I suspect portable here means bus powered as opposed to explicitly 2.5" form factor. OTOH as long as the high power USB-C modes are optional a bus powered 3.5" model isn't a plausible option.
I think this is where the real grognards tell you about hard drives delivered by forklift (my first drive was 5.25"). But bus power does make a difference.
Hey now, youngster. Back in my day, we needed a forklift and a flatbed truck to move our hard drives.
In fact, before then, we had to go to where the "hard drive" was located, and spend days recording data. Sadly, some of the sectors corrupted, and it's hard to recover the information.
Seagates just die a lot. Can't imagine losing 5TB of data, they should focus on RAID config inside these external HDDs so if they do fail, there's still some hope left.
Keep in mind Backblaze stats are only relevant to people who plan to run a data center focusing on cold storage reliability.
Drives perform considerably different (more reliably) in a desktop environment where they are not shared with 72 hard drives in a cage subject to enormous harmonic vibrations. Most of Backblaze "pods" are filled with desktop-class drives that lack firmware and sensors designed in enterprise grade drives that permit them to be reliable in large disk enclosures.
They make this very clear in their data. Please don't link to their data when trying to compare the Seagate reliability they collect to the reliability of a single 5TB external USB disk. We have enough misinformation on the internet and Backblaze stats could be considered the Breitbart of news if people don't understand how data is collected and what it means.
Too tired to Google but didn't Backblaze comment on the 'Enterprise' drives not having significantly better reliability than the desktop drives?
I have 12 seagate 4TB NAS drives in a freenas box, norco 20 drive 4U enclosure. In less than 2 years, 7 have failed (either serious pending sector counts or a reallocated sector). At this point I am almost break even if I had bought HGST drives and had no failures, at 12-15 bucks per RMA that I have paid so far.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
10 Comments
Back to Article
MBobb827 - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
The largest external hdd?? Nope, here's one for $215:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R45V3SW/ref=wl_it_dp_...
Unless the author meant the largest 2.5 inch external drive, which may be true
MBobb827 - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
Oops, that's an 8TB drive by the wayDanNeely - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
I suspect portable here means bus powered as opposed to explicitly 2.5" form factor. OTOH as long as the high power USB-C modes are optional a bus powered 3.5" model isn't a plausible option.wumpus - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
I think this is where the real grognards tell you about hard drives delivered by forklift (my first drive was 5.25"). But bus power does make a difference.JMC2000 - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
Hey now, youngster. Back in my day, we needed a forklift and a flatbed truck to move our hard drives.In fact, before then, we had to go to where the "hard drive" was located, and spend days recording data. Sadly, some of the sectors corrupted, and it's hard to recover the information.
eiskafee - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
Seagates just die a lot. Can't imagine losing 5TB of data, they should focus on RAID config inside these external HDDs so if they do fail, there's still some hope left.cerberusss - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
I think a USB-C variant would've been nice.takur - Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - link
I guess you have to update your info about hard drives.https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-failure-...
Samus - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Keep in mind Backblaze stats are only relevant to people who plan to run a data center focusing on cold storage reliability.Drives perform considerably different (more reliably) in a desktop environment where they are not shared with 72 hard drives in a cage subject to enormous harmonic vibrations. Most of Backblaze "pods" are filled with desktop-class drives that lack firmware and sensors designed in enterprise grade drives that permit them to be reliable in large disk enclosures.
They make this very clear in their data. Please don't link to their data when trying to compare the Seagate reliability they collect to the reliability of a single 5TB external USB disk. We have enough misinformation on the internet and Backblaze stats could be considered the Breitbart of news if people don't understand how data is collected and what it means.
abhaxus - Friday, November 18, 2016 - link
Too tired to Google but didn't Backblaze comment on the 'Enterprise' drives not having significantly better reliability than the desktop drives?I have 12 seagate 4TB NAS drives in a freenas box, norco 20 drive 4U enclosure. In less than 2 years, 7 have failed (either serious pending sector counts or a reallocated sector). At this point I am almost break even if I had bought HGST drives and had no failures, at 12-15 bucks per RMA that I have paid so far.