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7on

macrumors 601
Original poster
Nov 9, 2003
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Dress Rosa
Hey, I was just wondering what would be the best 2 TB SATA 3.5" hard drive? I saw Seagate has one as well as Western Digital. Is one noticiably better? Is there another brand out there even better than one of tthese two?

Thanks!
 
WD Caviar Blacks seem to be what everyone recommends around here..but they are pricey. I believe the 2tb models are 299$ each while the 1tb blacks can be had for 99.

I am trying to decide if i should just get the 1tbs instead lol
 
well ill prolly end up picking up 3 of them .. so ill get one more tb for the cost of a single 2tb drive .. thinking of replacing my stock 640gb one as well .. waiting for ssd prices to drop before picking up a pair
 
Get 1TB's. You don't need more than 1TB at this point. (yet)

So you are the guy telling people how much space they need?

I remember a guy who once tried the same saying that 640kb of memory is enough for anybody.

:p:rolleyes:

However, there is no 'best' hard drive. Every hard drive has it's specific application.
If you're searching for high reliable server class drives, get the WD RE4 2TB drive.
You want a silent and cool drive? Get a Green line drive.
WD Blacks give you very good performance (equal to the RE4) but they are not that recommended for RAID storage systems (even if I got two of them running in a RAID0 in my Pro without any issues).

The choice of a manufacturer is based on personal expertise. Some say Seagates are the best, other say WD for the win.
Personally, I haven't bought any other drive than WD and Seagate for 3 years now (about 20 in total).
4 Seagates failed last year, which remains 16 WD drives, all of then still running.
 
I randomly ordered a 2TB WD Black. Quite some time ago. It turned up at the end of last week and now I need to remember WTF I bought it for...

I have a feeling it's supposed to be for Time Machine on the Mac Pro running OS X Server but then why didn't I go for Blue? What can I say, I'm a puzzle.

For now, I'd recommend it purely on looking pretty ;)
 
I randomly ordered a 2TB WD Black. Quite some time ago. It turned up at the end of last week and now I need to remember WTF I bought it for...

I have a feeling it's supposed to be for Time Machine on the Mac Pro running OS X Server but then why didn't I go for Blue? What can I say, I'm a puzzle.

For now, I'd recommend it purely on looking pretty ;)

Blue is for being cheap and needy. Black is for well, more reliability. Blacks carry to spin holders and make the drive more stable while spinning. Where as Blues only carry 1.
 
i have one of those seagates here but i was going to sell it
heard the caviar blacks seem to be the drive of choice over in the mac pro forums for speed and i guess platter size i think .. not sure
maybe i should just keep it and add one more .. save myself 100 dollars:confused:
 
7on,

There have been a few posters who've provided several views and some valid advice. You don't say exactly what you want the drive for so it's not easy to know whether spending the money for 2TB (that is enterprise class or not) is worth it.

For example, you have a Mac Pro with three drives, say, a 600MG and two 1TB drives. Now you only have one slot left. If your drives are pretty full or you're thinking they'll become so soon, you probably should look at a 2TB drive for the empty slot. Or, put in the 2TB drive you purchase, transfer the data from both of your 1TB drives to the 2TB. Then remove the two 1TB drives and that will open up another slot for future expansion.

Another question: Do you leave your machine on all the time? Do you use it as a server? If the drive will be spinning constantly for the next few years, it might make sense to get an enterprise class drive. If the machine isn't used too frequently then it might be less important to go that route.

Whatever you decide, make sure you have backups of all your data. Ideally, you'd have two sets of backups. This can't be stressed enough. One industry pundit said a few years ago (Was it David Pogue?) that "There are two kinds of people: Those who backup their computers regularly and those who will."

Best wishes on your decision.

musique

P.S. I have several Macs with both 1 and 1.5TB drives, both Seagate and Western Digital. I also have a NAS in a RAID5 set-up with four 1TB drives (2 Seagates and 2 WD) and two 2TB drives (both WD). All of these drives are enterprise class. They've been running 24/7 for about a year and have 0 reallocated sectors. I may have gotten lucky. :rolleyes:
 
I'm going to be loading the drive with ISO rips of DVDs and put it into the Popcorn Hour. Eventually I'd like a RAID5 setup, but I'm holding off on that until we get a house where I can hide it in the wall or something. Until then I'd like everything to stay in the same slim-line box.

And thanks for all the suggestions! I'll look into the Green line for the quiet-ness / heat.
 
The WD Caviar Blacks are pretty good; Seagate Barracuda XT is fast as well.

Also, 2x 1TB cost you $199 vs 2TB in one drive is $299... so you are paying for $100 in convenience.

Well it's more than convenience; for argument's sake, if you have stuff that's a tad over 1TB then you'll need the bigger drive… plus 1TB disks aren't worth a darn if you don't have any more room for HDDs (hence the 2TB ones make sense to own).
 
Hey, I was just wondering what would be the best 2 TB SATA 3.5" hard drive? I saw Seagate has one as well as Western Digital. Is one noticiably better? Is there another brand out there even better than one of tthese two?

Thanks!

I have a seagate free agent. I've had nothing but success with the drive. I'd recommend the seagate.

Best,

Habitus :apple:
 
I'm going to be loading the drive with ISO rips of DVDs and put it into the Popcorn Hour. Eventually I'd like a RAID5 setup, but I'm holding off on that until we get a house where I can hide it in the wall or something. Until then I'd like everything to stay in the same slim-line box.

And thanks for all the suggestions! I'll look into the Green line for the quiet-ness / heat.

If you plan on putting the drive in a popcorn hour then I suggest a green version. they run more quite and cooler than other drives.The speed of the WD Blacks will get you nowhere in the PCH.

As far as setting up a server to store content later; take a look at unRAID when you get a chance and decide if it is for you.
 
i ended up with the 2tb WD Green! :)

Installing in the pch now.
 

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Does it matter what year Mac Pro?

I have a 2nd gen (circa 2007) Mac Pro. Do the 2TB drives work in mine as well? I believe the interface is still the same SATA 3. Anything else I need to know?

I plan on using my extra space for either storing video or working on them, depending on how I reallocate the existing drives. I have the original drive (I believe a 500 MB), added a 1 TB and split it into two logical, so I have two slots left. All drives are just about filled up with photos, video and music. I have an external 1 TB that is dedicated to Time Machine.

Thanks for any advice.

Robert
 
samsung story (the pro model with esata if you really need it) UBER cheap, quality, durable, reliable, slim. Approaches perfection. Oh I did not see if you wanted internal or regular. Either way I agree with HD content, I have 6 tb, and wish I had more!
 
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