Anyone with true HDDs still around here?

[Solaris17]

Bought 6x 20TB HDDs for the storage array for my cluster.

NAS at home has 5x 20TB HDDs for the storage array

SAN has 4x 18TB HDDs for the storage array.

 

[Lew Zealand]

Does it look like a CMR HDD that's in really rough shape? (Like HDDs that are at "the-click-of-death's-door")

No, honestly they did a very good job with the tech as most of the time it just works like a regular HDD and I haven't quite got the hang of what access patterns really trigger the SMR to bog down. However I'm just using them for backup and some direct file copies, and not as a boot drive.

I'll put it this way:

SMR HDDs work better as regular HDDs than cheap QLC SATA SSDs work as SATA SSDs. My 1TB cheapo QLC SATA SSD will bog down once you write more than a few GB to it and it bogs down real bad like the bad old days using XP on a 5400 RPM HDD with Norton AV running in the background. Just go get some coffee or watch a show.

SMR HDD transfer rates slow down to 1/3-1/4 their speed for a few to 10 seconds and then rev up to speed again for a minute or so before repeat, while that QLC drive would drop to KBs per second for 30s-1 min and then up to full speed for the same amount and then back again.

 

[A Computer Guy]

I have a few Synology NAS's with WD-Reds & Toshiba NAS drives. Also I've been playing around with ARECA Raid Card ARC-1882 (PCIe 3.0) I got cheap from ebay because I had some 2TB WD-Reds laying around that needed a purpose and now serve as a RAID6 hot backup and local write abuse device so I don't wear out by normal SSD's so fast.

 

[eidairaman1]

1 TB Velociraptor

 

[Launcestonian]

Got an old 1TB WD Green I bought about 15 yrs ago, still works fine. But it's only a 5400rpm model. Used as backups of backups...

 

[DaemonForce]

20GB Quantum 5400RPM (Out of operation)
80GB Maxtor 5400RPM (Out of operation)
300GB Maxtor 7200RPM (Dying)
320GB WD Blue
750GB Seagate 7200RPM (Dead)
2TB WD Green 5900RPM (Dying)
4.9TB Whitelabel 7200RPM
16TB Toshiba 7200RPM

I certainly don't have very good priorities as I'm still holding onto a LOT of junk. I'll stick to CMR drives for now.
When SSD prices start to drop below the threshold and directly compete with HDDs, it's over.

 

[AusWolf]

You need to go into Control Panel and then the power options and then you should be able to disable that. It's 20 minutes by default.

I wish I could also change something for Windows not to turn my HDDs on whenever it feels like for no reason whatsoever. It's so annoying that I'm tempted to buy a USB dock and use them as external drives.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

I still use quite a few HDD. I am happy with the performance of modern HDDs in properly-tiered storage, and i think they work just fine for deep storage. I do like the ease and speed of SSD....and professionally I love carrying around a 1tb flash drive in my pocket instead of a stack of Roms and Floppies like the old days.

So many choices....Truly a golden era for storage.

Also, velociraptors are great. short-stroke and wide-stripe ftw!!

 

[Bones]

I have six 250GB Velociraptor drivces here I use for different things.
Might not be the biggest in size/storage capacity but it's nearly the same as running a SSD so I'm fine with it - Plus I got them cheap too.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

I have six 250GB Velociraptor drivces here I use for different things.
Might not be the biggest in size/storage capacity but it's nearly the same as running a SSD so I'm fine with it - Plus I got them cheap too.

I had a pair in Raid 0 back in the day. So fast. For it's time anyways. I had push pull fan configuration and was in an Antec 900 Case. Good times.

 

[inquisitor1]

multiple HDD 500/1000/2000 for storage archiving of wedding pics. my worry is about ssd and long term storage. im worried because they may not be connected for a few years that it may lose its memory. some hdd have sat for 3-5 years and will probably be fine, but very worried with ssd to not connect them for 3-5 years.

 

[Zazigalka]

What's a "true" HDD? A certain type? Or are you asking for those of us that we actually use them as opposed to just owning them but have them sitting in storage?

I qualify for both, actually. I have three HDDs that I actively use, and five that I don't.

One is a 5 TB Western Digital Black, and it is for games (don't worry, ones that warrant it get moved to an SSD while playing). This will likely be the next drive I replace with an SSD, but it'll have to wait until 6 TB+ SSDs are cheap enough to justify replacing a drive that isn't slowing me down (since I can move games over to another SSD), so... it'll probably be a while.

A second is an 8 TB Western Digital Blue, and it is for storage. I can't justify going to SSD for storage until multi-TB SSDs are cheap (as in, below $200 each at least and we're many, many years off from that).

A third is the same as the above, but it is inside an external enclosure and it's used for backups (basically, a duplicate of the other 8 TB drive).

I'll probably be using HDDs in some form for a while yet.

I also have other hard drives that are no longer in use.

Two are a pair of 4 TB Western Digital Blues (not the SMR ones). I used them until a few years ago, and I replaced them with the aforementioned 8 TB drives as I outgrew them.

Another is a portable 5 TB 2.5" Western Digital Elements. SMR, and slow. It was the old external drive.

My final two are a pair of 640 GB Western Digital Blues (from back when they were still 7,200 RPM) and they are from like late 2007 or 2008?

I remember a thing called SSHDD, a HDD with a small SSD serving as cache.

 

[AleXXX666]

Not necessarily desktop specific ones. There are tonnes on there but mainly for NAS/Enterprise or Surveillance. The only regular desktop drive i can see is a Seagate BarraCuda while the rest are refurbished old hard drives or drives with questionable origin.

of course I can use hard drives that were made for NAS/Enterprise or Surveillance but they tend to be slower and built with a lot more redundancy/reliability in mind which means they cost more. Thus you are still paying inflated prices.

The Seagate Barra's only run at 5400rpm.

so you better get "el cheapo" Toshiba/Seagate that will fail soon rather than paying the price for more RELIABLE HDD?

 

[Ahhzz]

I just found a firecuda...

View attachment 364149

Now compare that to the price of the Barra.

View attachment 364150

Thats quite a jump in price. But then again CMR vs SMR and the RPM.

for that price diff, I'd absolutely take the fire....

 

[FreedomEclipse]

so you better get "el cheapo" Toshiba/Seagate that will fail soon rather than paying the price for more RELIABLE HDD?

idk. But what i do know is ever since Samsung sold their side of the HDD business. Ive exclusively used Toshiba internal drives and only one has failed on me.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Well, I have multiple HDDs that pass basic tests required for data to not be corrupted. I also got a brand new 1 TB HDD this month.

I have 3HDDs in my main system, 2 in my gaming system and many others in various duties. So yes, people still use hard drives. Why do you ask?

What's a "true" HDD?

No SSD hybrid types.

Bought 6x 20TB HDDs for the storage array for my cluster.

Gotta tell you, that is hard-core!

I just found a firecuda...

View attachment 364149

Now compare that to the price of the Barra.

View attachment 364150

Thats quite a jump in price. But then again CMR vs SMR and the RPM.

Go for the FireCuda and the 8TB version. You'll thank yourself later.

 

[eidairaman1]

I remember a thing called SSHDD, a HDD with a small SSD serving as cache.

I had 1, it would stop the spindle at inopportune times and there was no way of changing it at the firmware level, it's why I replaced it with a Velociraptor. Having a sshdd caused games to lag out because of that above

 

[AVATARAT]

12TB Seagate Exos HDD with 6TB games on it, cached with 24GB RAM via PrimoCache + 2x4GB Ramdisks for smooth and faster loading of games.
If anyone thinks hard drives are death, it's not

 

[ajcardiac]

I have a number or retired 1-3TB WD or Seagate HDDs in a stash in my attic (and possibly some really old Maxtor and WD drives from decades ago).
With the exception of a game SATA SSD in my daughter's PC, all drives are now m.2 format (one SATA and the remaining NVME 3.0./4.0).
I rather like having no SSD power/data cables from the PSU in-situ.

 

[agent_x007]

Latest drive I got (new) last year, Exos X20 20TB (tweaked to use 4Kn, instead of 512E) :

^Replaced failing HGST 6TB one.
But I'll get another big drive in near future, probably WD HC550 18TB, since I had two HGST 6TB.
This is for main PC, I have no NAS.

 

[AusWolf]

Latest drive I got (new), Exos X20 20TB (tweaked to use 4Kn, instead of 512E) :

I'm thinking about getting the exact same drive eventually because no hard drive is large enough. Those speeds are impressive! How noisy is it?

 

[Steevo]

2 12TB enterprise drives spinning, two 3TB drives with over 10 years of spin time that still test perfect, and a 4TB backup drive that is still going strong.
Eventually I may need to get a tape drive for backups.

 

[agent_x007]

I'm thinking about getting the exact same drive eventually because no hard drive is large enough. Those speeds are impressive! How noisy is it?

Noticeable enough to not want it working near my bed where I sleep (subjective, my main PC is 3 feet/1m from my sleeping head).
In normal use, I have headphones on my head. So noise isn't a problem, and don't keep my PC on when I'm sleeping .
Also, I still have the other HGST in my main PC, but that one is more noisy (it has 26k+ hrs of use time [bought used]).

PS. I used this guide : LINK, to disable some functions (which may impact noise or frequency of "clicking").

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

12TB Seagate Exos HDD with 6TB games on it, cached with 24GB RAM via PrimoCache + 2x4GB Ramdisks for smooth and faster loading of games.
If anyone thinks hard drives are death, it's not

I really like Primocache. I have fooled around with some pretty wild arrays with it.

 

[Zazigalka]

Have one, but it's for storing stuff I only need once in a while only, or just backup. a 5400rpm seahawk 2tb, nice and quiet. Rest is on ssds. I wouldn't trust hdd's to use them as main drives, most of ones I've owned failed after about 5-6 years. ssd failures are less frequent, especially when you use them for reads not writes mostly. I think the weakest point is the OS drive, that's why I decided to go with a smaller one but bought MLC instead.