Best (most importantly durable) internal non-SSD disk for PC?

[mabian]

Hello,

My system - Windows 10/Linux - has a mix of SSD and non-SSD drives, and I need to replace at least one WD Blue with sector errors. I don't want to wait for the total breakdown so I'm already hunting for replacements.

Any suggestion on internal 3.5HD, 7200 RPM SATA drives?
I would keep the size to 2TB (if I need more I will handle it through external HDDs, but that means I am accumulating too much junk )

Since I'm not sure I want to choose WD again (especially Blue), the Seagate Barracuda tempts me...
Of course, I'm looking for the best trade-off between performance and reliability but if I have to choose it's for the latter.

Any hint is welcome.
Thanks,
Mario

[Pictus]

In the past, HGST models were considered more reliable.
https://www.pcgamer.com/ongoing-hard-dr ... ble-brand/

I asked Google AI, Is HGST a more reliable HD?

[mabian]

Thank but we are in 2025 now...

"In 2012, Hitachi sold the division to Western Digital, who continued the drive product line brand as HGST Deskstar. In 2018, Western Digital began winding down the HGST brand, and as of 2020 it is defunct."

- Mario

[uOpt]

Not enough disks of that kind on the market anymore to get meaningful statistics.

[mabian]

I'm shy of investing in larger drives because I'd want to stay on CMR type and the more capacity you get the more probable is drives are SMR, which I understand is not so good...

- Mario

[Pictus]

I'm shy of investing in larger drives because I'd want to stay on CMR type and the more capacity you get the more probable is drives are SMR, which I understand is not so good...

- Mario

https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of- ... rives-hdd/

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaz ... -for-2023/

[Pictus]

Thank but we are in 2025 now...

"In 2012, Hitachi sold the division to Western Digital, who continued the drive product line brand as HGST Deskstar. In 2018, Western Digital began winding down the HGST brand, and as of 2020 it is defunct."

- Mario

I know that is also why I posted the AI link...

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/inter ... =7200&m=19

I'm shy of investing in larger drives because I'd want to stay on CMR type and the more capacity you get the more probable is drives are SMR, which I understand is not so good...

- Mario

https://nascompares.com/answer/list-of- ... rives-hdd/

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaz ... -for-2023/

[FranklyFlawless]

Any suggestion on internal 3.5HD, 7200 RPM SATA drives?

WD_Black or Seagate FireCuda.

[Lerian]

According to the latest backblaze reliability index, the helium-sealed Seagate Exos X18 (16tb plus) have the best reliability ratings among enterprise/nas HDDs. But given the fact that they are still being moving parts, they can still break easily. I would go for the enterprise SSDs route + backups. You have the U2 option that you can plug into the PCIe or M.2 slot which is cheaper, or you can go for SATA enterprise SSDs, even cheaper. M.2 nvme are more expensive and harder to fit into the consumer PC motherboards - they are 22x110mm in size. There are plenty of options if you know where to look for. SATA intel SSDs can be reliable, and also the U.2 Micron and the SATA Samsungs.

[lunarice]

I have always referenced the backblaze reliability blog posts for navigating hard drive purchases. You may also be interested in getting a “CMR” drive instead of a “SMR” drive, though it may not make a big reliability difference with modern hard drives.

[mabian]

I have always referenced the backblaze reliability blog posts for navigating hard drive purchases. You may also be interested in getting a “CMR” drive instead of a “SMR” drive, though it may not make a big reliability difference with modern hard drives.

I prefer CMR too, but it seems they're more difficult to find or more expensive.
Currently, I'm gearing towards having two "off-line" copies of things I'm not using often - archive - on external HDDs; I got two WD Elements 4TB external HDDs, and I'm already regretting not getting one of the two of a different brand instead.

With this I can go with "current" stuff with SSD/NVMe only and doing backups of these to another external HD. By doing so I should have everything in double copy - not all on different tech brands though.

Doing so, I don't think I need to replace the faulty internal HD at all.

Thanks,
Mario

[dermage]

I recommend Thoshiba's cloud scale disks (MG-series). I have several in use (10+) since about 5 years, none failed.
CMR and not loud.

[DevonB]

Hello,

My system - Windows 10/Linux - has a mix of SSD and non-SSD drives, and I need to replace at least one WD Blue with sector errors. I don't want to wait for the total breakdown so I'm already hunting for replacements.

Any suggestion on internal 3.5HD, 7200 RPM SATA drives?
I would keep the size to 2TB (if I need more I will handle it through external HDDs, but that means I am accumulating too much junk )

Since I'm not sure I want to choose WD again (especially Blue), the Seagate Barracuda tempts me...
Of course, I'm looking for the best trade-off between performance and reliability but if I have to choose it's for the latter.

Any hint is welcome.
Thanks,
Mario

What is your concern with SSD's for your replacement? A 2TB SSD is more expensive, but not drastically more? My questions are how much space are you using on this drive? You can do over provisioning, forcing the drive to have more sectors available for bad block replacement if you don't need all 2TB of it. Also, what are you doing with the drive? If it's mostly reads like a drive full of samples, then the wear and tear would be low. SSD's main problem is the P/E cycles and if you're not writing, that helps. I'm looking at a 500GB drive I've had for almost 6 years as my boot OS drive that has 182TB written to it and it's my daily usage machine. It's a Samsung 970 EVO Plus. I'd be more concerned maybe if I was writing video to it daily for editing, but drives these days are pretty reliable and last just fine.

Devon