Has anyone seen good prices on computer storage? with black friday coming up, some folks are looking to add a drive (or three). I use HDD external myself and had a good experience with WD black series. new egg has good prices for the 1T to 5T size, but you still want to look at the geek specs too. Like what kind of transfer speed does it have, what is the disk speed, is it 2.5" or 3.5" format, even specific model performance?New Egg is pretty good about sending me whats listed on the page, warranty is shady, and they often outsource which means you dont have any idea what kind of experience to expect.
Small mention here.. about the topic R2R has been mentioning about checking the HDD space, so its an open floor. anything folks want to discuss about computer storage

 

if your using an external HDD for dfd libraries, disk speed is your top priority, with its transfer speed being a close second. 7200 used to be a good number, but with prices getting so cheap you might be able to look at a 10k now. so this is different than if your just using it as a mass media drawer, mirror, or archive where size and reliability are your key features

 

or.. we can talk about that gong noise? lol

 

I just say fk it and use (x3) 3.5" internal SATA 8TB 7200 256MB Western digital HDDs for samples, those big *.EXE KONTAKT libs, Superior Drummer/BFD/etc.. expansions, and main VST folder. (HGST if the price is right). Backup storage is WD 8TB external HDDs...whatever's on sale. Second back-up set is a shit load of WD 4TB 2.5" external HDDs...again, whatever's on sale.

 

and dont confuse a drives advertised volume transfer speed with thru speed. yes volume is a little important, thats where they say its rated at 200 mbs or 140 mbs etc. but im referring to thru speed, which is a total time for 1 byte to make a round trip. very small and fast numbers. its the total time it takes 1 byte to arrive to the component + the time it spends IN the component + the time it takes to make the return trip. thru speed. obviously the speed the disk is spinning has an effect on thru speed

 

nice set up @bluerover yeah 7200 is fine for me too, for what i do

 

I use the Lacie 4TB Rugged externals. no problems.

 

When 'internal' HDD shopping, might wanna take the CMR vs. SMR into account too :

https://steveresearch.com/storage/deciding-between-cmr-vs-smr-hard-disk-drive-hdd-which-is-better

 

Best Buy has had some decent sales on their WD Easy Store external drives. Recently they had 14tb's for $200, for example. The sales on them keep popping up just about weekly this time of year. I have a few of their external drives, they're not bad -- if you're downloading a lot of stuff and need the storage space they'll do. Not sure if you're familiar with a site called Slickdeals. They regularly show those Easy Store drive sales on their front page so you can check there to see if something pops up, or directly on the Best Buy site. Hope that helps.

BTW, you mentioned Newegg. Good luck if you need to do a return with them. I avoid Newegg like the plague.

 

I bought this one 4 days ago:
WD Elements Portable WDBU6Y0050BBK Harddisc - 5 TB - USB 3.0.
Price: 125 us tax & freight included.
Nice and fast little guy

Link: https://www.westerndigital.com/prod...ments-portable-usb-3-0-hdd#WDBU6Y0050BBK-WESN

 

thats a pretty good price on 5T @phloopy wow considering my first imac had 2G total HD lol.
and @bluerover is he talking about SSD vs HDD? that overlapping thing sounds like something different?

 

great tips @Bennett.Jackson thats exactly what i was hoping, someone would post good places to check

 

Glad it helped! Just happened to stop by Slickdeals before coming here, and sure enough, Best Buy has that 14tb WD external on sale for $200. I have 2 of them from a year ago, they're working fine. FWIW, one of these WD externals did once conk out on me, but I think that's true with all of these externals. Anyway, good luck, and if you're celebrating next week, happy holiday.

 

The CMR vs SMR issue deals with mechanical HDDs.

 

wrapping my head around SMR, so in simple terms it can increase storage by printing 4 bytes to the same spot and differentiate bytes 1,2,3 and 4 by the time it takes the 4 read heads to read it? insane but brilliant

 

@bluerover , you mentioned BFD, my experience with them wasnt pleasant. back when they switched to lossless it screwed up my file and while discussing in forum to try to get it fixed their mod flat out accused me of warez. when my account clearly showed that i had purchased all their junk.
funny how crappy customer service makes us turn our back on them.

 

WD - Easystore 5TB External USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive

Black Friday Deal at Best Buy (available now)
$89.99
Save $90
Was $179.99

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-eas...able-hard-drive-black/6406512.p?skuId=6406512

Remember, you want to buy 2 anytime you get storage. You have to have a backup for any thing you store on a hard drive.

You might be able to get an additional 15% off with their storage recycle promotion by trading in old storage (HDD, SD card, flash drive, etc). In store only.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/recycl.../pcmcat1628281022996.c?id=pcmcat1628281022996