Bad luck with smaller ext hdd

[ozmeldo]

I've had a run of bad luck with smaller external hard drives. A few crap Seagate drives. Decided no more. Toshiba, another bad one luckily inside wty window. Even that one few weeks back started to make clicking noises.

 

The larger hard drives usually need power source and are clunky.

 

I don't have these running day and night. Copy files 1-2x a week.

 

I'm going to start to use the drives I don't trust as back up with a fresh drive for live. Just emergency. I hate the thought of having to buy yet another drive.

 

Comments?

 

[Forkinhades]

Networked Attached Storage is the way forward or clouds.

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[ozmeldo]

I will never go to cloud storage.

 

That did not even remotely address my question.

[Air Smiles]

Not all HD are the same, even within the same manuf lineup you have to drill down to the length of warranty and expected lifetime.  Samsung and WD are two of the most reliable at a sensible price point.

 

Is there a reason you need the HD to be external?

Edited February 19, 2018 by Air Smiles

[Pib]

I've got a bunch of drives in external enclosures....WD, Seagate, Samsung, etc.....they have just kinda accommodated over the years as I upgrade, etc.   Haven't had any go bad for many years.  Maybe just lucky....knock on wood.

[RichCor]

1 hour ago, ozmeldo said:

1 hour ago, Forkinhades said:

Networked Attached Storage is the way forward or clouds.

I will never go to cloud storage.

That did not even remotely address my question.

 

Who said anything about cloud storage.

 

Do you even know what NAS or SAN are?

Try googling it.

[ozmeldo]

8 hours ago, RichCor said:

 

Who said anything about cloud storage.

 

Do you even know what NAS or SAN are?

Try googling it.

He did

 

OR CLOUDS

 

As for NAS that's ridiculous. Here I am discussing a tiny external HDD and proposal /solution is NAS for my six+ year old netbook win7. I don't need a file server lol or RAID. I'm backing up music and photos sff.

[FredLee]

I have used Toshiba exclusively for quite a few years with no failures. Ranging in size from 250 GB to 1 TB. No external power source required. I am not a heavy user, using them only once or twice a week for backup or file storage.

[Forkinhades]

He did
 
OR CLOUDS
 
As for NAS that's ridiculous. Here I am discussing a tiny external HDD and proposal /solution is NAS for my six+ year old netbook win7. I don't need a file server lol or RAID. I'm backing up music and photos sff.

We are trying to help. Ridiculing people's replies is not helping yourself. Be kind and keep things civil please.

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[jenny2017]

I've had Hard drives from Seagate, WD, and other brands such as Samsung. I only had failures when the machine got too hot. Seagate bought Samsung bought Samsung Hard Drive, so you'll get a Seagate when purchasing a new Samsung.: https://www.theverge.com/2011/12/20/2648216/seagate-samsung-hdd-deal-complete

 

    My  Samsung 1 TB external is running for many years now, but it shows signs of not getting detected, etc

 

    I personally prefer WD drives and I think that they usually come with a 5-year warranty. 

 

     I'm using my drives daily, so I need a reliable drive. Please see some great facts about hard drives here: 

 

http://uk.pcmag.com/hard-drive-reviews/7890/guide/the-best-external-hard-drives-of-2018

 

  It's very important to back up important data from time to time and when choosing an external drive that's being used daily, a fan should be built in to increase the lifespan. 

Edited February 21, 2018 by jenny2017

[JSixpack]

Suggest you buy a good external enclosure and the drive separately. That way you can easily switch out drives. Seagate has a worse rep than WD and Toshiba generally. Change the USB port if drive not seen; sometimes Windows decides it doesn't like that device in that port. I spray a little contact cleaner in USB ports occasionally and even on the SATA contacts. Also see if the drive is seen in the Win disk manager but for some reason not assigned a letter. You may be able to assign a letter there and be on your way. Careful not to drop or mishandle external drives. Can't trust the "shock resistance."

[RichCor]

6 minutes ago, JSixpack said:

I spray a little contact cleaner in USB ports occasionally and even on the SATA contacts.

Yep. Sometimes the contact points on the cables or ports get oxidized or worn.

 

I've got a USB port on my laptop that's been used to power a laptop cooling tray ...and now the fans spin at different speeds depending on how good the connection, so I now know not to use that port for anything important.

[scottiejohn]

 

You seem to be having a very high failure rate compared to the rest of us.  Could it be either something you are inadvertently doing wrong or the power supply or the device(s) you are connected to causing all these failures. I have been in this business a long time and outwith "industrial" use I tend to find my devices get binned because they are now too small rather than worn out.

On ‎19‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 7:04 PM, ozmeldo said:

I'm going to start to use the drives I don't trust as back up with a fresh drive for live.

I think this is a back to front approach.  The Back up device MUST be the most reliable source in my opinion.

[scottiejohn]

1 hour ago, JSixpack said:

Also see if the drive is seen in the Win disk manager but for some reason not assigned a letter.

I have a similar problem where my USB ext  (WD)HDD is recognised by everything except one UEFI machine where I need to edit the UEFI/BIOS and add it.  I don't know why that one machine but then it works ok!

[CrimsonGlenn]

Had the same problem before both with WD and Seagate... so i just take extra care when using mobile hdd .

 

1.make sure all connections to and from the drive are firm. One of my hdd died cause of a loose usb connection

2.When using the drive make sure its secured to prevent vibrations. you can use those 3m sticky rubber pads for extra support, After unplugging your drive dont immediately store it or move it suddenly, wait for a few  seconds so that the hdd platter would have time to slow down (Not Needed for Solid State Drives).

3.Most important is when you buy a brand new drive get a data care pack i personally use  idr lab 3 years coverage of data recovery for 500 bath. Saves you alot of trouble and headache.

[JSixpack]

Or, hell, HDD don't like you, just use an SSD drive. These look sweet:

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/samsung-1tb-850-pro-2534-ssd-1094102.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.12.eb8636c2ZBwKjK

https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/28510/1028/1-0-TB-SSD--เอสเอสดี--SAMSUNG-960-EVO-M-2--MZ-V6E1T0BW-

https://www.lazada.co.th/samsung-ssd-850-pro-2tb-2534-7389687.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.4.5f1541d23g1Lxn

 

 

[bendejo]

I have a 2Tb WD Elements external USB drive.  It is about the size of a cigarette pack and does not require an additional power supply.  It's always connected, been running this way for nearly 2 years.  No complaints, cost less than US$80 when I bought it.

 

When I shopped for this I recall finding out stuff about the WD Passport that was unimpressive, so passed on it in  favor of this one.

 

I have had terrible luck with USB 2 and USB 3 ports, probably not gentle enough when I plug/unplug.

 

 

[ozmeldo]

11 hours ago, JSixpack said:

Suggest you buy a good external enclosure and the drive separately. That way you can easily switch out drives. Seagate has a worse rep than WD and Toshiba generally. Change the USB port if drive not seen; sometimes Windows decides it doesn't like that device in that port. I spray a little contact cleaner in USB ports occasionally and even on the SATA contacts. Also see if the drive is seen in the Win disk manager but for some reason not assigned a letter. You may be able to assign a letter there and be on your way. Careful not to drop or mishandle external drives. Can't trust the "shock resistance."

Thanks THIS is good advice. I agree about Seagate and WD. WD never had great reputation, didn't Seagate buy them out?

 

My issues have been clearly hardware. This new Toshiba replacement drive started clicking again but has only done it once. When a newish hdd makes clicking noises, it's in the bin for me.

 

Funny, I've two very old Seagate drives, run fine. Trustworthy. Two since then, junk and the Toshiba junk. Replacement, junk.

[ozmeldo]

11 hours ago, scottiejohn said:

 

I think this is a back to front approach.  The Back up device MUST be the most reliable source in my opinion.

I'll buy some contact cleaner.

 

I always use the disconnect USB rather than yanking it out as well.

 

I see your point. I'm not doing daily or even bi weekly backups. It's just there if I can't catch a drive failure. Can sit for months. Backup every three months. I like to think I'm getting something out of a shonky drive.

 

[ozmeldo]

2 hours ago, JSixpack said:

Or, hell, HDD don't like you, just use an SSD drive. These look sweet:

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/samsung-1tb-850-pro-2534-ssd-1094102.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.12.eb8636c2ZBwKjK

https://www.jib.co.th/web/index.php/product/readProduct/28510/1028/1-0-TB-SSD--เอสเอสดี--SAMSUNG-960-EVO-M-2--MZ-V6E1T0BW-

https://www.lazada.co.th/samsung-ssd-850-pro-2tb-2534-7389687.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.4.5f1541d23g1Lxn

 

 

Still expensive. Maybe when I get a new laptop. I have a thing about squeezing life out of old gadgets.

[JSixpack]

4 hours ago, ozmeldo said:

Thanks THIS is good advice. I agree about Seagate and WD. WD never had great reputation, didn't Seagate buy them out?

 

Seagate didn't buy them out.

 

Quote

Funny, I've two very old Seagate drives, run fine. Trustworthy. Two since then, junk and the Toshiba junk. Replacement, junk.

 

Different models have different stats. Guy writing on hardocp recently said one of his drives lasted 15 years. But any drive can fail whenever it d@mn well pleases. I happened to have one of the less reliable Seagate models and yes it failed so I"m not a fan. Backblaze regularly ranks Toshiba and HGST at the top. But they aren't testing the small drives.

 

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/175089-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives

[JSixpack]

4 hours ago, ozmeldo said:

Still expensive. Maybe when I get a new laptop. I have a thing about squeezing life out of old gadgets.

 

You can get smaller and cheaper. After a while buying one SSD becomes cheaper than multiple HDDs.

[scottiejohn]

22 hours ago, JSixpack said:

After a while buying one SSD becomes cheaper than multiple HDDs.

How do you work that out?

They have similar failure rates and SSDs are more expensive per GB/TB but of course faster.

SSD drives are limited to the amount of read/writes that can be performed. This usually causes the lifespan to be in the same range as a rotational HDD for an average user.

[JSixpack]

1 hour ago, scottiejohn said:

How do you work that out?

They have similar failure rates and SSDs are more expensive per GB/TB but of course faster.

SSD drives are limited to the amount of read/writes that can be performed. This usually causes the lifespan to be in the same range as a rotational HDD for an average user.

 

I'm addressing OP's case specifically where he goes through HDDs like water. I don't see that happening w/ SSDs. I also don't see an average user, esp OP, approaching the limits of SSD R/W for many years. You might read https://www.networkworld.com/article/2873551/data-center/debunking-ssd-myths.html. But of course it can fail any time as well and when it does forget about the ol' freezer trick.

[dddave]

Is it possible that cheap knock-off HD's have hit the retail supply chain?  That could explain why some users are reporting excellent reliability while others are having constant problems with what seem to be the same models.

[JSixpack]

48 minutes ago, dddave said:

Is it possible that cheap knock-off HD's have hit the retail supply chain?  That could explain why some users are reporting excellent reliability while others are having constant problems with what seem to be the same models.

 

Highly unlikely and OP didn't mention buying for a too-good-to-be-true price from China or Ebay etc. The serial no. can be checked online. And the guarantee wouldn't be honored, resulting in posting hysteria here: i.e., we would have been hearing about it as in the cases of fake flashdrives. Utils like CrystalDiskInfo can check usage hours & capacity. We used to have reports of members getting drives from retail outlets that had been used.

 

A certain percentage of HDDs are defective . . . and as well a certain percentage of users just seem to encounter a lot of problems, kinda like expats in Pattaya.

Edited February 27, 2018 by JSixpack