Storage Solutions HDD Dock and New Internal HDD

axis.meister

axis.meister

Disciple
Hello Friends,

Current Storage:
Internal: Boot=WD Blue 500GB(out of warranty); Storage=Seagate 2TB (less than 1 year old)
External: WD My Book 2TB + WD Elements 500GB(6-7 year old)
Portable: None :(

I am running out of space on all drives and am looking to add capacity.

Scenario I - replace Internal Seagate 2TB, Buy new 3-4TB Internal HDD + HDD Dock to use the Seagate 2TB.
Advantage= Flexibility. Will get ~4TB free on the PC itself, and can use the Dock for the 2TB Seagate and 500GB WD when I replace it in the future with a SSD.
Disadvantage= I dont know much about Docks, and the combo seems to be costly since the 3-4TB HDD would itself come in at 10-12K.

Scenario II - Get external 3-4TB HDD.
Advantage= relatively lower cost. the 3-4TB external HDD should be around 12K
Disadvantage= One more external HDD lying around. Have to connect it everytime to access data, I cannot keep it connected all the time since I already have 2 external HDDs + ton of other stuff lying around my PC.

Budget: Around 10-12K, flexible :)

Brands : was running a WD only setup with 2 internal + 2 external WD HDDs, then one of the internal HDDs (WD Green 1TB) started showing errors. Got it RMA'd and sold off the exchange HDD I got. Then went for a Seagate 2TB, which has been working fine. No real brand preferences anymore, just has to be reliable and not too expensive.

Please suggest some good docks; reviews/suggestions/opinions on 3-4TB internal HDDs or external HDDs is also most welcome.
Thanks,
ax
 
Strictly IMO, go for option II. Get an external drive and be happy. I have 4 external storage drives which helps me store my data in neatly managed sections. In my experience once you start filling up a disk with stuff we all tend to go overboard and fill it to the brim with tons of random data. Retrieving it is a pain, accessing it quickly is a nightmare, and trying to sort it later is downright impossible. (Been there, done that) Get an external drive, make proper folders for your data and file away.

While the same can be done with option 1, buy a dock only if you see yourself buying/accumulating too many internal drives and that you may need to hot swap them on the fly.
 
phoenix844884 said:
Strictly IMO, go for option II. Get an external drive and be happy. I have 4 external storage drives which helps me store my data in neatly managed sections. In my experience once you start filling up a disk with stuff we all tend to go overboard and fill it to the brim with tons of random data. Retrieving it is a pain, accessing it quickly is a nightmare, and trying to sort it later is downright impossible. (Been there, done that) Get an external drive, make proper folders for your data and file away.

While the same can be done with option 1, buy a dock only if you see yourself buying/accumulating too many internal drives and that you may need to hot swap them on the fly.
Click to expand...

Which external drives are you using and what has been your experience?
I have done some searching and the market seems to be in a different position from what it was 2-3 years back(even 1 year back maybe).
What I mean is that the cost of an internal HDD+decent USB case => external HDD in most cases for the same size.
I distictly remember when I bought my last external HDD (WD My Book 2TB), the difference in price to an internal 2TB HDD was like 1-1.5K.

For example: source Flipkart
Internals:
WD Green 3TB EURS = 8.75K; EZRX = 8.5K
Seagate 3TB DM001=8.5K; VX001 = 9.5K
Externals:
WD different variants USB3.0 = 9.5-10K
Seagate different variants USB3.0 = 10-11K
Samsung 3TB USB3.0 = 9.3K @FK and 9K @ Snapdeal

I hope more people join in and post their opinions.
 
I'm using 2X 1.5TB WD Elements, 1X 2TB Seagate Backup, 1X 3TB Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 drives. I saw that when I had just the two 1.5TB drives I was haphazardly throwing everything and anything onto them and retrieving that data later, especially the bazillion photographs, was a huge task. As and when I got the bigger drives I painstakingly made folders for each and everything and went about storing/reshuffling my data in an orderly manner. Now it's a breeze to access anything because a) I know where everything is stored, and b) it's as simple as plug and play.

Cost wise I agree with you, that buying a medium capacity internal drive and a dock will cost you about same as buying an external drive. Your best bet is to keep your eyes peeled for an Amazon/online deal on external drives. Only two days back the 4TB Seagate Backup Plus drive was selling for $125. That is, if you are open to online purchasing and sourcing it from outside India. If you want to stick to a local/domestic online purchase then Flipkart is your best bet. Some deals on the boards are worth checking out too.

Hope that helps.
 
Im okay with buying online, but have never bought from Amazon US or Ebay US, am not sure how that actually works with the custom duty and shipping charges. And the warranty on US HDDs is typically 2 years as opposed to the 3 years you get here on external HDDs.
I think there was a thread in the Hot Deals section about it a few months back.

Just checked, the 4TN Seagate Backup plus is at $139.99
 
External HDDs make better sense these days as they carry 3 yrs warranty instead of 2 yrs as is the case with internal drives.
 
*Reviving old thread for update and new query*

Finally got a WD My Book 4TB external USB3.0 HDD for 12.6K from Flipkart(used the Axis bank 10% cashback promo, so should get additional 1.2K cashback by May).

Wanted to know what all tests you guys would typically run on a new external HDD.
Did a quick check from WB HDD Utils- came back all passed. Tried to run the full test, the test ran for about 3 hours and only 20% completed so had to cancel it. Will run the full test on saturday. Curiously HD Tune doesnt recognize the disk correctly and you cant run a check through HD tune. I checked through AIDA64, Crystal Diskinfo and Diskmark, all showed green.

Also, would you typically install all the WD Apps shipped with the disk? WD Utils, WD Security and WD Smartware; Acronis Driveimage has to be seperately downloaded from the WD website. I am usually not fond of these SW, but installed the WD Utils just cos the SES Driver was missing.
 
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