• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Long Term Storage (rarely accessed) HDD vs. SSD or? And which models?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.
Well no, you haven't wasted anything. You still got plenty of storage:) it's not the destination, it's the drive there. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

My house is small, those external drives are bigger and more fragile and slower. I didn't need an external drive. I needed an internal drive used as an external drive for backup purposes only and then put in storage, there is absolutely no advantage of having an external drive over an internal. Which is originally what I thought. I have no idea why I let myself be convinced by you guys that I needed an external...
 
Dear Sir, calm down. I you're worried about "fragility" of external vs. internal, you're taking things way too far. Please don't go nucular over it.

Both will work fine for storage and lots of other things(soccer excluded). They're also plenty strong. They won't fall apart from a sneeze, although if you do, care should be taken not to get them too moist.

Just save data to them and rest assured, they'll be fine:)

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

Also, rember, external drives are meant to be stored externally. On the other hand, internal drive will not fare well outside of it's intended habitat. They prefer to be inside the case. You did everything right:)

Get some rest
 
Dear Sir, calm down. I you're worried about "fragility" of external vs. internal, you're taking things way too far. Please don't go nucular over it.

Both will work fine for storage and lots of other things(soccer excluded). They're also plenty strong. They won't fall apart from a sneeze, although if you do, care should be taken not to get them too moist.

Just save data to them and rest assured, they'll be fine:)

- - - Auto-Merged Double Post - - -

Also, rember, external drives are meant to be stored externally. On the other hand, internal drive will not fare well outside of it's intended habitat. They prefer to be inside the case. You did everything right:)

Get some rest

I'm not going nuclear over it, and I am calm. I should have used my own best judgement on this instead. I have plastic containers made for internal drives to store them already. I should have just gone with what I knew already.
 
Well... In my experience external drives _are_ cheaper than raw drives. And if you just want the raw drive, then all is not lost either : https://www.howtogeek.com/324769/ho...es-for-cheap-by-shucking-external-drives/amp/


Edit: FWIW a NAS is a great idea. While it doesn't solve the issue of off-site backups, there is a ton of things that can be done with old cheap hardware and a pile of large HDD. I'm just saying that you shouldn't underestimate the convenience and utility of running a simple home server, but that I understand it may not be your thing right now.

Home pc + NAS +external stored off-site fulfills triple redundancy and is a good thing
 
Last edited:
Well... In my experience external drives _are_ cheaper than raw drives.
Agreed. I just saw the 8TB Seagate External on sale for $140US. (I paid $10 more :( ) Find me an internal 8TB for less than $200.

BTW, smartmontools reports the model number as ST8000DM004-2CX188. ST8000DM004 is the model number for the Seagate 8TB Barracuda. I think if I shucked that drive (which I do not plan to do) that's what I'd find inside. (And Amazon lists it at $199.48US so I should have said "much less than $200US ;) )

The 8TB WD External (WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN) lists at $160US whereas the 8TB internal (WD80EFAX) is $260.

I would expect the externals (with a similar internal) would be more expensive due to the need for the housing, SATA<->USB adapter, cable and wall wort. In addition they are more likely to get jostled around and it seems like that would lead to more warranty claims. My expectations would be wrong.

One thing to be cautious about is that some external drives use SMR recording technology to squeeze more on the drive. Apparently this really slows them down. (I've checked copies on my external and they run ~100MB/s which seems reasonable to me.)

I've also heard that USB is broken in that the protocol allows the device to report that data have been written when it is still in the buffer. That is a Bad Thing™ if a write operation is interrupted for any reason (crash, power failure, trip over cable ...)
 
Agreed. I just saw the 8TB Seagate External on sale for $140US. (I paid $10 more :( ) Find me an internal 8TB for less than $200.

BTW, smartmontools reports the model number as ST8000DM004-2CX188. ST8000DM004 is the model number for the Seagate 8TB Barracuda. I think if I shucked that drive (which I do not plan to do) that's what I'd find inside. (And Amazon lists it at $199.48US so I should have said "much less than $200US ;) )

The 8TB WD External (WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN) lists at $160US whereas the 8TB internal (WD80EFAX) is $260.

I would expect the externals (with a similar internal) would be more expensive due to the need for the housing, SATA<->USB adapter, cable and wall wort. In addition they are more likely to get jostled around and it seems like that would lead to more warranty claims. My expectations would be wrong.

One thing to be cautious about is that some external drives use SMR recording technology to squeeze more on the drive. Apparently this really slows them down. (I've checked copies on my external and they run ~100MB/s which seems reasonable to me.)

I've also heard that USB is broken in that the protocol allows the device to report that data have been written when it is still in the buffer. That is a Bad Thing™ if a write operation is interrupted for any reason (crash, power failure, trip over cable ...)

Interesting, but still move cables and crap to keep track of which one goes with which drive. I guess I see the benefit and disadvantage of both, but I wrote below, we don't really know what sort of drive is in the box. I am also not sure if my drives are using SMR, that is something I did not check, but appreciate you bringing that up.


Well... In my experience external drives _are_ cheaper than raw drives. And if you just want the raw drive, then all is not lost either : https://www.howtogeek.com/324769/ho...es-for-cheap-by-shucking-external-drives/amp/


Edit: FWIW a NAS is a great idea. While it doesn't solve the issue of off-site backups, there is a ton of things that can be done with old cheap hardware and a pile of large HDD. I'm just saying that you shouldn't underestimate the convenience and utility of running a simple home server, but that I understand it may not be your thing right now.

Home pc + NAS +external stored off-site fulfills triple redundancy and is a good thing

Thanks I will have a look at this. but just because the externals are cheaper does not mean they are better quality. You know, I contacted WD, and I asked them what's inside, blue, green, red, black or purple, they said none of them. So I question the quality of the drive. No specs. (EDIT: I read the link you posted, interesting. Not sure what my Seagate external would be), but sadly the WD that I bought failed to install and update the software provided. I am returning it. Not sure what brand I am going to go with because it seems that I can only buy seagate and WD in Taiwan. And I don't want two of the same brand drives. I need to find another solution. I am disappointed that the wheels are just spinning but nothing is being installed. Seagate was plug and play, it installed the necessary drives immediately, WD did not. Not sure if it is my pc issue, or the drive issues, but I am sending it back.

Also, with the WD, I can see the HDD inside, no protection. It is hanging in a plastic box, tell me how this is better than an internal. hahahahaa. Same same same.

I will check and read over the link you provided though, thank you!!!!

EDIT: So I decided to buy one of the 2.5in portable drives as a back up instead of the WD 3.5in. I went with another Seagate, but different type of drive. I think it is still an HDD, but just 2.5in instead of 3.5in. Good move?
 
Last edited:
So, that 2.5in portable Seagate drive is very small and only has one cable for the USB connection where it also gets it's power from, no AC line. I am just wondering the reliability of these small HDDs compared to the bigger externals with the 3.5in drive?
 
5-10 years? or even longer? Nothing about the size matters then. 2.5 or 3.5in same same same... ? I don't think I will be accessing it that much. What I do not like with these is there is no on/off switch. You unplug it, kills the power, that seems more risky.
 
So, that 2.5in portable Seagate drive is very small and only has one cable for the USB connection where it also gets it's power from, no AC line. I am just wondering the reliability of these small HDDs compared to the bigger externals with the 3.5in drive?

i have two old 300GB WD 2.5" passports? i think they are called, they are atleast 7 years old still going strong i rarely use them.
 
Too bad M-disc 100GB discs are so expensive. They will outlast any HDD or SSD. Sadly I haven't read this whole thread, but if you're doing HDDs make sure you have multiple backups. I have a couple of 8TB drives that I got from best buy for cheap (WD white labels) that I keep my 3rd and 4th backups on.

I use sync toy to back all the new stuff up every month or so. I'd love to go with M-disc and probably with for the more important photos and such, but sadly a 25 pack of 25GB discs is still $55...
 
Back