External Hard Drives (USB 3.0) for Plex

Ympker

When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

Chievo

Hi! I have bought some months ago a 2TB seagate for 75 or 79 euros i do not remember the exact but was in this range from Media markt your saturn. Happy with it.

teamacc

I used to use some WD external hdds, but they were made out of WD Green hdds, which park their heads if not in use for a few seconds. Afaik, they can do this a limited amount of times before dying. When I finally shucked them (removed from their enclosure) I used some tool to set this timer to infinity.

Ympker

@Chievo said:
Hi! I have bought some months ago a 2TB seagate for 75 or 79 euros i do not remember the exact but was in this range from Media markt your saturn. Happy with it.

Thanks mate A friend also had good things to say about Seagate.

Chievo

@Ympker said:

@Chievo said:
Hi! I have bought some months ago a 2TB seagate for 75 or 79 euros i do not remember the exact but was in this range from Media markt your saturn. Happy with it.

Thanks mate A friend also had good things to say about Seagate.

89.99 today .... May be cheaper in another shops

-seagate-stkn2000400

bikegremlin

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (external) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

I ordered those after my second WD external drive died suddenly - for a second off-site backup copy.
Waiting for the goods to arrive and will post feedback.

• The rack (amazon .de affiliate link)
• The drive (amazon .de affiliate link)

Ympker

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (external) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

bikegremlin

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (external) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

Yes, normal "internal" drive.
I have a 12 TB one in my PC, and ordered a backup to keep at my work place for a second backup copy (edited the first comment with the product links).

Ympker

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (external) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

Yes, normal "internal" drive.
I have a 12 TB one in my PC, and ordered a backup to keep at my work place for a second backup copy (edited the first comment with the product links).

Will have a look, thanks mate!

Edit: the rack looks really nice tbh! With easy copy feature and even SD card support. Can the rack be powered through a regular power plug and only be connected to the Futro Server, or will it need to be powered by the futro?

vyas

My 1.5 tb and 300 gb usb Seagate drives have served me well for over 5 and 8 years respectively. Multiple power cycles (not by choice), clean wipes and /or encryptions later. But there are videos on YT that show external drives are essentially internal drives in a case.

Edit: Seagate and Western Digital are same company

bikegremlin

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (external) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

Yes, normal "internal" drive.
I have a 12 TB one in my PC, and ordered a backup to keep at my work place for a second backup copy (edited the first comment with the product links).

Will have a look, thanks mate!

Edit: the rack looks really nice tbh! With easy copy feature and even SD card support. Can the rack be powered through a regular power plug and only be connected to the Futro Server, or will it need to be powered by the futro?

Hopefully, this evening I'll get the products and give them a test ASAP (now I only have two copies of the important stuff, since my second external drive died suddenly - so I'll need to make a new copy in order to sleep at night LOL ).

It should be self-powered (a DC input).
In fact, most racks I've used need to be left self-powered (not connected to a PC) if you wish to just clone a drive.

Ympker

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (exernal) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

Yes, normal "internal" drive.
I have a 12 TB one in my PC, and ordered a backup to keep at my work place for a second backup copy (edited the first comment with the product links).

Will have a look, thanks mate!

Edit: the rack looks really nice tbh! With easy copy feature and even SD card support. Can the rack be powered through a regular power plug and only be connected to the Futro Server, or will it need to be powered by the futro?

Hopefully, this evening I'll get the products and give them a test ASAP (now I only have two copies of the important stuff, since my second external drive died suddenly - so I'll need to make a new copy in order to sleep at night LOL ).

Please let me know how things go, maybe even make pictures (..of your private.. ) ?

bikegremlin

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (exernal) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

Yes, normal "internal" drive.
I have a 12 TB one in my PC, and ordered a backup to keep at my work place for a second backup copy (edited the first comment with the product links).

Will have a look, thanks mate!

Edit: the rack looks really nice tbh! With easy copy feature and even SD card support. Can the rack be powered through a regular power plug and only be connected to the Futro Server, or will it need to be powered by the futro?

Hopefully, this evening I'll get the products and give them a test ASAP (now I only have two copies of the important stuff, since my second external drive died suddenly - so I'll need to make a new copy in order to sleep at night LOL ).

Please let me know how things go, maybe even make pictures (..of your private.. ) ?

Sure - will do.

Though the private parts will only be available on my Only Fans account.

vyas

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend? Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

What I did is get a HDD rack (exernal) and buy a normal, 3.5" HDD (Seagate Ironwolf Pro) to plug it into.

External drives use crappy hardware and can just die without any prior warning (bad sectors or other problems - even HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies).

Say no to external drives.

That isn't the worst idea, just not sure weather the Futro S740 would be able to power HDD rack? Never used one. Could also buy internal drive and just buy case for it then?

Yes, normal "internal" drive.
I have a 12 TB one in my PC, and ordered a backup to keep at my work place for a second backup copy (edited the first comment with the product links).

Will have a look, thanks mate!

Edit: the rack looks really nice tbh! With easy copy feature and even SD card support. Can the rack be powered through a regular power plug and only be connected to the Futro Server, or will it need to be powered by the futro?

Hopefully, this evening I'll get the products and give them a test ASAP (now I only have two copies of the important stuff, since my second external drive died suddenly - so I'll need to make a new copy in order to sleep at night LOL ).

Please let me know how things go, maybe even make pictures (..of your private.. ) ?

Sure - will do.

Though the private parts will only be available on my Only Fans account.

@ehab clarification needed. Pants or no pants

root

I believe all popular HDDs are good, so with low-end mentality I would recommend the cheapest offer you get online. Depending on your setup, personally I recommend LaCie with aluminum "clothing", such as this from Amazon, because in theory the heat should disperse heat easier, depending on your environment or setup.

Note: if you use it for porn, this might not be suitable for such naked content, due to aluminum "clothing" of the device itself.

bikegremlin

@vyas said:
My 1.5 tb and 300 gb usb Seagate drives have served me well for over 5 and 8 years respectively. Multiple power cycles (not by choice), clean wipes and /or encryptions later. But there are videos on YT that show external drives are essentially internal drives in a case.

Edit: Seagate and Western Digital are same company

It is my understanding they put crappy drives - and apparently disk health checkup tools can't figure out any problems when such an external setup drive is used.

The normal drives placed in a rack can be checked periodically - if no other way, then by installing them in a PC.

That's my reasoning at least and why I decided to not get another external drive (I have a small portable one for transferring data, but not for backup storage).

root

Recently, I got an old NAS at a fare with a 500GB HDD from Western Digital inside still working. I paid just €5 for it. Surely the old Windows protocols are not practical, but it still supports FTP and it is working.

I was thinking: maybe what you need is some NAS like that, which also has USB drives. If you can get it on a local fare, it's a bargain. And the best part: you're living the low-end side. I do not know what kind of fares Germany has though, where @Ympker is from (if I remember his country correctly).

rubenmdh

@bikegremlin said:

@vyas said:
My 1.5 tb and 300 gb usb Seagate drives have served me well for over 5 and 8 years respectively. Multiple power cycles (not by choice), clean wipes and /or encryptions later. But there are videos on YT that show external drives are essentially internal drives in a case.

Edit: Seagate and Western Digital are same company

It is my understanding they put crappy drives - and apparently disk health checkup tools can't figure out any problems when such an external setup drive is used.

The normal drives placed in a rack can be checked periodically - if no other way, then by installing them in a PC.

That's my reasoning at least and why I decided to not get another external drive (I have a small portable one for transferring data, but not for backup storage).

From my brief experience the disks on external drives are what they usually call "white labels", I'd say they're comparable to the normal consumer counterparts (eg WD Blue or Seagate Barracuda) but on higher capacity drives you might end up getting an enterprise drive.

My 14TB external Seagate ended up being an Exos drive.

But definitely after all the SMR fiasco and everything, if you want to go on the safe side then get an internal drive with a known SKU instead of playing roulette.

hornet

ServerPartDeals, do recommend. They have a webstore & sell on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/131553/i.html?_ssn=serverpartdeals&store_name=serverpartdeals&_oac=1

skorous

@Ympker said:
Need a new one (2TB or 4) for my Plex server as my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something, I'd like to change asap

You answered the question in your post. Your Toshiba lived where your WD died. Toshiba is all I run for externals - 7 years, 5 years, 5 years, and 3 years. Haven't lost one yet.

Not_Oles

@Ympker If you need some conveniently located for you, short term, ultra fast RAID 0 Gen 4 NVMe back up space, send me an ssh key. I can spot you a couple TB no problem.

Here, I use a 5 TB Seagate SRD0NF-1 P/N 2SVAP2-500. It cost about $100 a few years ago.

Best wishes!

bikegremlin

@Ympker OK, my man:

The very first impression:

HDD rack won't let you check the HDD integrity (as expected, now confirmed).
Unlike external drives (which show all good until the drive just dies), the rack results with false alarms/flags in HDDsentinel when runing a full surface scan for example.
So, you must connect the HDD to the motherboard, directly (SATA, not using USB) to check its integrity.

That aside, the rack looks to be working OK, and the HDD seems fine.
However, it will take a few more days of testing to confirm that.

Chievo

@bikegremlin said:
@Ympker OK, my man:

The very first impression:

HDD rack won't let you check the HDD integrity (as expected, now confirmed).
Unlike external drives (which show all good until the drive just dies), the rack results with false alarms/flags in HDDsentinel when runing a full surface scan for example.
So, you must connect the HDD to the motherboard, directly (SATA, not using USB) to check its integrity.

That aside, the rack looks to be working OK, and the HDD seems fine.
However, it will take a few more days of testing to confirm that.

How hard are the big black discks?

Ympker

@bikegremlin said:
@Ympker OK, my man:

The very first impression:

HDD rack won't let you check the HDD integrity (as expected, now confirmed).
Unlike external drives (which show all good until the drive just dies), the rack results with false alarms/flags in HDDsentinel when runing a full surface scan for example.
So, you must connect the HDD to the motherboard, directly (SATA, not using USB) to check its integrity.

That aside, the rack looks to be working OK, and the HDD seems fine.
However, it will take a few more days of testing to confirm that.

Thanks for the feedback, mate But, what about the pics you got from @ehab ?

bikegremlin

@Ympker said:

@bikegremlin said:
@Ympker OK, my man:

The very first impression:

HDD rack won't let you check the HDD integrity (as expected, now confirmed).
Unlike external drives (which show all good until the drive just dies), the rack results with false alarms/flags in HDDsentinel when runing a full surface scan for example.
So, you must connect the HDD to the motherboard, directly (SATA, not using USB) to check its integrity.

That aside, the rack looks to be working OK, and the HDD seems fine.
However, it will take a few more days of testing to confirm that.

Thanks for the feedback, mate But, what about the pics you got from @ehab ?

Why of course - here's some licht erotik:

@Chievo

Amadex

I'm using this 8TB one, it has active cooling.

https://www.westerndigital.com/en-ap/products/external-drives/wd-black-d10-game-drive-usb-3-2-hdd?sku=WDBA3P0080HBK-SESN

DataRecovery

@Ympker said:
When it comes to external hard drives (2Tb+) are there any brands/models you can confidently recommend?
my backup drive (WD Elements) died a while ago and couldn't be recovered. So atm, I'm just left with a 1TB Toshiba that has no backups, which is something

Unfortunately, things aren't straightforward enough in the modern HDDs' world for "just a brand" recommendations to be 100% enough.
But generally your Toshiba drive is better than your WD.
And you're 100% right to worry about having no backups.

Brief recommendations are:

• Avoid SMR drives (see below on how to check);
• If you can get a server-grade drive, that's probably the best option;
• If buying a SATA drive + USB box separately is OK for you, prefer that to buying just a ready-made external drive;
• (my personal preference) Be very picky if you're buying a Seagate drive, at least each family/series should be researched, researching by model is better.

@teamacc said:
WD Green hdds, which park their heads if not in use ... I used some tool to set this timer to infinity.

WDidle aka WDidle3 is the most famous one, but there are other tools available.

@root said:
I believe all popular HDDs are good

Not at all.

@vyas said:
there are videos on YT that show external drives are essentially internal drives in a case.

There are also numerous videos suggesting to open the drive at home if it stopped working.

These days most external drives have designated PCBs with USB soldered and no SATA at all. Among the major vendors the only exclusion is Seagate.

@vyas said: Edit: Seagate and Western Digital are same company

WAT??!!

Ympker

Settled on getting an external case for SATA 2.5" drives and then either gonna get one of those internal hard drives (2TB) WD Blue/Seagate Barracuda's for 70€ish now, or a 1TB internal Samsung San Disk SSD/Crucial BX500 SSD for 65€-70€.

vyas

@DataRecovery said:

@vyas said: Edit: Seagate and Western Digital are same company

WAT??!!

OEM vendor I meant, atleast for my country I thought that was the case (did not realize my oops, thanks for the meme!).

Another oops- Sandisk and WD are same company, not Seagate and WD.
Though belated, might be prudent for me to retract that whole statement

DataRecovery

@bikegremlin said:
External drives use crappy hardware

For most HDDs the primary difference is PCB.
External ones use boards with USB connector on them.

HDD Sentinel can't see any errors before an external HDD dies

What can be seen depends on two things: what info and which commands are allowed to pass by the USB bridge, and which bridges/drives are supported by the diagnostic software.

Try this tool instead of HDD sentinel:

• https://rlab.ru/download/R.tester.zip -- direct download, no install needed
• https://rlab.ru/tools/rtester.html -- description, use google.translate

This utility is probably the most advanced HDD and SSD testing software available for end-users. It supports a lot of bridges, controllers, HBA adapters, etc. Also it allows to send ATA commands to the drive manually when something doesn't work as expected.

It can also be used to check if the drive uses SMR (shingled magnetic recording).

@Ympker said:
one of those internal hard drives (2TB) WD Blue/Seagate Barracuda's

I'd probably get WD Blue, but the difference is subtle (consider checking warranty and replacement conditions). If there are any Toshiba hard drives, they might be a better option.

or a 1TB internal Samsung San Disk SSD/Crucial BX500 SSD

IIRC, modern BX500 drives could use QLC memory since it's a budget line.

If you can get Samsung Pro, that would be the best choice among the listed above.
If you can somehow find Samsung 830 / 840 / 850 Pro, that's even better, as those drives used MLC memory chips.

bikegremlin

@Ympker said:
Settled on getting an external case for SATA 2.5" drives and then either gonna get one of those internal hard drives (2TB) WD Blue/Seagate Barracuda's for 70€ish now, or a 1TB internal Samsung San Disk SSD/Crucial BX500 SSD for 65€-70€.

Barracuda and the likes are SMR.
SMR makes baby Jesus cry.

For what it's worth, the combo I went with is working fine for now.