In this article, I am going to take a look at the best hard drives in the industry. I am not going to feature external hard drives – I am going to discuss only internal bare drives. However, I may look at externals in another post. But for now, if you are a hardcore gamer, or just need a hard drive that is both reliable and performs well, these drives will not disappoint you:
WD Black Series
- Durability: 5 Stars
- Reliability: 5 Stars
- Performance: 5 Stars
- Price Range: $72USD – $209USD
- Speed: 72000RPM
- Failure Rate: Lowest
- Anti Shock Sensor: Active
- Capacity: 1TB – 2TB – 4TB – 6TB
- Acoustics: 29 dB – 36 dB
- Warranty: 5 Years
- Data Recovery: Easiest
The WD2003FZEX 2TB Model is the winner in reliability and durability categories. The only con for this drive is that it only supports up to 64 MB of cache. The WD4005FZBX 4TB and WD6003FZBX 6TB drives will support up to 256 MB of cache but the 6TB drives have not been out as long so there’s no real sense of reliability or durability reported for comparison. However, it is very popular with gamers who often use heavy loads. So, if you are a hardcore gamer or regular end user seeking top performance, high durability with 5 years of warranty – which indicates the confidence the manufacturer has in their product – this family or series of drives is a good choice.
They are also not the most expensive of the hard drives on the market, so you will end up with a good product for the amount you will spend on it. The WD Blue family is a tad cheaper, for sure, but when you compare performance and reliability, they fall far behind.
One last note, data recovery is the easiest in clean room processes with these drives compared to other WD drives and other hard drive manufacturers.
The next hard drives are:
Toshiba X300 Series
- Durability: 5 Stars
- Reliability: 5 Stars
- Performance: 4.9 Stars
- Price Range: $109USD – $529USD
- Speed: 72000RPM
- Failure Rate: Lower
- Anti Shock Sensor: Active
- Capacity: 4TB – 5TB – 6TB – 8TB – 10TB – 12TB – 14TB
- Acoustics: 31 dB – 35 dB
- Warranty: 2 Years
- Data Recovery: Moderate
These are also great performers, although not as good as the WD, Toshiba drives do sit in the same category because of their amazing reliability and durability. They come with a shock censoring anti-shock system that will move heads into a parked position to reduce data loss and platter damage. Some computer ‘geeks’ have put these drives up to benchmark tests and report they could perform better for the price when compared to competitors. If you are a gamer or regular end user seeking a great performing hard drive, this is definitely a great choice.
The only con I can find is the rather short warranty period, especially if you look at the MTTF time in the specs, which happens to be considerably higher than the WD Black series. Two years doesn’t show a lot of confidence in my mind but according to the general public, there have not been many issues with these drives. They are a bit more expensive than their rivals.
As for data recovery, this is not an easy drive to work on in a clean room environment, but it isn’t the hardest, either. The only downside here is the higher cost of donor drives. They can get expensive.
The next drives are:
WD (Formerly HGST) ULTRASTAR DC HC Series
- Durability: 5 Stars
- Reliability: 5 Stars
- Performance: 4.7 Stars
- Price Range: $97USD – $535USD
- Speed: 72000RPM
- Failure Rate: Low
- Anti Shock Sensor: Active
- Capacity: 2TB – 4TB – 6TB – 8TB – 14TB
- Acoustics: 25 dB – 36 dB
- Warranty: 5 Years
- Data Recovery: Easy
This is not a gamer hard drive as the performance is a bit lower than the WD Black or Toshiba rivals. However, this drive is rock solid and can take a beating. It is a data center drive, made specifically for the server environment so it is considered a professional grade product. The 4TB is twice as expensive as the WD or Toshiba but the 8TB is priced just under the $269USD mark currently on Amazon, which makes it the better deal. It is maybe not as reliable as the 4TB drive, but that is the case with all drives in the industry.
The 5-year warranty is unbeatable. If you are in need of a serious, professional drive that is both durable and reliable, don’t let the fact that it is commonly used in data center environments scare you off – it is actually a good thing. If you are not a gamer but want a drive that can take on anything, this is your choice.
As for data recovery, since the components are HGST, HGST recoveries are simple. However, since WD has taken this family of drives over, it’s hard to say what will change but my guess is that the components will not.
Where’s Seagate?
You might ask.
Well, most of the drives we see in our lab for data recovery are Seagate. That includes all models and series, including the professional series drives. While there are a great selection and several options, the fact that there are so many options just lets the company make more money. We get it. It’s all about marketing.
Regardless, I can’t recommend any Seagate drive at the moment. That may change if the company starts to produce better quality products in the future.
In Conclusion
The drives discussed in this article are internal bare drives only. I will write eventually about external drives that are worth investing in. Otherwise, congratulations on your new hard drive – that is, if this article helped you to purchase one.