Are Seagate HDDs reliable?

HBM · 29 Jul 2014 at 12:44

Hi Guys,
I am building a PC at the moment and saw a 2Tb Seagate 7200.14. i've heard some bad things about Seagate in terms of reliability and that they can be hit and miss.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.

d_brennen · 29 Jul 2014 at 12:52

On the phone at the mo but try and have a read of this http://mobile.extremetech.com/computing/103082-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives

Make of it what you will, ymmv

ShakeNBake · 29 Jul 2014 at 12:52

Mine have been working fine for years.

Art · 29 Jul 2014 at 12:58

d_brennen said:
On the phone at the mo but try and have a read of this http://mobile.extremetech.com/computing/103082-who-makes-the-most-reliable-hard-drives

Make of it what you will, ymmv

One counterpoint to that was that a datacentre is a totally different environment to a home PC, so data from consumer drives run in a datacentre might not be that useful to home builds.

stulid · 29 Jul 2014 at 13:19

I've had a few and they have been fine.

chippy08 · 29 Jul 2014 at 13:40

I wouldn't use them my self i had a few fail within months.

ttaskmaster · 29 Jul 2014 at 13:52

Mine have all been fine and years later every one of them remains in service.

CaNsA · 29 Jul 2014 at 13:53

I've got 2 Seagate drives. :-

1x ST2000DM001-9YN164
1x ST3250820AS

The 2TB drive has been spinning constantly for over 2yrs, the 250gb for over 4yrs.

ZXSpectrum · 29 Jul 2014 at 13:54

We have integrated thousands over the last 10+ years with a failure rate of approximately 0.02% We have sent back more WD Black and WD Velociraptors than we have Seagate drives. And those drives cover SAS, SATA, SCSI.

Steveocee · 29 Jul 2014 at 13:57

I have 6 of the 7200.14's 4 are running 24x7 and I've had no issues at all since install (Jan this year)

HBM · 29 Jul 2014 at 14:05

Great, thanks for the quick replies guys. Will probably get the HDD from the feedback!

d_brennen · 29 Jul 2014 at 14:15

Steveocee said:
I have 6 of the 7200.14's 4 are running 24x7 and I've had no issues at all since install (Jan this year)

You're right in the dangerzone

I kid, of course

Steveocee · 29 Jul 2014 at 15:10

d_brennen said:
You're right in the dangerzone

I kid, of course

And with 6 that's technically on a highway!

scotsdragon · 29 Jul 2014 at 15:28

I have only had one Seagate fail on me and that's after 8 years or so, I think it served me well

MR_MU53NDO · 29 Jul 2014 at 15:31

I've got 2X ST3250820AS running since 2007/08 and still functioning like new (although I may have to replace them soon as i don't know what the failure rate is like in drives this old...)

groovesection · 29 Jul 2014 at 15:36

I have a 500GB Seagate used as a PVR/HVR drive, I record about 6-8 programmes a day (HD & SD) and have done for over 3 years, constantly using the drive and deleting recordings.
It has outlasted my 1TB WD Green (Mybook essential) which is now making noises and getting errors after just 2 years (only has 1 year warranty

crinkleshoes · 30 Jul 2014 at 11:44

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Now I hope that answers your question...

I have had enough bad experiences with them that I refuse to buy them anymore... 4 out of 6 3TB Seagates dead within 18-24 months and only 12 month warranty.

Pre-flood drives from Seagate seemed to do rather well for themselves... but after the factory move, I've heard many bad reports about their quality.

I've had trouble with their external caddies in the past too, although those used Samsung drives of which some are still going today, outside of the caddies, 7-8 years down the line.

Switched to WD Red drives and so far so good, just ordered 7x 4TB that'll be delivered tomorrow... already have one... replacing the 8x 3TBs in my NAS & the 3TBs are going to be distributed between home server and HTPC.

Flying_Hellfish · 30 Jul 2014 at 11:58

Luck of the draw IME. I've had Sammys, Seagates and WDs

chippy08 · 30 Jul 2014 at 12:54

All the reviews of Bad sectors appearing early in the drives life has put me off buying Seagate.

andy_mk3 · 30 Jul 2014 at 12:57

I've not had many Seagate drives, but out of the 2 or 3 I have had, all of them failed at some point. That of course doesn't mean every other Seagate drive is the same, but it sure as hell puts me off. I with Samsung still made HDD's, as my 3 drives have been absolutely perfect coming up to 15k hours use now.