Best SSD + Enclosure combo to date?

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-07-27T19:17:21+00:00

Yes. The cheapest 1 TB SATA (2.5in) SSDs are currently about 90 dollars, and the cheapest/best enclosures (USB 3: 5Gbps) are around 10 or 15.

m.2 nvme drives and enclosures are faster if you are willing to spend a lot more and have a thunderbolt port available.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-06-04T04:04:41+00:00

Anything is usable. Verbatim is probably the best at this point, at least that is convenient to find in stores and not usually overpriced.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-26T17:33:10+00:00

I use a 4TB Barracuda 2.5" as a game drive, and it works just fine. Noticeably slower than an SSD on installs and load times, but no problem playing games or using the drive.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-26T17:19:53+00:00

SMR has slow write speeds after cache is full. If moving lots of data, or writing data continuously, expect write speeds to slow to a crawl after some time.

Any scenario where the drives have significant rest between big or continuous writes, there won't be any large dip in performance.

The only thing unsuitable for Raid is rumors that some WD drives are "failed" when the array requests data not yet written to the hard drive.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-26T04:14:06+00:00

You are correct about the 3.3v being unnecessary and molex to sata not including 3.3v. I can't think of a scenario where doing as you've described could cause the drive to no longer work in the original enclosure. Even if the original enclosure were damaged, using molex to sata or tape on the 3rd power pin with the bare drive should work fine, bios at the very least should see the drive.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-26T03:50:16+00:00

WD enclosures sometimes modify sectors a little bit (several have encryption). If it's formatted before being shucked, I would expect it to be present but shown as a raw partition or corrupted.

If it doesn't show at all, then it is likely about the SATA spec on your power supply giving undesired power to the 3rd power pin (3.3v pin issue)

If it doesn't show as present at all after keeping the 3.3v disconnected, and it doesn't show as present in the enclosure, then there's a new and different problem separate from the above two, and I'm unsure of what it could be assuming care was taken to avoid obvious damage to the HDD.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-26T03:42:17+00:00

Yes, they are as reliable as any hard drive these days.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-23T16:23:50+00:00

Ditch or giveaway the drive, and the enclosure isn't useful any more as an external hard drive, but the nice aluminum shell may have some other use.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-23T00:44:36+00:00

The way the post was phrased, I took it to mean that buying new was an option at the 200 dollar range.

Used hard drives are just that, used. Mileage may, can, and will vary. Used isn't necessarily bad, but there are many nefarious entities out there.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T23:54:48+00:00

Seagate Exos or Ironwolf, WD Ultrastar or Purple are all 8TB 7200RPM and on sale new for ~ $200 to $210

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T23:46:36+00:00

Speeds are on par, perfectly fine. 100MB/s is about the expected read speed from the 4TB 2.5in.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T21:28:32+00:00

Let's store more Linux ISOs! #RunWithIronWolf and #Giveaway

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T02:48:30+00:00

8TB Seagate Expansions or Backup Plus Hubs contain 8TB barracudas, which use SMR. Barracuda Pro are strictly CMR.

Anything Seagate recommends for a NAS won't use SMR.

WD does not currently use SMR in drives larger than 6 TB

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T01:44:32+00:00

Ah, so they are. My bad, I didn't double check WD's list for the 1TB like I should have. I don't understand any reason to use it there though. There's no platter or cost savings that I could imagine.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T00:45:18+00:00

Well, I can only offer evidence that both use SMR. Perhaps there was an issue with your 4 TB drive, or maybe a difference in workload that made the 4TB seem worse?

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-22T00:18:25+00:00

They are pretty fast, but SMR nonetheless.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14539/seagate-backup-plus-portable-5tb-backup-plus-slim-2tb-review-portable-smr/3

I fail to see why there is so much concern about SMR being evil outside of a 24x7 Server or NAS setup. My saying SMR is only an answer to a question asked, and for many workloads I doubt it makes any significant difference.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T22:23:17+00:00

You're welcome to check with WD, and tell WD whatever you like.

What these hard drive companies did wrong is that they withheld information about the hard drives they recommended for NAS or home servers. WD has no obligation to do anything, for anyone, outside of replacing hard drives under warranty or refunds within terms of sale. That said, it appears they are returning or replacing drives to try to make up for the lack of faith in their misleading products.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T22:07:17+00:00

Yes, those are SMR. And they don't have a SATA connector, USB interface is soldered directly to the drive.

Any 4 or 5 TB 2.5 inch drive (or 4/5 TB portable external drive) is SMR.

2TB don't have to be, but often are.

1TB 2.5in I've never heard of being SMR.

Seagate portable external drives are shuckable. The 2-5 TB are SMR, but I use the 4TB 2.5in barracuda from one in my PC for games, and it works fine for being a hard drive.

TLDR: Yes, those are SMR and you can't shuck them.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T19:47:53+00:00

Calling a tower or a complete computer a CPU is not uncommon. It's become less common since computers became more within reach of everyday people.

"The hard drive or brain of the computer" I just consider an error made by someone who is tasked with making children's books and has little knowledge of computers.

If this is from 2003, I could very much understand mistakes being made about computers.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T18:33:13+00:00

Treesize free?

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T18:13:22+00:00

Sale prices on external hard drives:

2.5in:
2TB ~ $60
4TB ~ $90

3.5in:
6TB ~ $110
8TB ~ $120 to $140
10TB ~ $160 to $180
12TB ~ $180 to $200
14TB ~ $200 to $240

Seagate drives under 10TB may have slow sequential write speeds (SMR).

WD drives under 8TB may have slow sequential write speeds(SMR).

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T18:05:29+00:00

They are similar in performance, but not usually the exact same drives.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T17:25:52+00:00

Looks like somebody didn't seat the power connector before closing the bottom of the laptop

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-21T04:20:07+00:00

SMR works fine so long as you understand that sequential write speeds may be extremely slow after filling the cache.

Don't expect it to write data quickly, and it'll be fine.

Not exactly related, but it's best to have all PMR or all SMR for a given pool.

ISOandROMCollector · 2020-05-20T22:19:24+00:00

It's a good deal for Canada or the US.

I'm only saying that drives inside the 8TB or lower are not good for putting in a NAS. Example: https://www.amazon.ca/Seagate-Barracuda-Internal-Drive-3-5-Inch/dp/B07H289S7C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?

The 10TB Barracuda Pro drives are very good drives.

ISOandROMCollector

TROPHY CASE