Mechanical disks, I think they are not worth it for any particular user

Discussion in 'Computer Hardware' started by ambbe, Jul 2, 2019.

  1. ambbe

    ambbe Ultrasonic

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    Hello everyone:
    A recent problem with several mechanical disks has made me rethink some things. My experience with mechanical discs over 15 years, has been bad or almost too bad. The latest has been two 3TB Toshiba p300 buyed in Amazon, one of which failed right out of the box and the other a few weeks later.
    My reflection, serene and not letting go by the anger, is that the mechanical disks, in addition to very slow, are very prone to fail. They are undoubtedly the main burden of any computer and a constant worry and source of problems. Like the dinosaurs, they belong to the prehistory of computing, and they are called to become extinct even without the help of a meteorite. The only use I see is as backup of SSDs.
    Luckily, ssd discs have appeared, which are a blessing. And even more important than its speed, for me its much greater reliability. I have installed many ssd drives in the last 2-3 years and I barely know that none have failed. Because they are still quite more expensive than the mechanics at equal size, I wonder if it is better to store less data, but have the enormous advantage of its much greater reliability (and speed).
    I was using 3 3TB mechanical disks, but the cost in time and effort of keeping everything running and with updated backpus makes me think it's not worth it. I think that for the cost of 9TB on mechanical disks you have 3TB on SSDs, which should be enough for anyone. With 9TB in mechanical disks there is almost no time to make music, and yes there is with 3TB in SSD disks. We just have to be selective with the ones we download. This is what I believe. And you, what think?

    **Tip: Runtime GetDataBack, great data recovery software, fast and flexible!!
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2019
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  3. farao

    farao Rock Star

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    Sounds like you just bought some stocks lol.
     
  4. fiction

    fiction Audiosexual

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    Funny, I have the same experience with a few 3TB 3.5" drives.
    Never had any issues with 2TB 2.5" USB drives from Toshiba though.
     
  5. vaiman

    vaiman Platinum Record

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    I've just replaced 16 SAN devices across 8 sites, each have 16 mechanical disks. Over the 7 years we've had very few failed disks.
    So 100% worth it for this solution for performance/cost.

    At home I personally use 4 x 2TB SSD's for sample drives. Love it.
     
  6. Vaijj

    Vaijj Platinum Record

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    At this point a quality mechanical 2tb disk is more than enough to handle whats thrown at it. Atleast for the normal bedroom producer and normal use. As long as its not a system drive atleast. And as stated, some larger drives can fail big time but so does some SSD and that is way more serious. Mechanical drives atleast start to protest one way or another before giving up and should give users time to save files before replacing it. SSD drives on the other hand dont give any hints, they just break down and rarely possible to save anything from them if that happends..

    So no matter what you prefer to use, back up your stuff damn it :)
     
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  7. tzzsmk

    tzzsmk Audiosexual

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    I totally understand your point,
    I've been actually thinking about replacing all my HDDs with SSDs too,
    here's some thoughts of mine:
    SSDs are noticeably faster, and so they are true blessing for whatever "active" stuff like system, programs, frequently used data or projects - that said I figured out NVME over SATA isn't really worth it except some workstation and server workloads;
    HDDs are still far cheaper for storage, given that fact it's not a problem to save money for sooner replacements,
    only "problem" remains reliability, and here the solution is actually really simple - NAS (network attached storage) with RAID (data is spread across drives, so one or two can die without any data loss); AND/OR having multiple various HDDs lying around (this covers the problem of electricity surges which affect devices plugged into the grid)
     
  8. ALL drives will fail. All of them. No exception.

    Have a bloody backup. It's the only protection there is.
     
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  9. Dr Pablito

    Dr Pablito Ultrasonic

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    Using hard drives since the beginning of PC's and none of them have ever failed. I think they are very reliable, but then again, I make daily system backups and all my work is on the cloud...
     
  10. Andrew

    Andrew AudioSEX Maestro Staff Member

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    Works fine here really:

    [​IMG]

    Just needs a bit of cleaning and polishing from time to time, but they still work just like new. :winker:
     
  11. trutzburg

    trutzburg Kapellmeister

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    I use Harddrives as Backups for SSDs and as Backups of their own for several years now. I have only one Laptop (of five) with a mechanical disc as System drive...it works, but slow, and nothing important it contains. The backup disks are reliable and no one has left me within the last ten years except one that fell down.
    Reliability of harddisks is a lucky game, but one of my basic rules is, "Never buy a mechanical Harddisk on Amazon (or anywhere online)". That's not because Amazon sells bad products, but the delivery is not for such fragile things. A HDD, once ordered, travels through several logistic processes, is then sent, maybe by Air Mail, or in a train, and lands in another logistic center, eventually put in a transporter by hand and then a day or so travelling, until it is finally put into my hands. That is much movement, and I wonder how many Disks get some damage while travelling to their owners.
    So I buy these things in a local store (a big seller called MediaMarkt or Saturn), hoping it hadn't such a thrilling life before. I my self, do handle them like raw eggs. Very carefully.
     
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  12. ambbe

    ambbe Ultrasonic

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    The thing about the crank is wonderful. It is the most ecological hdd. does not waste any electricity :wink:
     
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  13. Smoove Grooves

    Smoove Grooves Audiosexual

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    Two points I'd like to add.
    One is that it seems accepted that HDDs will still last longer than SSDs, and secondly that smaller SSDs are going to be more efficient, with a potentially longer life, than a larger SSD.
    These are two things that keep cropping up in stuff I've read over the years.
     
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  14. ambbe

    ambbe Ultrasonic

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    I just bought a Crucial SSD 2TB. The time of the transition to SSD has come not only as a system disk, but also as mass storage. Goodbye Forever HDD, We will not miss you.
    And as soon as I can I'll buy him the couple, so it not feel alone inside the box.
     
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  15. tzzsmk

    tzzsmk Audiosexual

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    I believe this is wrong (?)
    larger SSD will have more data cells "pool" to write data into, so every individual cell will wear off slower, making the SSD last longer, there shouldn't be any factors making small SSDs more durable in any way;
    also, nowadays SSD controllers can handle 500GB-1TB of data cells at once, so SSDs of such capacities benefit multiple times higher write speeds compared to smaller 120-250GB models
     
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  16. Smoove Grooves

    Smoove Grooves Audiosexual

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    Quite possible! Just stuff I've read.
     
  17. Lois Lane

    Lois Lane Audiosexual

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    As the wise Fudsey Sudsey wrote, "All drives will fail". Back up Data, it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure that one out. Do so before it's tooooo laaaaaate.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. orbitbooster

    orbitbooster Audiosexual

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    Long, long ago I used to backup sw and personal data on internal SCSI Jaz 1GB cartridge, thinking that I was in a fortress. One fine day, BOTH system hdd AND Jaz drive failed, at the same time.
    I lost all data. Since then, I use quadruple data sync winthin pcs and hdds, and rarely DVD (poor and unsafe, just for old uninportant stuff).
    I never go beyond 2TB density of external hdd, and I test them at least 4 times per year with HDDScan 3.3.
    A friend of mine working in a huge company told me they use servers composed by serial attached SCSI HP drives of 900GB and they replace them after 3 years by rules.
     
  19. SineWave

    SineWave Audiosexual

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    SSDs have many advantages, especially now that they've come down in price considerably. However, they can and do fail, and when they fail, your data is gone. So I would always suggest buying a HDD or SSD for backups, and making backups of SSDs occasionally. Any drive that is going to be used for backups, which is practically unused, will very probably last a very long time. Very long. :wink:

    I would suggest doing one thing before using a mechanical drive for backups. Either format it normally so every sector gets checked, or fill it completely with some data before using it for such purpose. It also wouldn't hurt using it for a while, too, because in my experience, new bad HDDs usually fail very soon. Also, yes - it is highly recommended to buy them directly from a store that handled the transport themselves and can replace a broken HDD or SDD easily.

    Also, if you want to keep your data *really safe*, and you can't bother with backups, then nothing is better than NAS with multiple HDDs or SDDs in a RAID so when one of them fails, you just replace it and continue the business as usual like nothing happened. :wink:

    Personally, I use several tried and tested HDDs for backups that I keep in a safe place.

    Cheers!
     
  20. Aileron

    Aileron Audiosexual

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    Backup and backup the backup. That's all, never mind the medium. :guru:
     
  21. Andrew

    Andrew AudioSEX Maestro Staff Member

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    Newer version (with more capacity):
     
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