Most reliable hard drive manufacturer?

[HardDrive]

I have six external hard drives, varying in size but all manufactured
by Western Digital. I got WD because I thought they were the most
reliable and least likely to fail.

Unfortunately, over the last six months two of them (a 500Gb & a 1Tb)
have failed.

Since I must now buy a new hard drive (either a 1Tb or a 2Tb), what
manufacturer makes the most reliable hard drives these days?

Thanks.

 

[John McGaw]

I have six external hard drives, varying in size but all manufactured
by Western Digital. I got WD because I thought they were the most
reliable and least likely to fail.

Unfortunately, over the last six months two of them (a 500Gb & a 1Tb)
have failed.

Since I must now buy a new hard drive (either a 1Tb or a 2Tb), what
manufacturer makes the most reliable hard drives these days?

Thanks.

Maybe the answer to your question is in the first sentence: "external hard
drives". In my experience there is no such thing as a truly reliable
external drive -- at least not when compared to a drive installed in a
computer with proper power and cooling. Some externals may be marginally
better than others but that isn't saying much IMHO. If you really _must_
have an external then buy whichever one has the best and longest warranty
-- the maker probably knows better than anyone else how long their stuff is
likely to hold up.

 

[jaster]

I have six external hard drives, varying in size but all manufactured by
Western Digital. I got WD because I thought they were the most reliable
and least likely to fail.

Unfortunately, over the last six months two of them (a 500Gb & a 1Tb)
have failed.

Since I must now buy a new hard drive (either a 1Tb or a 2Tb), what
manufacturer makes the most reliable hard drives these days?

Thanks.

Hmmmm, like someone said external HD. Ambient room temps? Dust
buildup? I've been with Seagate for awhile but WD and Maxtor should be
of equal reliability.

 

[Paul]

I have six external hard drives, varying in size but all manufactured
by Western Digital. I got WD because I thought they were the most
reliable and least likely to fail.

Unfortunately, over the last six months two of them (a 500Gb & a 1Tb)
have failed.

Since I must now buy a new hard drive (either a 1Tb or a 2Tb), what
manufacturer makes the most reliable hard drives these days?

Thanks.

My $0.02 would be, if using external drives, pick the enclosures
separately. Preferably something with a fan.

When some of the big disk makers started doing their own
external enclosures, they didn't provide a fan. There was
a high initial failure rate. Rather than add a fan and fix
it, instead they chose to "spin down" the drive after a
short period of inactivity. That still did not protect
the drive against a backup scenario, where there was a
low but continuous activity level for a couple hours.

If you pick your own external enclosure, and put
a drive in it, you get to pick the cooling solution.
There are some externals, with a fan on the back, but
no intake vent. I fixed a couple of those with my
electric drill. (Because the enclosure was plastic,
I could easily add ventilation. I made a drill guide,
so the drill wouldn't skate over the surface, and
did a "Swiss cheese" pattern on the bottom front of
the enclosure.)

The above comments apply to 3.5" drives. The 2.5"
ones are lower power (and lower performance), and
might work better in a fanless enclosure. At least
the Newegg reviews for one model of Passport 2.5",
didn't have nearly the same level of complaints,
as the 3.5" models.

Paul

 

[Corey Cooper]

I always look at the warrentee, 5 years on most Seagates is great. The
warrentees on the externals are usually less, so I've been using Seagate
drives with an Antec external case. I chose the Antec because heat (and
static or power problems) is the bigest enemy of any electronics. All of
the fanless solutions I've tried I've been less than happy with. The Antec
has a fan, (so dust is an issue, watch out for that) which generally gives
better cooling than the fanless, but it's very quiet.

c.

 

[Majki Majk]

I always look at the warrentee, 5 years on most Seagates is great. The
warrentees on the externals are usually less, so I've been using Seagate
drives with an Antec external case. I chose the Antec because heat (and
static or power problems) is the bigest enemy of any electronics. All of
the fanless solutions I've tried I've been less than happy with. The Antec
has a fan, (so dust is an issue, watch out for that) which generally gives
better cooling than the fanless, but it's very quiet.

c.

Hard drives are zo relative issues.
I would suggest SCSI disks as a no1.choice, it's longterm investition,
didn't get familiar with the external scsi disks, in external cases.

mm