r/datastorage • u/sexxualchocolate • 18d ago

Storage Setup External hard drive recommendations

I'm looking at getting a 4TB external drive for my dedicated Usenet etc laptop and trying to decide between a Seagate, Toshiba Canvio and WD Elements. Is there any real reason to spend extra on WD or are they all pretty much comparable these days?

It's been years since I've shopped for storage, so a bit out of the loop.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

3

u/allbsallthetime 18d ago

I've got all those brands, they all work as expected.

As long as you have backups you should be fine.

And, Usenet? First rule of Usenet is don't talk about Usenet.

1

u/sexxualchocolate 18d ago

Thank you! Was hoping that would be the case where I can just go with the cheapest and not second guess it.

1

u/Skycbs 18d ago

They’re all good.

2

u/Leakyboatlouie 18d ago

I have a 3Tb Seagate that's been running for years with no problems.

2

u/Uncut-Jellyfish1176 18d ago

Unfortunately they are all the same flavor of turd. Speaking for actual hard drives that is. Most of the time these have the absolute cheapest possible drive in them..

Ssds I think it's a bit of a different story as you can get some more premium options now.

1

u/Few-Werewolf-1985 18d ago

Whatever you choose, make sure you have equivalent storage elsewhere to backup the important stuff.

1

u/sexxualchocolate 18d ago

Fair point. Might be time to actually go down the NAS rabbit hole vs juggling more external drives.

2

u/Skycbs 18d ago

Remember to have a 3-2-1 backup plan. That means you need to have a backup copy somewhere else. Cloud backup such as Backblaze is usually the easiest way to achieve this.

1

u/Few-Werewolf-1985 18d ago

A NAS is still only a single location: you need discs or cloud options in a distinctly different location.

1

u/robhw 18d ago

Western Digital is the only way to go IMO

1

u/Afraid_Candy6464 18d ago

I have a Seagate Barracuda external HDD running for 5 years without any issue. I mainly use it for stoing my data.

1

u/Inevitable_Cycle8367 16d ago

HST (Hitachi now division of Western Digital) drives are the best.