Looking for a Good External HD

antspants said:

I bought 4 WD 4TB (maybe 3TB) NAS drives (I could get the model if I have to) they ended up in my sons computer, slowest things I’d ever used. However I don’t think I was using them as they were intended to be used. I’m not that clued up on stuff like that. $$$ more important to me.

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Yeah I don't think NAS Drives are meant to be pulled out of the NAS Enclosure and used normally. . That's where I made the mistake from, I bet. I should have left it in the NAS Enclosure. . I don't have the enclosure anymore.

Flashorn said:

An external case.

Amazon.ca : HDD Enclosure

Run Seagate's Seatools

SeaTools | Support Seagate US

SeaTools - Quick diagnostic tool that checks the health of your drive.

www.seagate.com

Run the LONG test.

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I've got a couple of enclosures in mind. . I may take a look at those you posted tho

This One

And This One

antspants said:

But where would a drummer be without the bass

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The keyboardist

JAM83 said:

WHY are ya'll talking about this? Has nothing to do with my thread

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Sorry, It's just a bad habit. Won't happen again.

JAM83 said:

I've got a couple of enclosures in mind. . I may take a look at those you posted tho

This One

And This One

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Both are made in China.
Nextstar has been around for a while If I recall correctly.
You don't need a Big one. Just something you can pop a
hdd in to either transfer or to evaluate it's life.

Flashorn said:

Both are made in China.
Nextstar has been around for a while If I recall correctly.
You don't need a Big one. Just something you can pop a
hdd in to either transfer or to evaluate it's life.

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I'd like to get it out of my computer permanently and either connect it to my Router, OR connect it to my Nvidia Shield

JAM83 said:

I'd like to get it out of my computer permanently and either connect it to my Router, OR connect it to my Nvidia Shield

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In that case, you might want to check compatibility with either or both
of those peripherals.

Flashorn said:

In that case, you might want to check compatibility with either or both
of those peripherals.

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Nvidia Shield has Two USB 3.0 Ports (Type A)

JAM83 said:

Nvidia Shield has Two USB 3.0 Ports (Type A)

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I don't own a nVidia shield but, USB 3.0 are usable with external drives and enclosures.
What you might want to know is will it accept the one(s) you are eyeing?
Try your question on their forums:

Flashorn said:

I don't own a nVidia shield but, USB 3.0 are usable with external drives and enclosures.
What you might want to know is will it accept the one(s) you are eyeing?
Try your question on their forums:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/shield-tv/9/

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Yeah I'll ask over there or even on Reddit too. . Worse case scenario, is I connect it to my Router. I can always map network the drive to my PCs, then set up Plex Server on my devices. There's always a way :)

I had a WD MBL and a lightning strike next door fried my cable box, router and the attached MBL. Turned out the HDD was fine but the circuit board from the MBL was toast. Turns out they use hardware encryption so I bought a used one off EvilBay that had a bad HDD and stripped it for the circuit board so I could access my data.

bfunke said:

I had a WD MBL and a lightning strike next door fried my cable box, router and the attached MBL. Turned out the HDD was fine but the circuit board from the MBL was toast. Turns out they use hardware encryption so I bought a used one off EvilBay that had a bad HDD and stripped it for the circuit board so I could access my data.

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I unplug all of my electronics during severe storms. I'm knowledge in weather (former storm chaser) that I know how to read radar, etc. :)

JAM83 said:

Yeah I don't think NAS Drives are meant to be pulled out of the NAS Enclosure and used normally. . That's where I made the mistake from, I bet. I should have left it in the NAS Enclosure. . I don't have the enclosure anymore.

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The mass storage on both of my desktop PCs are Seagate Ironwolf or Ironwolf Pro NAS drives. They function as regular SATA drives.

I suppose things could be more interesting if the drives had been part of a RAID, or if they used a different interface than SATA. Neither applies.

Whether they were worth the (small) premium over drives that weren't advertised as NAS drives, or whether they are inferior to "enterprise" drives, I can't say. I got them in the hope that they'd be quieter, as well as reliable.

JAM83 said:

WHY are ya'll talking about this? Has nothing to do with my thread

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Sorry.

There are probably many different methods to refurbish and/ or recertify hard drives depending on how the drive was returned, it could be open box but unused, warranty return to place of purchase or RMA to manufacturer, light to medium use or near end of warranty period.

The actual process would be down to the company refurbishing the drive, some are done in-house others are farmed out to 'specialist' companies but can include steps like physical appearance check, basic I/O tests, updated firmware, reset SMART tables, full format, disabling heads/ platters that fail tests (resulting in a loss of capcity vs original spec) and probably many more methods.
I would think the guiding process would be effort vs costs, obviously a physical check, format & I/O check would be the ideal from a refurb for sale or warranty replacement as those steps cost the least.

As far as getting a refurb back after RMA I believe that would be covered in the warranty terms for the product along the lines of 'we reserve the right to replace, repair or refund at our discretion' or similar wording and is used by retailers and manufacturers alike.
Of course these terms would need to take account of local consumer protection laws and guidelines, such as marking products as refurb and not reselling at full price, but I think are pretty common, although there are examples of major retailers breaking these rules and being caught out.

Most of this information is anecdotal/ best guess gleaned from various tech sites and forums, I doubt most manufacturers or refurb companies would explain the process or are even required to, what matters to the end user is that they receive a working product with warranty.

DigitalGoat said:

what matters to the end user is that they receive a working product with warranty.

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Last time I did a WD. it had a 90 day even though it had 3 yrs left on the original 5yr. WD Black

Hi folks
as for 2TB ssd's -- they exist and are quite common e.g from Amazon UK -- easy to use as external devices in a nvme->USB3/USBC adapter. UK price around 84 GBP on amazon.uk == for export subtract the 25% VAT which makes it a whole lot cheaper



For 6TB "classic HDD's -- 3.5 inch I'm surprised nobody has mentioned TOSHIBA -- execllent durable quality (better than WD by a universe) and if you use an external powered sata adapter no need to buy a complete external USB drive. Around € 100.00

cheers
jimbo

I went ahead and purchased this one

ORICO USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure

JAM83 said:

I went ahead and purchased this one

ORICO USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure

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I’ve had Orico products. Not to shabby

JAM83 said:

I went ahead and purchased this one

ORICO USB 3.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure

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I've bought a couple of Orico products.

They were inexpensive, but effective. Good choice, probably.