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3TB Internal HD for Storage

Z

ZeD X

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 26, 2011
136
0
Hi,

I bough an Intel SSD 320 Series to replace my Optical Drive, and now I want to replace my Factory 1TB Hard Drive (ST31000528ASQ) with an 3TB Capacity for file storage.

I have tunned up the temperature sensors to get a colder temperature, as I get my iMac (Late 2009 - Purchased 1 month before the iMac upgrade ¬¬) running 24/7, and the factory HD still noisier than the "overclocked" fans.

I will be storing Music and Videos on this HD. Mostly videos.

The most important factor is confiability and durability. I want an HD to last much as possible, and if possible, to be much silent possible too (I dont like the factory one, its a bit annoying).

What HD to choose? WD, Hitachi, Seagate?

Thanks in advance
 
About 100 views and no answer. No one tried 3TB drivers?

Any one have good experience with 2TB drivers at least?
 
If you search I think you will find a few posts hear on people adding 3TB hard drives to there iMacs without problems. As for which brand to go with is a matter of opinion and different people have different opinions on it. I myself always go with WD and have been happy. With in the last year I have installed some ware around 100 WD 2.5" drives and only had 2 that were DOA and none that have failed in use.
 
Yes, I know, and I actually searched for it.

The people are using the 3TB HD as main OS drive, and it's not what I want here.

I will store files only.

WD looks a great choice, but they only 3TB is the Caviar Green with is not 7200 rpm. Per file storage I don't think that it will be a problem. Maybe it will be faster than 7200 with a OS running on it.
 
A WD Green drive should be fine for file storage, it's what they were made for.
 
ZeD X said:
Yes, I know, and I actually searched for it.

The people are using the 3TB HD as main OS drive, and it's not what I want here.
Click to expand...

A 3TB hard drive should still work without a problem, without the OS on it a faster RPM drive will not be as important depending upon what kind of files you are storing on it. As always be sure to back up your data as 3TB is a relativity new territory and little is known about the reliability of 3TB drives.
 
Darien Red Sox said:
A 3TB hard drive should still work without a problem, without the OS on it a faster RPM drive will not be as important depending upon what kind of files you are storing on it. As always be sure to back up your data as 3TB is a relativity new territory and little is known about the reliability of 3TB drives.
Click to expand...

So If I am getting a 3TB and need to backup the data is some worthless.

So is better going for a NAS with raid 0 ?

What about the 2TB reliability?
 
3TB? Most would be surprised if you could fill that up, not me. I'm full on several 1TB HDs, 3TB sounds attractive.
But seriously, if you want silent, all 7200RPM drives are going to be about the same sound wise.

What I would do if I were you is get an external HD mount so you can swap out as many HDs as you need... you can mount 2 at a time, so you could have 4 or 6 TBs of storage, you wouldn't need to rip apart your computer again, and it would still be pretty fast. After you finish filling up one, swap it out and package the full disc. Make sure you get FireWire 800 for best speed.
These cost about $100 on Amazon, Newegg, or any other retailer.
 
My firewire is already in use by an audio interface. I already pursharsed an Iomega Minimax that looks like to have an firewire "hub", just waiting it to arrive, but I still needing extra space, as 2tb (minimax) + 1tb (internal) + 1tb (external, mypassport) will be not enogh in a month or two...

things splited into a lot of external hd are not too fast, and I want to keep the most accessed files on the faster internal.

I am a DVD/Blu-Ray collector, and I have a HUGE collection, and I prefer they stored on my iMac than the DVD/Blu-ray for safety/speed to find/play them.

I have already backuped about 15% of my collection.

I am audiophile also, so I need them all lossless (just copy-paste the files). And it's a lot of space that I will need.

If I can store an extra 1tb or 2tb internal to access faster my favorites will be great.
 
ZeD X said:
So If I am getting a 3TB and need to backup the data is some worthless.

So is better going for a NAS with raid 0 ?

What about the 2TB reliability?
Click to expand...

No matter what drive you have you should back up.

The bigger the drive the more data you will louse, if you had 3 1TB drives and one failed you would be out 1/3 of your data, which would still be a hit but not at least you would not lose everything. I wold not recommend using a RAID 0 device as your only backup, if there is a power surge it could destroy both drives.
 
Darien Red Sox said:
No matter what drive you have you should back up.

The bigger the drive the more data you will louse, if you had 3 1TB drives and one failed you would be out 1/3 of your data, which would still be a hit but not at least you would not lose everything. I wold not recommend using a RAID 0 device as your only backup, if there is a power surge it could destroy both drives.
Click to expand...
The point is that it's already a backup.

I will store my media (DVD/Blurays) on HDs.

It will cost disk space, and the time (power, etc) to convert it).

My entire collection is HUGE, I guarantee it. Will be very expensive to make a lot of backups.

I am considering purchasing some Caviars Green 2TB to store things external. I also want more internal storage. I am still considering it yet.
Transporteur said:
Depends on how much money you want to spend. Good NAS systems provide transfer speeds of 100MB/s which is roughly 3 times as fast as USB2.0.
Click to expand...
The NAS I am talking about are very good with 1.6ghz processors or more, and 1gbit lan.
 
My 1 & 2 TB Hitachis and Seagates have failed horribly. My WDs are fine.

I wouldn't touch Seagate with a 10ft. Maxtor.... wait, they are the same, now, aren't they?
 
Lesser Evets said:
My 1 & 2 TB Hitachis and Seagates have failed horribly. My WDs are fine.

I wouldn't touch Seagate with a 10ft. Maxtor.... wait, they are the same, now, aren't they?
Click to expand...
My iMac comes with an Seagate and it worked 24/7, now I am with SSD but it still working 24/7.

The only thing that I don't like on it is the noise. It's noise is louder than the fans (with a "overclock" on their speed).
 
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