Quiet, Cheap 2TB hard drive?

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Lord Davidson

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I am looking for a quiet, cheap, and reliable 2TB hard drive, to store photos and videos on. Unsurprisingly, there are a lot fewer hard drive reviews online than any other computer part I looked for so far. Help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
David.
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Hey there, David.

As you haven't specified if you need an external or an internal drive, if you decide to go for a WD drive, I'd recommend an option for either choice.
If you're looking for an external drive, then I'd suggest that you take a look at the WD Elements portable drive - WD Elements Portable. It's a simple and reliable external HDD. It's warranty is:
1 year - Americas
2 years - EMEA
3 years - APAC/Japan
As for an internal drive, I'd recommend that you take a look at the WD Green drive. It's designed to be used for secondary storage and it runs cool and quiet. It comes with a 2-year limited warranty and you can take a look at all of its features here: WD Green.

I should mention that having your photos written on only one drive is not considered as a backup. You should have at least one copy of them written somewhere else (a different drive, cloud, etc.)

Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD
 
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Dark Lord of Tech

Dark Lord of Tech

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($68.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $68.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 10:57 EDT-0400
 
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Lord Davidson

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thanks, these are all very helpful. It's probably worth stating that I am using this as primary storage, not a backup.
Looking into your suggestions, the WD Green seems great IF it can be used as a primary drive.
the Seagate Barracuda is faster, and probably better suited for a primary drive, but I'm going to wait for second opinion before I consider that to be true.
Also, It's probably less quiet.
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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over on http://forums.anandtech.com/ there's a fairly lengthy discussion on the seagate 2TB 3.5" drives having a high failure rate

fwiw, i have been using the WD Green 4TB drives (six of them) for awhile now for backup video storage and like them - haven't had an issue with any of them. For working copies of the vids i have 12 of the seagate Backup Slim Plus 2 TB (basically a 2.5" laptop drive in an external enclosure) - main reason they're my working copies is that i can take them in the RV without taking up a lot of space. They've also proven reliable (so far).

I only went for the WD Green drives as i caught them on sale for $99 which worked out to $25 / TB. The Seagate Backup Slims occasionally go on sale for $79

But i don't think the WD green will work as an OS drive unless you run the "firmware" fix that removes the "sleep" function - the drive goes into sleep mode when not used for a short period of time.

There have been a number of threads about the most reliable 3.5" drives and WD and HGST seem to be the popular consensus - fwiw
 
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

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Does the WD rep have any comment on this?

If I want to fine tune my WD green's sleep rate, do I HAVE to resort to third-party solutions?
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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the drive isn't going to be used as an OS drive, it should be fine as it - when it goes into sleep mode, it's maybe 7-8 seconds to wake up - while not instant, that short delay hasn't bothered me

either TigerDirect or newegg has the 3 TB version on sale for $93 shipped - i've been waiting for the 4TB to go back on sale (for $99) for 8-9 months now and still hoping they'll revisit that price so i can buy two more. Newegg's everyday price is $135 shipped.
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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then just google for the "firmware" update app or whatever it's called and run it. The drive itself, once awake, transfers data or rather writes video files at pretty impressive speeds, so it's inherent transfer speed isn't slow. Otherwise go with one of the red or black WD series.

SR-71 is a pretty knowledgeable individual, and his post above reminds me he seems to favor the seagate drives.

Personally, if what i understand is correct, that this will be a primary drive for storage of photos/videos, i'd strongly suggest whatever brand you go with, to also grab a second drive and use it for backup - murphy's law will bite you in the backside and it will hurt, if you don't
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Actually the WD Green drive can work as an OS drive as well, but as most of you have already mentioned, this is not what it's designed for and a 7200RPM drive or an SSD would be the better choice.
The firmware upgrade you are referring to is this WD Idle it works with WD Green as well, not just the specified models.
@Lord Davidson, since you want just to store data, a WD Green drive would be a nice option. On the other hand, if you plan on installing demanding games or other programs, I'd recommend a 7200RPM drive, as @SR-71 Blackbird already suggested.
Of course at the end of the day, the choice is yours and you should pick whichever drive you think will suit you best, no matter the brand.

Cheers! :)
 
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