8TB HDD, looking for recommendations.

[Vario]

Hi I am interested in a larger capacity HDD to store movies (in mkv format) for playing on my Shield TV or other devices. What brand/model would be recommended? I have seen a lot of comments on media about shucking WD external HDD, however the price isn't particularly competitive against large capacity internal NAS drives when those drives are on sale. For example, the Toshiba X300 Pro is fairly inexpensive.

 

[JrRacinFan]

How about a 12TB?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07W869RZ3?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

These get upwards to 275MB/s. Reseller warranty is good on them too, 5 years. I own 2 of them in a Terramaster NAS.

 

[oobymach]

Old reliable WD Black HDD's are my go to for HDD's. Very good luck with them, but they're not as fast as the drive linked above, average is 220mb/s.

 

[Vario]

Old reliable WD Black HDD's are my go to for HDD's. Very good luck with them, but they're not as fast as the drive linked above, average is 220mb/s.

Any thoughts on Seagate BarraCuda 8TB ST8000DM004? They are $120, but 5400 RPM. Another deal is the WD Black 8TB WDBSLA0080HNC-WRSN $170. Also the Seagate Ironwolf ST12000VN0008 12TB $200.
Based on this site, all three are CMR. https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of-wd-cmr-and-smr-hard-drives-hdd/

 

[oobymach]

A CMR drive is faster than a SMR drive, wd Red HDD's are SMR while wd Purple and Black HDD's are CMR.

The dif between 5400rpm and 7200rpm is only a couple milliseconds increase in seek time, 13ms on a 5400rpm drive vs 11ms on a 7200rpm drive. In terms of how quickly it accesses data you as a human shouldn't be able to tell the difference in rpm speed.

Check reviews on newegg for each model drive as some are faster than others and usually you can find crystaldisk mark results in the review pictures and get a feel for how many bad reviews there are vs positive ones, more bad may mean higher chance of defect.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Hi I am interested in a larger capacity HDD to store movies (in mkv format) for playing on my Shield TV or other devices. What brand/model would be recommended? I have seen a lot of comments on media about shucking WD external HDD, however the price isn't particularly competitive against large capacity internal NAS drives when those drives are on sale. For example, the Toshiba X300 Pro is fairly inexpensive.

I've been using a 6TB WD Black for some time for media storage and writing of ShadowPlay captures. My next large drive will probably be the WD Black 10TB model. I was considering a WD Ultrastar 16TB model, but those don't get as good reviews. WD makes good drives, never had a problem with them. My Seagate Barracuda 1TB drive is my least used drive, but mostly for performance reasons. If you're only going to be storing movies though, that's not as much of a concern. It may come down to which one you can get the most bang for buck on.

Just so you know, WD also has an 8TB Black model, and Newegg has twice recently listed it at a pretty good sale price.

Right now Amazon seems to have the best price on it though... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NCNGBDG?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

 

[Vario]

I've been using a 6TB WD Black for some time for media storage and writing of ShadowPlay captures. My next large drive will probably be the WD Black 10TB model. I was considering a WD Ultrastar 16TB model, but those don't get as good reviews. WD makes good drives, never had a problem with them. My Seagate Barracuda 1TB drive is my least used drive, but mostly for performance reasons. If you're only going to be storing movies though, that's not as much of a concern. It may come down to which one you can get the most bang for buck on.

Just so you know, WD also has an 8TB Black model, and Newegg has twice recently listed it at a pretty good sale price.

Right now Amazon seems to have the best price on it though... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NCNGBDG?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

I might do this guy actually https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1666829-REG/seagate_st8000vn004_8tb_ironwolf_7200_rpm.html $130 8TB Ironwolf, 7200 RPM, 256MB cache, CMR.

 

[wanna_buy]

Did anyone notice here that the prices of 1TB SATA SSDs have fallen to $45, the same as 1TB 2.5" Notebook HDD? Also 2TB SATA SSDs now cost $85, almost the same as 2TB 2.5" HDDs? The prices of 4TB SSDs are expected to halve this year as the downward trend continues. This begs the question why the HDD capacities lower than 8TB are still produced?

 

[Vario]

Did anyone notice here that the prices of 1TB SATA SSDs have fallen to $45, the same as 1TB 2.5" Notebook HDD? Also 2TB SATA SSDs now cost $85, almost the same as 2TB 2.5" HDDs? The prices of 4TB SSDs are expected to halve this year as the downward trend continues. This begs the question why the HDD capacities lower than 8TB are still produced?

Good point. People still buy em.
I bought the 8 TB ironwolf for $130, hopefully it works well for my purposes.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I bought the 8 TB ironwolf for $130, hopefully it works well for my purposes.

Yeah that's probably a more appropriate price point and design for your stated use. The main reason I don't mind spending a bit more for performance is it speeds up video capture writes, and also just storage transfers and defragging. LOTS of defragging required for captures because they're constantly being deleted after being compressed. I use PerfectDisk though and just leave it running in Stealth Patrol mode.

 

[Bagerklestyne]

Yeah that's probably a more appropriate price point and design for your stated use. The main reason I don't mind spending a bit more for performance is it speeds up video capture writes, and also just storage transfers and defragging. LOTS of defragging required for captures because they're constantly being deleted after being compressed. I use PerfectDisk though and just leave it running in Stealth Patrol mode.

If he's just playing media back on his stream he's not capturing anything. It's a period dump to play.

@Vario unless you're planning on filling it and emptying it a lot, don't worry about the transfer rates, seek rates or even if it's SMR. I'm a Seagate fan, but Western Digital are similar in quality. Just hunt for the best price per tb in your area.

I wouldn't bother with shucking an external drive unless you can get it for a deep discount over a bare drive. Once you shuck them they've got zero warranty. Probably wouldn't hurt to use a usb connected external drive.

If you're planning on getting a lot of content, consider a single or dual drive nas depending on the depth of your wallet

 

[dragontamer5788]

I generally recommend that you buy 2x hard drives, or 4x hard drives and build out a proper NAS. Its more expensive, but much more usable over the long term and offers superior reliability.

 

[thesmokingman]

I buy used to use any brand of drive but lately with oem scams on Amazon, I switched to buying direct from WD. Every couple of weeks they put out good deals.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

If he's just playing media back on his stream he's not capturing anything.

Where did I say HE was capturing? I said I was, and in doing so, just implying if he ever plans to go beyond mere movie storage and watching, the WD Blacks are up to it. And the sale price I was speaking of on the 8 TB model was pretty close to what he paid btw.

 

[A Computer Guy]

I generally recommend that you buy 2x hard drives, or 4x hard drives and build out a proper NAS. Its more expensive, but much more usable over the long term and offers superior reliability.

Don't forget to get a spare! The down side to having a NAS is also having to acquire a spare or two to have on hand should the need arise to replace a drive.

 

[Bagerklestyne]

Where did I say HE was capturing? I said I was, and in doing so, just implying if he ever plans to go beyond mere movie storage and watching, the WD Blacks are up to it. And the sale price I was speaking of on the 8 TB model was pretty close to what he paid btw.

Um, the first bit suggested you think he needs that.

The main reason I don't mind spending a bit more for performance is it speeds up video capture writes, and also just storage transfers and defragging. LOTS of defragging required for captures because they're constantly being deleted after being compressed. I use PerfectDisk though and just leave it running in Stealth Patrol mode.

You didn't say he was capturing, but you said a fair bit about it given he mentioned playback of media only.

Don't forget to get a spare! The down side to having a NAS is also having to acquire a spare or two to have on hand should the need arise to replace a drive.

You don't need a spare anymore than you need one to cover disk failures in a media playback setup (single drive ?) The upside to a nas is if you're running raid you only need 1-2 drives for an array of more than that (rather than 1:1)

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Um, the first bit suggested you think he needs that.


You didn't say he was capturing, but you said a fair bit about it given he mentioned playback of media only.


You don't need a spare anymore than you need one to cover disk failures in a media playback setup (single drive ?) The upside to a nas is if you're running raid you only need 1-2 drives for an array of more than that (rather than 1:1)

LOL, yet another member on this forum that reads FAR too much into a post.

 

[A Computer Guy]

You don't need a spare anymore than you need one to cover disk failures in a media playback setup (single drive ?) The upside to a nas is if you're running raid you only need 1-2 drives for an array of more than that (rather than 1:1)

Not sure I understand your point. Simply if the OP decides to get a NAS, as another poster suggested, with some redundancy (2 drives minimum) it's also a good idea to have a spare for immediately replacing a drive failure. If you don't have a spare on hand you will delay leaving a wider gap of time for a secondary drive failure. When I first moved to NAS to offset the initial cost for home use I purchased the spare several months afterward which was fairly reasonable. Of course one also has to consider capacity for a cold backup as well which is another cost that can be spread out for non-critical use cases.

Hi I am interested in a larger capacity HDD to store movies (in mkv format) for playing on my Shield TV or other devices. What brand/model would be recommended? I have seen a lot of comments on media about shucking WD external HDD, however the price isn't particularly competitive against large capacity internal NAS drives when those drives are on sale. For example, the Toshiba X300 Pro is fairly inexpensive.

A problem with shucking is you might get something low quality or one of those drives they try to gimp from putting into a normal pc to discourage shucking. For the best reliability and warranty I'd suggest getting a normal drive unless you want to run files off the USB. What capacity do you think you need to start and perhaps more importantly what is your budget for it?

 

[Bagerklestyne]

LOL, yet another member on this forum that reads FAR too much into a post.

No, I read what's said, if you want to inject random introspection into the thread, expect to have it questioned. It's a forum, which implies an open discussion. If you feel I'm reading into things too much feel free to ignore me rather than attempt some derisive response belittling me.

Not sure I understand your point. Simply if the OP decides to get a NAS, as another poster suggested, with some redundancy (2 drives minimum) it's also a good idea to have a spare for immediately replacing a drive failure. If you don't have a spare on hand you will delay leaving a wider gap of time for a secondary drive failure. When I first moved to NAS to offset the initial cost for home use I purchased the spare several months afterward which was fairly reasonable. Of course one also has to consider capacity for a cold backup as well which is another cost that can be spread out for non-critical use cases.


A problem with shucking is you might get something low quality or one of those drives they try to gimp from putting into a normal pc to discourage shucking. For the best reliability and warranty I'd suggest getting a normal drive unless you want to run files off the USB. What capacity do you think you need to start and perhaps more importantly what is your budget for it?

I was implying if you were in say 5 drive nas, then you're only having 1-2 drives spare (20-40% of the drives in use), but if you're running 5 drives individually then it's 5 drives backed up. I understand the need/desire for uptime which is what raid is for, but anything important should be backed up (even media if that's important.)

Looking at your comment about the downside for the nas vs a usb drive is the number of spares you need.

I agree with your comment about shucking, I've had exos, barracuda and smr archive drives in 8tb externals form Seagate. Only time I reckon it's worthwhile is when you can get at least 3 drives for the same price as 2 bare internal/nas drives. I feel then that the mortality rate vs the savings is a fair pay off. I've got 1 dead drive from 7 shucks (and that was dead within the standard warranty window, but I saved enough to replace it and still be substantially in front.

 

[Vario]

I received this Seagate Ironwolf 8TB NAS and it is very fast. I am getting 250 MB/s write speed on USB C adapter cable! So far, pleased.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I received this Seagate Ironwolf 8TB NAS and it is very fast. I am getting 250 MB/s write speed on USB C adapter cable! So far, pleased.

Most 7200 RPM HDDs these days with that much cache generally start out at that speed. The telling details are how they handle large transfers, multiple small files, and how fast they are once they're half or more full.

 

[Vario]

I will probably put it inside the 'Oyen Digital HDX Pro C USB-C Aluminum External Hard Drive Enclosure with Fan (HDXP-C-RT)'. https://www.amazon.com/Oyen-Digital-Aluminum-Enclosure-HDXP-C-RT/dp/B0B94LG25F/

Its a bit pricey but I killed a HDD in an enclosure in the past from heat, this thing has a fan, ventilated face, and includes USB C to C and USB-C to A. I also like that this thing by default does not put the drive to sleep, they include a separate firmware if you want that capability (I don't).

 

[A Computer Guy]

I will probably put it inside the 'Oyen Digital HDX Pro C USB-C Aluminum External Hard Drive Enclosure with Fan (HDXP-C-RT)'. https://www.amazon.com/Oyen-Digital-Aluminum-Enclosure-HDXP-C-RT/dp/B0B94LG25F/

Its a bit pricey but I killed a HDD in an enclosure in the past from heat, this thing has a fan, ventilated face, and includes USB C to C and USB-C to A. I also like that this thing by default does not put the drive to sleep, they include a separate firmware if you want that capability (I don't).

pretty neat you can daisy chain it.

 

[Vario]

pretty neat you can daisy chain it.

Well I figured I'd post a follow up on this enclosure, it seems decent. The build quality is quite nice, very rugged, not necessarily portable (heavy) but it feels pretty solid and isn't likely to slide off a surface. After 45 minutes of writes it reached 48C maximum and averaged 41C. There is a dedicated transformer inside the enclosure. The fan can be loud but it is moving air. The USBC/C cable it came with did not work reliably and was dropping signal and only writing 80MB/s, but using the USBC/USBA cable reliably put out ~250MB/s for the 45 minutes of testing. I may contact them about replacing the USBC/C or just buy a generic. While the total price of 8TB + enclosure was $240, as a combination it seems to work well.