't really understand how to get an HDD in raid/what raid actually does Explain please...? Seeing as everyone recommended the F3, and its only 65 bucks, i'll probably get it[/QUOTE] How I understand it, you have a couple hard drives connected to a SATA controller and they work together. For example, RAID 1, is that one drive copies all info on the other drive, creating a realtime redundant copy in case one suffers from mechanical failure. RAID 0, on the other hand, distributes data between the two drives, in order to let them work faster, but if one fails, all your data on the other hard drive is practically useless. There are some other RAID configurations, but I don't know what they are off the top of my head.

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27873451]Pretty stupid of me to say this, but I don't really understand how to get an HDD in raid/what raid actually does Explain please...? Seeing as everyone recommended the F3, and its only 65 bucks, i'll probably get it[/QUOTE] RAID 1 writes the same data to both drives, so if one fails on you, you still have the data RAID 0 splits the data between the drives, speeding it up, but if one fails on you then your fucked

I've got 2 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID 0. Haven't had any problems so far, but considering most if not all the comments I see on this forum are bashing Seagate for shitty unreliable drives I'm pretty scared. The worst part is that the F3 and my second barracuda were the same price when I bought it. I just wanted the same drive, just so there wouldn't be any potential conflicts. Probably a dick move, but we'll see.

What type of controller should I use to connect the drives? [RAID 1]

[QUOTE=Generic.Monk;27873755]I've got 2 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID 0. Haven't had any problems so far, but considering most if not all the comments I see on this forum are bashing Seagate for shitty unreliable drives I'm pretty scared. The worst part is that the F3 and my second barracuda were the same price when I bought it. I just wanted the same drive, just so there wouldn't be any potential conflicts. Probably a dick move, but we'll see.[/QUOTE] I hope you have backups or the drives aren't 7200rpm. 7200rpm 1.5TB Seagate disks are pretty much guaranteed to fail. At least the 7200.11 version anyway

[QUOTE=Generic.Monk;27873755]I've got 2 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas in RAID 0. Haven't had any problems so far, but considering most if not all the comments I see on this forum are bashing Seagate for shitty unreliable drives I'm pretty scared. The worst part is that the F3 and my second barracuda were the same price when I bought it. I just wanted the same drive, just so there wouldn't be any potential conflicts. Probably a dick move, but we'll see.[/QUOTE] Seagate isnt really renowned for their durability. Though they are the Go-to manufacturer for prebuilts.

Western Digital, samsung spinpoints have been nothing but trouble for me

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27873856]What type of controller should I use to connect the drives? [RAID 1][/QUOTE] Well that depends on your location, and your preferred online store,

In my opinion the Western Digital HDD's are a good choice when it comes to reliability.

[QUOTE=Darkimmortal;27875177]I hope you have backups or the drives aren't 7200rpm. 7200rpm 1.5TB Seagate disks are pretty much guaranteed to fail. At least the 7200.11 version anyway[/QUOTE] Yep, they're 7200RPM. I was running one on its own for about a year before I added the second one, so I wasn't too fazed about the reliability when I made the RAID array. That said, the first thing I did after setting it all up was set windows to automatically backup to a spare 640GB HDD (which incidentally holds a 300gb truecrypt archive with all my porn in it. I don't delete stuff, and after a few years of furious masturbation to HD videos they really start to pile up). Also, windows is running on a separate SSD, so even if one does fail I can still perform damage control without having to resort to a linux livecd.

[QUOTE=Van-man;27875644]Well that depends on your location, and your preferred online store,[/QUOTE] NY, USA I typically use Newegg for computer components

[QUOTE=ForTehWolf...2!;27875898]NY, USA I typically use Newegg for computer components[/QUOTE] One question I forgot to ask: Is the hdd('s) you're intending to buy going to be the boot/OS drive(s)?? If not, then most operating systems support doing software based raid1

[QUOTE=MIPS;27873128]I was going to recommend the ST-225 until you specified that you needed a terabyte.[/QUOTE] 21MB, 1TB What's the difference?

[QUOTE=Van-man;27876034]One question I forgot to ask: Is the hdd('s) you're intending to buy going to be the boot/OS drive(s)?? If not, then most operating systems support doing software based raid1[/QUOTE] Is there a built-in software based raid1 for windows 7 or what third party software should I use?