Advice before buying a hard disk and SSD

[gm446 2]

Peace,

I am interested in expanding the storage array in my studio and would love to know about the products I have chosen.

The motherboard is ASUS X570-P and currently I have two hard disks one of 1TB and another one almost 10 years old of סמסונג 300GB, in addition I have an external Transcend 1TB drive, in principle I am happy with it but its USB port does some problems so it is always connected to the computer and I do not really move it.

Plus I have SSD SATA 128GB and more SSD של ADATA XPG M2 512GB which runs the system and studio software.

I am interested in purchasing a 4TB hard disk that will be used for mass storage of files, backups and media, for that I thought of WD RED 4TB 7200RPM

I saw that it is designed for NAS, is there any functional difference or can it function on PC in the same way?

Regarding the SSD, I am very happy with what XPG is so I thought of buying it one with a capacity of 1TB, are there any other products I should consider?

Regarding an external drive I thought of the following product:
external hard drive Western Digital Elements WDBUZG0010BBK 1TB USB 3.0

Will it provide the work and be reliable and stable enough?

Thanks in advance

Edited February 12 By gm446

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[gm446 2]

Regarding SSD, I am starting to think more in the direction of PCI-E 4

Samsung 980 Pro 1TB or ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 1TB

[topcat115 0]

If you want a hard disk for massive file storage, then why do not you want the disk with the largest volume that it currently has 18TB?

[gm446 2]

Quote of topcat115

If you want a hard disk for massive file storage, then why do not you want the disk with the largest volume that it currently has 18TB?

I'm undecided whether to take a larger volume, price is of course the main consideration.
Anyway my question is more about the model, I see that the WD RED 4TB is cheaper than GOLD in the same volume, but at 8TB it is the other way around, I wonder if there is something I miss with the WD models and if there is any significant difference between them. Thanks.

[gm446 2]

I see that there is also the WD Purple 8TB that comes at a really reasonable price, but in terms of technical data I can not stand a significant difference between them

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[23r01 11]

The different "colors" of WD drives indicate their intended use. Although you can use any color for any purpose, each series has advantages and disadvantages that are better suited to its intended use (and of course a suitable price). The series currently are:

• Red / Red Pro - Designed for use within multiple disk (RAID) arrays and systems storage Dedicated (NAS). It is built to work 24/7 (without shutdown) and provide good performance and high reliability with lower sensitivity to shocks. It is also noisy and overheated relative to other types and tends to be more expensive because it is designed for the institutional market. Yes, it will fit a regular computer, but it's probably not the type you are looking for.
• Purple - Designed for storage תמונות And movies, usually as a dedicated disc for security cameras. Its uniqueness is that if it develops Bad Sectors, it usually does so in a way that the image or movie in the faulty part can be deciphered תמונות And movies!). It is a disk designed for a specific niche.
• Blue - the average "all-purpose" series. Medium speed, medium survivability, medium volumes and cheap price.
• Black - The series designed for performance. Medium volumes, good survivability, high speed and high price. This is the series from which you want to play games or to which you want to directly encode movies if you do not useSSD.
• Green - The Economy Series. Large volumes, slow speed, quiet, energy efficient, cheap price. Good for keeping data that you do not access (and especially do not write to) often such as an archive Movies. Very bad for files that you update frequently because it tends, for reasons of economy, to slow down when you are not writing and speed up again when you start writing instead of turning around all the time.
• Gold - the premium series. "The best there is" - more durable than Red, larger than Green, faster than Black and expensive accordingly. Maayan is an improved series that is more intended for the institutional market but not for NAS servers. By and large these are the excellent discs of the former HGST (Hitachi) company, which WD bought a few years ago and recently they have assimilated their technology under the name Gold. They still sell almost identical disks under the name / series DeskStar, i.e. DeskStar = Gold with differences in the internal software of the disk (Firmware). By the way, two years ago WD announced that they were eliminating the Gold series altogether, and only recently did they decide to change direction and bring it back with HGST technology.

 

Bottom line, do not buy Red or Purple. If you want a backup disk and archive only for you on Green, if you are looking for something generic for any purpose (backups, daily use, etc.) buy Blue and if you care about the speed of the disk and / or its reliability (which will last a long time without glitches) and / or you Want huge volumes then invest in Gold. You probably do not want Black because it is especially good for high speed (computer games ...) - if you weigh it you are already better off Gold, unless you get the Black much cheaper. 

 

Hope this makes you some order ...

Edited February 17 By 23r01
I tried to be clearer in my recommendations

[gm446 2]

Quote of 23r01

The different "colors" of WD drives indicate their intended use. Although you can use any color for any purpose, each series has advantages and disadvantages that are better suited to its intended use (and of course a suitable price). The series currently are:

 

Hope this makes you some order ...

Wow thank you so much for the detail and investment you made me order a second before I buy the RED, I will go for the GOLD. Thank you!

[gm446 2]

Quote of 23r01

Hope this makes you some order ...

So I purchased the WD Gold 8TB, mounted it on my computer and I get the following error message when I try to run it:

I googled and did not find a solution to the problem, does anyone have any idea how I should act? Did I purchase a defective hard disk?

[23r01 11]

Do you see the disc inBIOS When turning on the computer? Does he recognize it, that is, show the model number and / or size?

 

If not, first check the connections: Is the disk well connected to the data cable and the power cable (non-loose or crooked connection)? Are the cables connected to the board and supply in a good way? Are they intact, meaning the cable does not look torn and the connectors at the end are well connected?

 

You can try buying a "technician cable" that is actually a converter USB For sata (and a suitable power cord): it will cost tens of shekels and will allow you to connect the disk as an external disk and bypass all the wires and internal connections. If the computer is unable to read the disk in this way then the disk will probably crash.

 

Assuming the computer does recognize the disk: What use are you making of it that issues the error message? Does this happen during formatting or when Windows goes up? Were you able to format it and now you can not access it? How to format (what settings)?

And by the way BIOS, Check there that your disk is tuned to AHCI and not RAID.

 

The disk may really be faulty, but you should check the other options.

[gm446 2]

Quote of 23r01

Do you see the disc inBIOS When turning on the computer? Does he recognize it, that is, show the model number and / or size?

 

If not, first check the connections: Is the disk well connected to the data cable and the power cable (non-loose or crooked connection)? Are the cables connected to the board and supply in a good way? Are they intact, meaning the cable does not look torn and the connectors at the end are well connected?

 

You can try buying a "technician cable" that is actually a converter USB For sata (and a suitable power cord): it will cost tens of shekels and will allow you to connect the disk as an external disk and bypass all the wires and internal connections. If the computer is unable to read the disk in this way then the disk will probably crash.

 

Assuming the computer does recognize the disk: What use are you making of it that issues the error message? Does this happen during formatting or when Windows goes up? Were you able to format it and now you can not access it? How to format (what settings)?

And by the way BIOS, Check there that your disk is tuned to AHCI and not RAID.

 

The disk may really be faulty, but you should check the other options.

 

Good Morning

I do not see the disk  BIOS, But Windows does recognize the disk, showing the model and size as Unallocated Space in Disk Management. B BIOS ACHI is indeed defined. The disk appears in Disk Management as Not Initialize and the error message appears when I log in to Disk Management or I try to do Disk Initialize (as MBR and GPT). I cannot format a disk or create partitions.

One of the solutions I found on the net is to update the MBR using the Partition Wizard software according to the attached link but inside the software the disk appears as a Bad Disk and I can not perform any operation on it.

https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagic/disk-unknown-not-initialized.html

 

Regarding the connections, I tried two different SATA cables one of which is brand new, I tried 4 different SATA ports on the board, all leading to the same result. Of course I made sure the connections were tight and I made sure to click on the SATA connection. By the way, for the purpose of the test, I also connected the disk instead of another disk that is currently working with the exact same cables so that the cables are working with certainty.

 

Thanks so much for the help and have a good day.

 

 

 

Edited February 22 By gm446

[gm446 2]

So after many attempts at the end I was able to activate the drive.

But I noticed something strange, there is a click from the drive every 5 seconds or so, there is something to worry about?

 

Edited February 22 By gm446

[Milford Cubicle 301]

 

Quote of gm446

There is a click from the drive every 5 seconds or so,

Congratulations, your drive is going to die. I understand it's new and has no files on it yet, so you can be super happy - you've got an important lesson for life completely free.

If your files are important to you, then all this discussion about hard drives You need to do at a doubling of 2-fold.

That is, if you need 8TB, you need to buy 2 physical drives of 8TB. One for backup. Otherwise you are just betting on your files that may disappear one bright day.

[23r01 11]

Quote of gm446

So after many attempts at the end I was able to activate the drive.

But I noticed something strange, there is a click from the drive every 5 seconds or so, there is something to worry about?

 

Clicks from the drive are almost always an indication of a mechanical problem, usually that the heads are not working properly or collide with the plates with the information. This is why it reduces friction.) The click is probably stronger than you think. A faulty disc, especially from this series, is a rare phenomenon, but it happens. There is a warranty for it - use it and replace the disc.

As for backups, instead of buying 2 disks you can back up to the cloud. For Microsoft (OneDrive), Google (Google Drive) and Dropbox have paid plans that depending on the volume you need save you up to 2 terabytes in the cloud. The advantage of this is that even if your computer and even the whole house, God forbid, go up in flames, the information is still safe and accessible from anywhere. Keep in mind that usually as a private user you do not need a full backup (Ghost) of the disk but only back up specific files. Downloaded software you can download again, Operating System And software is installed you anyway will need to reinstall and in fact you only need the backup for files created on your computer and you will have a hard time recovering - documents, excel, Music, Licenses, saved games, etc.

If you still want a full disk backup, which you can restore in one go, you will indeed need another disk of the same size. This is a story in itself - an internal disk will not protect you from theft or (for example) if a cup of coffee is spilled on your computer, an external disk is slower and exposed to "natural disasters" (blows, falls and coffee cups), you will need to find time to back up regularly The disk and it can take several hours, if the disk goes slowly (not suddenly) and you do not notice you may get into a situation where you back up corrupt information and destroy the backup, and more. Companies for which backup is important Towels on external media (tape) or pay a professional company for backup cloud Massive. It's expensive and as a private user I do not think you are there. Use the cloud.

[Milford Cubicle 301]

Do not know where you came to these conclusions. At a subscription price annual של cloud 2TB You are buying a volume external drive 4TB That will hold you for much more than one year ...

Cloud backup is only useful if you need the files available outside the home, which is fine, but I did not talk about it.

A hard drive is a product that holds the most important thing on your computer (files), and is a product that by definition will die one day without warning. You want each file to always have at least two physical copies.

Whoever does not want this is his right, then he will come here and open discussions on where it is possible to recover information from a dead drive, and will be shocked by the prices 

 

[Jabberwock 442]

Clicks can also be caused by improper power supply. For example, connecting a power-hungry drive to a port USB With an adapter will cause the drive to make clicks.