Need advice on External HDD vs HDD Docking

[Koenig168]

I guess I wasn't paying attention earlier.
Went to check the price for WD 12TB Elements and now you got my full attention..
~$370 for 12TB is really cheap.
But this is Single 12TB drive, correct? or there's a few drive in it?

S$353 or S$370? It was S$241 or S$206 (if I get the S$35 cashback) on Amazon Prime Day last week

This is a single HDD. Details here from my Amazon review (not published yet) -

"The WD 12TB Elements has impressive sequential read/write speeds in excess of 210 MB/s which makes for a great backup storage. Random read/write speed is on the slow side but irrelevant for backup storage. The drive runs silent.

Drive works OOB. No problem reading SMART data and passed the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics Quick Test. Now running the Extended Test (about 16 hours) and I will change the review if there are any problems.

Internal drive is WD120EMFZ which is CMR (PMR with He technology) and not SMR. 5400 RPM reported which should be accurate since the drive is silent on load. (7200 RPM drives are louder)

Drive shipped from Amazon USA with a US two prong plug. No problem working in Singapore, just need an adapter for the plug."

 

[Entry Level PC]

Assuming I’m a data hoarder and I would like to ask for opinions

I've been using external HDD, but I was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages were of switching to an enclosure or dock. Is one method clearly better than the others?

I don't think speed is a concern since HDDs can barely saturate SATA II speeds - so anything with USB 3.1 gen 1 or eSATA III will be sufficient, but what about integrity and other considerations?

What would be the cheapest storage in the long term?
Ps: I’m skipping NAS because I’m the only user, I don’t need it to run 24/7.

Contender 1.
2.5” External HDD 4TB is around ~$140
(Seagate Backup Plus, WD My Passport, Toshiba Canvio)


Contender 2.
3.5” Internal HDD 4TB
Seagate Barracuda ~$140
Toshiba 7200RPM ~$140
WD Blue ~$140
2 Bay Docking Station (Ugreen/Orico) ~$50


Please share your opinions/advices/experiences.

Thank you

Share with you Entry Level PC Raid1 Setup.

HDD Enclosure ~$30
ACASIS usb 3.0 2.5 inch SATA HDD RAID enclosure Double HDD Enclosure with RAID function disk array usb3.0 dual hard disk box for 2.5
https://shopee.sg/ACASIS-usb-3.0-2....II-HDD-Up-to-10TB-Intl-i.266366546.6838253567

Moi use 2x 1TB HDD Raid1 with this Dual 2.5 inch Enclosure.

1) Small
2) Portable
3) Low Power Usage
4) USB Powered.
5) Support up to 5TB Raid1.

 

[86technie]

A tip whether internal or external, shutdown the PC so the HDD
stop spinning before you plug out.
Safely remove does not stop the HDD from spinning since there is still electrical current.

I still have very old portable HDD dated 8 years ago but still working
very well.
Portable HDD - Easy to carry around
External HDD dock - Not portable, faster HDD speed since
you can use 3.5" HDD with 7200 rpm as compare with 2.5"
which majority spins at 5400rpm.

*However some HDD bigger than 2 TB spins at 5400 rpm.
If you got budget, can consider NAS but NAS is also not portable.

 

[aba9785]

S$353 or S$370? It was S$241 or S$206 (if I get the S$35 cashback) on Amazon Prime Day last week

This is a single HDD. Details here from my Amazon review (not published yet) -

"The WD 12TB Elements has impressive sequential read/write speeds in excess of 210 MB/s which makes for a great backup storage. Random read/write speed is on the slow side but irrelevant for backup storage. The drive runs silent.

Drive works OOB. No problem reading SMART data and passed the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics Quick Test. Now running the Extended Test (about 16 hours) and I will change the review if there are any problems.

Internal drive is WD120EMFZ which is CMR (PMR with He technology) and not SMR. 5400 RPM reported which should be accurate since the drive is silent on load. (7200 RPM drives are louder)

Drive shipped from Amazon USA with a US two prong plug. No problem working in Singapore, just need an adapter for the plug."

$353, then another $17 for shipping to Sg. So become ~$370.
Wow. you really manage to get it at very good price.


Thanks for sharing the review
Very tempting indeed

 

[aba9785]

Share with you Entry Level PC Raid1 Setup.

HDD Enclosure ~$30
ACASIS usb 3.0 2.5 inch SATA HDD RAID enclosure Double HDD Enclosure with RAID function disk array usb3.0 dual hard disk box for 2.5
https://shopee.sg/ACASIS-usb-3.0-2....II-HDD-Up-to-10TB-Intl-i.266366546.6838253567

Moi use 2x 1TB HDD Raid1 with this Dual 2.5 inch Enclosure.

1) Small
2) Portable
3) Low Power Usage
4) USB Powered.
5) Support up to 5TB Raid1.

Wow. Didn't know got this kind of enclosure/case.
Thanks for sharing. Will try to get up more.

 

[aba9785]

A tip whether internal or external, shutdown the PC so the HDD
stop spinning before you plug out.
Safely remove does not stop the HDD from spinning since there is still electrical current.

I still have very old portable HDD dated 8 years ago but still working
very well.
Portable HDD - Easy to carry around
External HDD dock - Not portable, faster HDD speed since
you can use 3.5" HDD with 7200 rpm as compare with 2.5"
which majority spins at 5400rpm.

*However some HDD bigger than 2 TB spins at 5400 rpm.
If you got budget, can consider NAS but NAS is also not portable.

Got it.
It's good advice. Thank you

 

[yusoffb01]

I got some questions.

- Is it better to concentrate everything together in 12 TB drive? (all the eggs in 1 basket) or spread it around? (Maybe 3 x 4TB drive)

- Previously (long time ago), my friend told me that try to avoid those odd number storage.
eg: avoid 3TB, get 2TB or 4TB instead.
Is it still true in 2020?

Yes your friend is right. Avoid 3TB back then
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/3tb-hard-drive-failure/

 

[yusoffb01]

S$353 or S$370? It was S$241 or S$206 (if I get the S$35 cashback) on Amazon Prime Day last week

This is a single HDD. Details here from my Amazon review (not published yet) -

"The WD 12TB Elements has impressive sequential read/write speeds in excess of 210 MB/s which makes for a great backup storage. Random read/write speed is on the slow side but irrelevant for backup storage. The drive runs silent.

Drive works OOB. No problem reading SMART data and passed the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics Quick Test. Now running the Extended Test (about 16 hours) and I will change the review if there are any problems.

Internal drive is WD120EMFZ which is CMR (PMR with He technology) and not SMR. 5400 RPM reported which should be accurate since the drive is silent on load. (7200 RPM drives are louder)

Drive shipped from Amazon USA with a US two prong plug. No problem working in Singapore, just need an adapter for the plug."

WOW GOOD DEAL!!! I didnt find in amazon sg so didnt bother.

 

[aba9785]

Yes your friend is right. Avoid 3TB back then
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/3tb-hard-drive-failure/

I wonder how about now?
Everything should be stabilized, NPI/PQRE and Failure Analysis engineer should be able to fix those issues by now.

 

[wwenze]

BTW that WD 12TB is a 7200rpm drive... that's why it runs hot

This is despite the drive info reports itself as 5400rpm.

See also:
https://www.extremetech.com/computi...tal-caught-misrepresenting-hdd-rpm-speeds-too
https://techreport.com/news/3473207/wd-red-nas-drives-5400-rpm-7200-rpm/

 

[limcc]

BTW that WD 12TB is a 7200rpm drive... that's why it runs hot

https://i.imgur.com/0kxh2f0.png

This is despite the drive info reports itself as 5400rpm.

See also:
https://www.extremetech.com/computi...tal-caught-misrepresenting-hdd-rpm-speeds-too
https://techreport.com/news/3473207/wd-red-nas-drives-5400-rpm-7200-rpm/

Don't have an equipment to measure but the temperature show it isn't a 5400rpm but faster. I shucked it out to place it in a 4x bay HDD enclosure with 120mm fan, it does 50C idling. In the same HDD enclosure are HGST 7200rpm NAS at 40C~48C and Seagate Ironwolf NAS <6000rpm at ~40C. Basically it runs as hot as HGST but as quiet as Seagate. I transfered about 5.5TB of data in a day, the first 2.36TB of mostly large files, was done in ~6hrs, or about 110MBps, good enough for me.

This is my first WD HDD 10 year after the horrble WD green which failed 3 times in 7 months. I hope this last cause $241 for 12TB is too hard to resist.

As for Ext HDD vs dock/DAS/bay. if >2 HDD, go for multibay enclosure with RAID1/10, you can have 4 or more cheap 4TB HDD to run as backup of each other. if you only gonna need 2, get ext HDD, like this WD element 12TB. The size is definitely enough for majority of user, then use another 12TB as cold/offline backup.

 

[wwenze]

Don't have an equipment to measure but the temperature show it isn't a 5400rpm but faster. I shucked it out to place it in a 4x bay HDD enclosure with 120mm fan, it does 50C idling. In the same HDD enclosure are HGST 7200rpm NAS at 40C~48C and Seagate Ironwolf NAS <6000rpm at ~40C. Basically it runs as hot as HGST but as quiet as Seagate. I transfered about 5.5TB of data in a day, the first 2.36TB of mostly large files, was done in ~6hrs, or about 110MBps, good enough for me.

This is my first WD HDD 10 year after the horrble WD green which failed 3 times in 7 months. I hope this last cause $241 for 12TB is too hard to resist.

As for Ext HDD vs dock/DAS/bay. if >2 HDD, go for multibay enclosure with RAID1/10, you can have 4 or more cheap 4TB HDD to run as backup of each other. if you only gonna need 2, get ext HDD, like this WD element 12TB. The size is definitely enough for majority of user, then use another 12TB as cold/offline backup.

You just need a mic, and some free sound spectrum software.

 

[aba9785]

Thank you all for sharing the WD 12TB elements.
Will be sure to keep an eye during 11.11/Black Friday sales.

If you have other view/opinions, please do share them as well.
Thanks in advance.

 

[xRenol]

Sorry to hijack this thread.

I have an external HDD of 4TB currently. I plan to purchase a bigger HDD for primary backup and convert the existing external HDD to secondary backup.

Which approach is more recommended for monthly backup?

1. External HDD (considering WD My Book 10TB or 12TB)
2. Internal HDD with HDD Enclosure (considering HGST Ultrastar DC HC330 10TB or HGST Ultrastar DC HC550 16TB since there is no single HGST HDD of 12TB)

I will not consider backup to Cloud option or NAS (out of budget).

Thank you.

 

[Koenig168]

S$353 or S$370? It was S$241 or S$206 (if I get the S$35 cashback) on Amazon Prime Day last week

.....

Just got the S$35 cashback from Amazon and factoring in the S$12 cashback from Shopback, final cost is S$194 for WD 12TB Elements. Best HDD deal ever!

 

[koreanlover]

A tip whether internal or external, shutdown the PC so the HDD
stop spinning before you plug out.
Safely remove does not stop the HDD from spinning since there is still electrical current.

Does putting the PC to sleep also work?

 

[wwenze]

14TB for USD$190 might be coming for BF...

 

[xRenol]

Anyone has experience with ORICO 2 Bay Hard Drive Enclosure?

 

[yusoffb01]

Assuming I’m a data hoarder and I would like to ask for opinions

I've been using external HDD, but I was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages were of switching to an enclosure or dock. Is one method clearly better than the others?

I don't think speed is a concern since HDDs can barely saturate SATA II speeds - so anything with USB 3.1 gen 1 or eSATA III will be sufficient, but what about integrity and other considerations?

What would be the cheapest storage in the long term?
Ps: I’m skipping NAS because I’m the only user, I don’t need it to run 24/7.

Contender 1.
2.5” External HDD 4TB is around ~$140
(Seagate Backup Plus, WD My Passport, Toshiba Canvio)


Contender 2.
3.5” Internal HDD 4TB
Seagate Barracuda ~$140
Toshiba 7200RPM ~$140
WD Blue ~$140
2 Bay Docking Station (Ugreen/Orico) ~$50


Please share your opinions/advices/experiences.

Thank you

Using hard drive alone is not enough to check for data integrity and bitrot. Consider pooling the hard drive and use snapraid.

Say you have 10TB + 10TB + 8TB +4TB hard disk
You set 10TB as parity drive and you protect 10TB data + 8TB data + 4TB data = 22TB worth of data

You create a snapshot and snapraid will construct the parity drive and keep data checksum of every single file.

If you accidentally delete a file in 1 hard drive, or the 10TB suddenly dies, the remaining 10TB parity + 8TB data +4TB data will reconstruct the 10TB hdd.

 

[yusoffb01]

I guess I wasn't paying attention earlier.
Went to check the price for WD 12TB Elements and now you got my full attention..
~$370 for 12TB is really cheap.
But this is Single 12TB drive, correct? or there's a few drive in it?

I bought a few recently. Inside a wd red 7200rpm CMR drive. Delivery is free if you sign up for $3 prime and cancel after ordering. use shopback for $5 rebate.

All seagate external hdd is not worth as it is using SMR. If you have a lot of writes the speed will drop to less than 40MBps. The WD is consistently 166MBps throughout the 12TB