Best 4 TB Desktop 3.5 inch internal hard drive to go into an enclosure

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 26, 2018

Hi everyone, I was wondering what 4 TB 3.5 inch hard drive you think would be best to go into a hard drive enclosure. I am looking for a drive that will be really reliable since I am going to be using it for image backups of my computer and for storing files when the internal hard drive in my computer runs out of space. Also, it would be nice if the drive was relatively quiet since I will be doing my backups usually while I am asleep or at night. I also want a drive that is fast but I care more about reliability than performance and quietness. I don't really care about the price as long as its a good drive and will last me many years. Lastly, I do not care about the brand of hard drive that you recommend. Thank you, for your help.

velocityg4 · Apr 26, 2018

Going by Backblaze failure statistics. HGST (Hitachi) Ultrastar and Toshiba hard drives are the most reliable.

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 26, 2018

velocityg4 :

Whats different about those three brands or are they all about the same?

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 26, 2018

Do you think it is overkill to get an Enterprise or NAS drive. Also, I have realized that I am going to need a 4 TB drive instead of a 2 TB one

USAFRet · Apr 27, 2018

Zombie_hunter99 :

A 4TB Seagate Ironwolf is only $120. Do that
https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-IronWolf-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST4000VN008/dp/B01LOOJBQY

velocityg4 · Apr 27, 2018

Two brands. Ultrastar is an HGST line. Toshiba sample sizes are small. It's hard to say how reliable they really are.

Here you can see their reports.
https://www.backblaze.com/b2/hard-drive-test-data.html

If you scroll down this report. You can see failure rates from 2013 to 2017.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-for-2017/

HGST averaged 0.85%.

Toshiba 1.3% the sample size was quite small so not statistically significant

Western Digital 3.96%

Seagate 6.73% with some massive spikes

If you dig into the reports further and see more models not in the summary. HGST only had one bad quarter with one model (I didn't look at every single report). Otherwise it’s been excellent with their Deskstar and Ultrastar lines. Ultrastar a tiny bit better. So, I’d take HGST over any other brand. Their prices are also usually quite good. Ultrastar are enterprise models but often cheaper than Deskstar for some reason. There’s no guarantee all HGST models are good or that you won’t get a bum unit. They just do the best statistically.

Western Digital had a few bad runs.

Seagate had a lot of bad models. Although they seem to have turned things around with 6TB and higher models. I’d never buy anything 4TB or lower from them.

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 27, 2018

velocityg4 :

Two brands. Ultrastar is an HGST line. Toshiba sample sizes are small. It's hard to say how reliable they really are.

Here you can see their reports.
https://www.backblaze.com/b2/hard-drive-test-data.html

If you scroll down this report. You can see failure rates from 2013 to 2017.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-for-2017/

HGST averaged 0.85%.

Toshiba 1.3% the sample size was quite small so not statistically significant

Western Digital 3.96%

Seagate 6.73% with some massive spikes

If you dig into the reports further and see more models not in the summary. HGST only had one bad quarter with one model (I didn't look at every single report). Otherwise it’s been excellent with their Deskstar and Ultrastar lines. Ultrastar a tiny bit better. So, I’d take HGST over any other brand. Their prices are also usually quite good. Ultrastar are enterprise models but often cheaper than Deskstar for some reason. There’s no guarantee all HGST models are good or that you won’t get a bum unit. They just do the best statistically.

Western Digital had a few bad runs.

Seagate had a lot of bad models. Although they seem to have turned things around with 6TB and higher models. I’d never buy anything 4TB or lower from them.

How come on Amazon there are more reviews for the HGST Deskstar than the Ultrastar?

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 27, 2018

Do I need Sata III and USB 3.0 because a lot of the 3.5 inch hard drive enclosures only have USB 2.0 or SATA II connectors since mechanical hard drives usually only have read/write speeds of 100 m/s? Should I get a hard drive enclosure or docking station? Which one will protect my hard drive more? Lastly, do the UltraStar and DeskStar drives run hot because there are some hard drive enclosures that have fans in them?

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 27, 2018

Is this Ultrastar Hard Drive Refurbished or used: https://www.amazon.com/HGST-Ultrastar-3-5-Inch-Enterprise-0F14683/dp/B007VL8WU6 and this one too: https://www.amazon.com/HITACHI-0F14683-Ultrastar-A7K4000-internal/dp/B008RTDN6E/ref=pd_sbs_147_9?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B008RTDN6E&pd_rd_r=M68TZ78KDBJZXM3VS29E&pd_rd_w=i1EzA&pd_rd_wg=Nm8QF&psc=1&refRID=M68TZ78KDBJZXM3VS29E

Zombie_hunter99 · Apr 27, 2018

USAFRet :

This drive only operates at 5,900 RPM

velocityg4 · Apr 27, 2018

Zombie_hunter99 :

If there is a new option. It should be the default given to you by Amazon. Which it is for me anyway.

You can always look at the seller options. To see the condition listed by the individual seller.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B008RTDN6E/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B007VL8WU6/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

I can only assume there are more reviews because more people buy them for some reason. Prices fluctuate. While ultrastar are cheaper now on Amazon. Deskstar are probably cheaper more often.

USAFRet · Apr 27, 2018

Zombie_hunter99 :

"...for image backups of my computer and for storing files when the internal hard drive in my computer runs out of space"

Will it really matter?

LordVile · Apr 27, 2018

Zombie_hunter99 :

Hi everyone, I was wondering what 4 TB 3.5 inch hard drive you think would be best to go into a hard drive enclosure. I am looking for a drive that will be really reliable since I am going to be using it for image backups of my computer and for storing files when the internal hard drive in my computer runs out of space. Also, it would be nice if the drive was relatively quiet since I will be doing my backups usually while I am asleep or at night. I also want a drive that is fast but I care more about reliability than performance and quietness. I don't really care about the price as long as its a good drive and will last me many years. Lastly, I do not care about the brand of hard drive that you recommend. Thank you, for your help.

ironwolfs or WD golds I would think

seagate_surfer · Apr 27, 2018

Hello Zombie_hunter99. First of all thank you for considering Seagate drives. Here is a bit more info on IronWolf drives and their characteristics. These drives also have Health Management which will monitor the drives. Also, included with IronWolf drives is a 2 year rescue service once you register them. Whatever brand you choose, we thank you for considering Seagate.

Zombie_hunter99 · May 4, 2018

I have decided to get the HGST Deskstar 4 TB Hard drive. Now I am looking for an enclosure or docking station for my hard drive. Should I get an enclosure or a docking station for my hard drive? The Enclosure or docking station be on my windowsill, desk or next my computer on the piece of wood that goes underneath my computer. I have found some USB 2.0 SATA III enclosures, but was wondering if the transfer rate would slow since they use USB 2.0 to connect to my computer but SATA to connect to the Hard Drive. Will this create a bottleneck in transfer rates. Since I will be using the hard do backups so it will be running for a few hours once a week or a few times a month. I have found a couple of enclosures that seem are pretty good, but they can make the hard drives get hot or they don't have good airflow when they are used for long period of time. Do you think temperature will be an issue for the HGST Deskstar hard drive since it spins at 7200 RPM when being used for long period of time. The enclosures that I am looking at are: https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Enclosure-External-Aluminum-function/dp/B005KGNXTE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
and https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/product-reviews/B00LS5NFQ2/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_paging_btm_next_2?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&filterByStar=critical&pageNumber=2 Thank you, hope you can answer my questions.

USAFRet · May 4, 2018

I see no reason the Sabrent from Amazon would not work.

Zombie_hunter99 · May 15, 2018

When I ordered the HGST 4 TB hard drive and plugged it in to my computer. After I did this I noticed a loud clicking/tapping noise coming from my new hard drive. I know its my hard drive because the noise was not there before I put it in and when I took it out the noise went away. I did two diagnostic tests on my hard drive and it passed both of them. I also noticed a grinding noise coming from the drive when I first plugged it in to my computer Thinking that there was something wrong with my hard drive I returned it and ordered a anther new hard drive that is the same model. The new drive one that I ordered has the same problem but it is not as loud. What is going on with my hard drives? Could both of of them be going bad bad? They are both brand new drives manufactured in February 2018.

velocityg4 · May 15, 2018

Being noisy is a pretty common complaint about HGST. As I recall when I had them. They were much louder than other drives. If you filter Amazon reviews with loud or noisy. You get a lot of results.

As long as it works fine. It shouldn't be an issue. Unless you can't stand it.

Lots of clicking, clunking and whirring.

mdd1963 · May 15, 2018

My advice- Get a 5.25" Icy Dock bay that accepts both a 2.5" and a 3.5" drive, and skip the enclosure entirely.

Sticking with native SATA is always more reliable than transferring large amounts of data to/from USB....

Not every drive can be powered within an external enclosure that is not using an external power adapter....; often only slow 5400 rpm drives are suitable.

Zombie_hunter99 · May 15, 2018

velocityg4 :

I get a clicking/tapping like every few seconds though. Does this mean that the drive is fine?

Zombie_hunter99 · May 15, 2018

mdd1963 :

I will use SATA for transferring large amounts of data and I will use the docking station that I have for transferring smaller amounts of data.

Best 4 TB Desktop 3.5 inch internal hard drive to go into an enclosure

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