Which 8TB Drive?

Soldato
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I am in need of a new internal 8TB drive.

I have a WD 8TB MyBook already as an external back up, and off site is already setup, but my 4TB internal is not large enough anymore.

I was looking at the 8TB Seagate BarraCuda but I read that they are now Shingled and so are not good for constant use and only backups? Is there any truth in this? Is there any reason I should not use the IronWolf Pro as drive instead or are these specifically made for NAS?

Sorry if these questions are really stupid btw. I just want a drive, 8TB (or more but not stupidly priced) and for it to be decent. Not after speed as it is not used for gaming, just reliability.

Thoughts?
 
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I recently added two 8TB Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives to my NAS. Got a very good deal on the first and the Pro has an extra two years warranty, which I felt was worth the small price increase. I'd like to think that if Seagate are offering a five year warranty and free data recovery on the drives, that they think the drives must be reasonably reliable!

Added bonus is that they are CMR and personally I would want CMR in my Unraid server, you may feel differently. The only downside is that they are a little noisier than my WD Reds (also CMR, not SMR) but not unacceptably so.

The NAS specific drives are (supposedly) designed and manufactured to deal with issues of being in an enclosed case, often in close mounting to other drives, and shifting a load of data often. Tolerance to vibration and heat are supposedly part of the NAS specific drive remit. Arguably you don't need a NAS specific drive, IMHO.

If I were after a cheap, reliable backup drive, I used to default to WD Greens. Not stupidly priced and I found them reliable.
 
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I recently added two 8TB Seagate Ironwolf Pro drives to my NAS. Got a very good deal on the first and the Pro has an extra two years warranty, which I felt was worth the small price increase. I'd like to think that if Seagate are offering a five year warranty and free data recovery on the drives, that they think the drives must be reasonably reliable!

Added bonus is that they are CMR and personally I would want CMR in my Unraid server, you may feel differently. The only downside is that they are a little noisier than my WD Reds (also CMR, not SMR) but not unacceptably so.

The NAS specific drives are (supposedly) designed and manufactured to deal with issues of being in an enclosed case, often in close mounting to other drives, and shifting a load of data often. Tolerance to vibration and heat are supposedly part of the NAS specific drive remit. Arguably you don't need a NAS specific drive, IMHO.

If I were after a cheap, reliable backup drive, I used to default to WD Greens. Not stupidly priced and I found them reliable.

Thank you for all that information. I forgot to mention though that this is for inside my main PC, and not a NAS. That said, any reason I should avoid NAS drives for general PC use?
 
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Thank you for all that information. I forgot to mention though that this is for inside my main PC, and not a NAS. That said, any reason I should avoid NAS drives for general PC use?
Not really, other than you could take the view that you are paying for the NAS drive tolerances etc when you arguably don't need them :)
 
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Only drives that have failed me in 30 years have all been Seagate. 1x2tb and 2x8tb
WD and Toshiba others all work flawlessly.
Only reliable Seagate drives are ones ripped out of Sky Boxes, most with 60K hours plus on them.
 
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I am in need of a new internal 8TB drive.

I have a WD 8TB MyBook already as an external back up, and off site is already setup, but my 4TB internal is not large enough anymore.

I was looking at the 8TB Seagate BarraCuda but I read that they are now Shingled and so are not good for constant use and only backups? Is there any truth in this? Is there any reason I should not use the IronWolf Pro as drive instead or are these specifically made for NAS?

Sorry if these questions are really stupid btw. I just want a drive, 8TB (or more but not stupidly priced) and for it to be decent. Not after speed as it is not used for gaming, just reliability.

Thoughts?
WD Elements 8TB and shuck it, the drives inside are high quality. Currently £136.56, which is a little overpriced but pretty good considering the shortages from mining.
 
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Easy to shuck, best to watch a YouTube on the specific drive to see where the hidden clasps are if you want to keep the case intact.
I've shucked about 12 drives and broke at least one clip on each. I'd say most shuckings are partially destructive until you've done a few.
Standard Sata drive inside, just remove the small power adapter, might be a small screw holding it, depending on the model.
If using WD drives be aware, some have an extra power pin which needs to be covered. I've never come across one. Just Google "wd drive extra pin" to see the fix. Happy shucking.
PS. If shucking a brand new drive, throw some data at it first, make sure it's working.
 
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Easy to shuck, best to watch a YouTube on the specific drive to see where the hidden clasps are if you want to keep the case intact.
I've shucked about 12 drives and broke at least one clip on each. I'd say most shuckings are partially destructive until you've done a few.
Standard Sata drive inside, just remove the small power adapter, might be a small screw holding it, depending on the model.
If using WD drives be aware, some have an extra power pin which needs to be covered. I've never come across one. Just Google "wd drive extra pin" to see the fix. Happy shucking.
PS. If shucking a brand new drive, throw some data at it first, make sure it's working.

Excellent. I ordered an 8tb elements earlier.
 
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So, shucked the drive and it is a WD80EDAZ. Looking online just at that information I could not find out if it was SMR or CMR. However some further digging suggests it is not a white label red drive but now a actually a Ultrastar DC HC320 which can be read about here.

Looks like it is a CMR drive and actually spins at 7200 even though it reports at 5400... very odd. Anyhow, 8TB installed in PC and now taking hours to transfer data too!
 
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