Looking for a reliable 8TB 7200 RPM drive. This is why I stay away from Seagate:

https://techreport.com/news/33594/backblaze-q1-2018-hdd-reliablity-report-shows-record-low-failure-rates

 

Anyone recommend a good reliable 8TB drive. I may purchase 2, just to get rid of the 2 TB drives I have in my main system. I love HGST drives, since they just never die but their prices never budge. The HGST drive I'm looking at is $249. I could of swore I paid a lot less for that same drive a year ago. I guess maybe mechanical drives will be made less then their prices will sky rocket. I heard having an all SSD unraid box is no good because of the "garbage" it accumulates, or something? Or that's the notification said at least.

 

 

Edited April 12, 20197 yr by opentoe

"Looking for a reliable 8TB 7200 RPM drive." !=  "This is why I stay away from Seagate:" according to this: https://techreport.com/news/33594/backblaze-q1-2018-hdd-reliablity-report-shows-record-low-failure-rates

I'm using 2 of these HGST refurb 8tb drives in my unraid - 1 of which is parity. I also added 2 6tb refurb drives, same He series. I know there's a lot of opinions on refurbs, and a lot of opinions on 4k enterprise drives. All I can report is that the unRAID is running well. I'm working on getting my cache drive to perform better, I installed a dumb cache drive by mistake. I am having slight heat issues with the 2 6TB drives that are the farthest away from any cooling. The 2 8Tb drives are staying comfortably cool at 90F or less...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LFMN5JS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is a link to the latest Backblaze data for all of 2018:

 

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-stats-for-2018/

 

As I look at the data, I would be thinking three things.  First, most manufacturers have a drive (and/or size)model that have higher failures than the average.  Second, it takes a couple of years to determine which drive make and models are 'more reliable' and, by that time, the drive may have through the 'sweet spot' for capacity-vs-price.  Third, the failure rates for all drives are low enough that (as a user with very few drives) are unlikely to experience a drive failure because poor drive quality.  (Many folks never experience a drive failure because they replace a drive that is now so small with a larger one.) 

 

Let's face the one basic fact--- All hard drives will fail!  The best protection against a data loss disaster is due diligence on the part of the server administrator.  Set up a periodic parity check (many of us do it monthly) and set up the notification system so that you are alerted should a problem occur.  Address any problem that is found promptly. When those problems occur, DON'T panic!!!  Research the condition, find the correct procedure for correction-- double check if unsure, ask questions on the forum if you have any doubts.  More data loss occurs because panicked folks do the wrong thing than from the initial problem! If you are a suspenders-and-belt type, have a spare drive on hand.  If nothing else, you can use it for your next expansion--- Think of it in that way as you buy it.

 

There is one thing that most folks don't realize when they  look at the BackBlaze failure data, failure rates don't increase with drive size!  (In fact, they may actually be lower!!!)  Today, a server with five data disks can hold more data than a twenty drive server could five years ago.   That fact alone will make  your server much more reliable than any difference in drive failure rates. 

Edited April 20, 20197 yr by Frank1940