Sorting through WD Internal Backup HDD's

greatlakesguy

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Jan 8, 2018
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First post- Tom's has been a great reference through the years; I appreciate all who contribute.

Context- my original secondary drive (seagate 1tb SSHD) failed earlier than expected (22 months), just before I planned to sell and upgrade. Only 1/2 full, but the 10% I didn't have backed up I'm seriously considering paying to have it professionally recovered.
Not fooled by the slightly snake oily almighty $10m "ours is bestest" ISO 70000 clean room... but it may very well cost me $1k.

That only matters so that you know how intently I'm set on guarding against a future drive failure.
And...just warming up my verbose tendencies..:lol:

Was neutral on Seagate before the failure, but from reading, seems they have a below average rep compared with WD, Toshiba, etc. MAY be mostly due to 1 constantly bricking version of the Baraccuda drive, but can't say I'm considering them, though they do well on price wars, that's not my primary concern.

Knocked Toshiba out due to tough RMA process. HGST I can't seem to find what I'm after, since it's mostly only their pre-WD acquisition drives on the market. Maybe others compete on the level I want, but not widely aware of most (samsung?).

So, I don't care about the speed or the noise, just durability/lifespan/ruggedness/warranty
They will have an easy life, but I want a smart option without going overboard on cost.

Found the internal hdd colors (black, blue, red, etc) different purposes don't apply to similarly colored external drives- plan to buy an internal colored hdd or enterprise grade & case to use for external drive for weekly/monthly cumulative backups..and a backup for that backup...

Get the general purpose of vibration protection in the context of a NAS drive setup (wd red) and have never dropped a drive, but...
1. Assuming the slight vibration protection is NOT insurance against that? Is the drive is overall more toughly built on the hardware or software side...

2.Thoughts on why the NAS drive warranty is 3yrs to the wd black 5yrs but the red seems built for tougher use.. i.e. NAS use & 2x load/unload cycle capacity?
Neutralizing higher build quality and more straining field use?

Same for the purple "24/7 surveillance"- same warranty as red but 1/2 load capacity (= to black).

3. So, will a drive intended for 24/7 use (purple) and/or above average vibration (red) be more reliable/last longer in settings with that not constantly present?

4. Should I be more confident in the 5yr black warranty, 3yr 24/7 purple design intent or 3yr NAS designed drive? Or hey, throw the RE/gold line in for good measure

5. In the event a drive failed, the industry people I've talked to seem to indicate >1tb is more costly to recover. Is it better to buy (2) 1tb's (duplicate content) or (1) 2tb in this situation.