I must say that its a sad that for the whole globe there is about only 3 HDD manufacturers which are Seagate, WD, and Toshiba. I know there are few here and there but I think they must be the less reliable ones. For most of my life I trusted WD and felt Seagate are the crappy manufacturer. This is based on "feelings" only. I tried to research the topic many times but the results seem fairly similar, no one brand is better than the other.
Yesterday I connected my WD to my laptop, and it failed to "mount". I decided to use the other USB port, it worked but transfer speeds seem to be slow. I am not sure if this is a sign of a bad HDD or failure. I will replace it, not taking chances. This is fairly new HDD, I believe its about a year old that I think I have used once a month for backups. So probably between 15-30 uses.
Which brand do you trust and had best experience with?
Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
For mechanical hard drives, the choice has always been between Western Digital or Seagate. Nothing else ever compared.
Me, personally, for a good 15 years I've been using WD exclusively. That's really only because about 15 years ago I had a not-so-old Seagate HDD die on me. So I started buying WD exclusively and haven't had a problem since, so I continue to buy WD exclusively. To be fair, I've had old WD drives go out on me too. And to be fair, I would recommend WD and Seagate equally to anyone. I just now have strong brand loyalty to WD.
Me, personally, for a good 15 years I've been using WD exclusively. That's really only because about 15 years ago I had a not-so-old Seagate HDD die on me. So I started buying WD exclusively and haven't had a problem since, so I continue to buy WD exclusively. To be fair, I've had old WD drives go out on me too. And to be fair, I would recommend WD and Seagate equally to anyone. I just now have strong brand loyalty to WD.
Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
For Sata drives - I've only purchased WD "black" for the last 15 years. Never had one fail. I know - that's crazy.
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Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
All of the hard drives in my main PC at home have been Western Digital for a while now, and all but I think one of them WD Black models. Fair to say they're my preferred brand.
That said, most on the market now are fairly good. If you want to get a general feel for that, a cloud backup provider, Backblaze, provides failure rates for drives they're using on their site. If looking at that, keep in mind that HGST kinda-sort is what IBM's drive business bcame when Hitachi bought it, and in turn remained a separate brand for a while after Western Digital bought it. As of last year, it's all just WD (only mention as most of their products represented are under that). Going on that data though, Toshiba is very worth looking at, and Seagate does seem to have a bit higher failure rate, albeit still fairly low.
Obviously though, external drives tend to have additional things impacting their reliability.
That said, most on the market now are fairly good. If you want to get a general feel for that, a cloud backup provider, Backblaze, provides failure rates for drives they're using on their site. If looking at that, keep in mind that HGST kinda-sort is what IBM's drive business bcame when Hitachi bought it, and in turn remained a separate brand for a while after Western Digital bought it. As of last year, it's all just WD (only mention as most of their products represented are under that). Going on that data though, Toshiba is very worth looking at, and Seagate does seem to have a bit higher failure rate, albeit still fairly low.
Obviously though, external drives tend to have additional things impacting their reliability.
Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
If you only need the HD for backing stuff up, stick to lower-speed, slower drives. I find slower drive speeds can keep temperatures down and improve reliability.
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Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
Seems like everyone's favorite company is WD. I too had a very good experience with their WD Black brand. Maybe I just got a lemon. This time I am looking for an external drive.
I went ahead and got a Seagate, so far so good.
I wonder which is more reliable though, HDD with their mechanical internals or SSD with their dying storage units.
I went ahead and got a Seagate, so far so good.
I wonder which is more reliable though, HDD with their mechanical internals or SSD with their dying storage units.
Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
I've used WD Caviar Black, but I've also used Green and Blue and never had any issue with any line. For external HDDs I've been using the WD Elements and have been really happy with them.
They each have their strengths and weaknesses, so it depends on the situation which is better than the other.
A SSD uses less power compared to a mechanical HDD, so in a portable situation it's the better choice if battery life is a concern. They're also not susceptible to physical shocks damage like a mechanic HDD is. Which means you don't have to be too concerned when moving your laptop around while it's powered on (PSA for anyone that didn't know, if your laptop has a mechanical HDD you should be very careful while moving it around while it's powered on because mechanical HDDs are very sensitive to physical shock damage while they are operating). This makes SSDs a safer choice in laptops, and definitely the better choice in a Toughbook situation. If you're moving your laptop around a lot while it's powered on, a SSD will far outlive a HDD.
As for longevity and reliability, SSDs are getting better all the time. It seems every time I look into it, they have gotten better from the last time I looked into it. That said, if you need longevity and reliability, stick with a good mechanical HDD (like WD). For example, if you want to archive something(s) on a HDD and stick it on a shelf for many years, do not use a SSD. In this case, the HDD is going to long outlive the SSD.
RCBH928 wrote:I wonder which is more reliable though, HDD with their mechanical internals or SSD with their dying storage units.
They each have their strengths and weaknesses, so it depends on the situation which is better than the other.
A SSD uses less power compared to a mechanical HDD, so in a portable situation it's the better choice if battery life is a concern. They're also not susceptible to physical shocks damage like a mechanic HDD is. Which means you don't have to be too concerned when moving your laptop around while it's powered on (PSA for anyone that didn't know, if your laptop has a mechanical HDD you should be very careful while moving it around while it's powered on because mechanical HDDs are very sensitive to physical shock damage while they are operating). This makes SSDs a safer choice in laptops, and definitely the better choice in a Toughbook situation. If you're moving your laptop around a lot while it's powered on, a SSD will far outlive a HDD.
As for longevity and reliability, SSDs are getting better all the time. It seems every time I look into it, they have gotten better from the last time I looked into it. That said, if you need longevity and reliability, stick with a good mechanical HDD (like WD). For example, if you want to archive something(s) on a HDD and stick it on a shelf for many years, do not use a SSD. In this case, the HDD is going to long outlive the SSD.
Re: Do You Have a Favorite HDD Brand?
So my Seagate is already giving me "ZzZzZzZz" sounds and some click-y ones. Hopefully its the sound of normal operations. I can't go on forever paying $60 until I find a working unit.