External hard drive.. I am looking for some advice on an external hard drive with a capacity of 2 tb. I have used Seagate and western digital in the past. what is the current best...

connievloutely Loc: Quaker State (PA)

I am looking for some advice on an external hard drive with a capacity of 2 tb.

I have used Seagate and western digital in the past.

what is the current best brand for reliability.

Your thoughts please!

neco Loc: Western Colorado Mountains

I use WD and have not had any issues.

Quixdraw Loc: x

I use a Western Digital 4 TB Passport - simple, inexpensive, excellent. They have 2 TB as well

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

My external drives are all G-Tech drives.
--Bob

connievloutely wrote:

I am looking for some advice on an external hard drive with a capacity of 2 tb.

I have used Seagate and western digital in the past.

what is the current best brand for reliability.

Your thoughts please!

sandiegosteve Loc: San Diego, CA

My approach with the current costs is to get two. Then, every week or more I swap them out.

Now, I just back up to them, so that works. I run a little tool that copies all images, settings and database to the external drive. That gives me a point in time backup.

The spare drive then goes somewhere else (like work). Then I have two drives with one somewhere else.

You didn't say what you want them for, so maybe I'm suggesting something that isn't useful.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

connievloutely wrote:

I am looking for some advice on an external hard drive with a capacity of 2 tb.

I have used Seagate and western digital in the past.

what is the current best brand for reliability.

Your thoughts please!

Drive manufacturers have lots of different models/levels of drives - for the best defense against data loss, don't buy the cheap, consumer-oriented retail-packaged external drive solution. It's junk. Buy any drive with a 5 yr warranty - they are designed for data center or enterprise applications and will certainly outlast the junk. They are a little bit more expensive, but a lot more reliable.

I use WD RE or WD Black, depending on whether or not they are going to be used in a RAID configuration (WD RE) or just stand-alone. Any cheap drive I have ever purchased has broken, sometimes just after the 1 or 2 yr warranty has expired.

Shel Loc: Lecanto FL

I had a Seagate with warranty. Drive died but Seagate recovered all of the data and sent it on a new, larger hard drive. Couldn't ask for more than that.

Shel Loc: Lecanto FL

connievloutely wrote:

I am looking for some advice on an external hard drive with a capacity of 2 tb.
I have used Seagate and western digital in the past.
what is the current best brand for reliability.Your thoughts please!

I had a Seagate that died. Sent it to Seagate (extended warranty) and they not only recovered the data but sent it in a larger hard drive than the one that died. Can't ask for more than that.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

connievloutely wrote:

I am looking for some advice on an external hard drive with a capacity of 2 tb.

I have used Seagate and western digital in the past.

what is the current best brand for reliability?

Your thoughts, please!

LaCie is ruggedized with the orange shock collar. I see Pros with them all the time on location. 4Tb $180 on Amazon.

connievloutely Loc: Quaker State (PA)

sandiegosteve wrote:

My approach with the current costs is to get two. Then, every week or more I swap them out.

Now, I just back up to them, so that works. I run a little tool that copies all images, settings and database to the external drive. That gives me a point in time backup.

The spare drive then goes somewhere else (like work). Then I have two drives with one somewhere else.

You didn't say what you want them for, so maybe I'm suggesting something that isn't useful.

I want to back up my images. You idea sounds like a way to go.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

HGST UltraStar drive are very good. They enterprise drive, designed for 24/7 use.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Gene51 wrote:

Drive manufacturers have lots of different models/... (show quote)

👍👍 Good advice. I would buy a quality enterprise class drive, an external fan cooled case with a USB-3 interface and put it together yourself - that way you’ll know what drive is inside. In terms of drive type, HGST, which typically has the best reliability data, according to Backblaze statistics, has now been purchased by WD, but there are plenty of NEW, sealed 2TB HGST Ultrastar drives available on Amazon and EBay, and unless you can afford a 2TB SSD (which would be my first choice), that’s what I would choose.

connievloutely Loc: Quaker State (PA)

jerryc41 wrote:

HGST UltraStar drive are very good. They enterprise drive, designed for 24/7 use.

Is there a way to use this drive as an external drive!

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

connievloutely wrote:

Is there a way to use this drive as an external drive!

Sure. Put in in a fan cooled external case which includes a USB 3.0 interface adapter

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I use two WD My passport ultras for backups. Older, so they're only 1Tb.