What is the best most reliable high capacity portable storage device (HDD)?

[gmini 0]

For storage of movies and such. Recommend me a make and model that will stay working for many many years with daily use. Reviews online are so misleading and dishonest, whether it's amazon or reddit.

Thanks

[nexsteppe 24]

If I were outfitting a NAS for my own use I'd probably choose Western Digital platters (HDD) — the Blue, Red, and Black series all seem quite reliable with low rates of failure both out of the box and after years of use.

[OpenSourcerer 1442]

Most reliable HDD for use as portable media? Save yourself some problems beforehand and buy an SSD for that. It's not only lighter, it contains no mechanical parts, it's much quicker when transferring data and is much less sensitive to G-shock (when it hits the floor for example, and when it does it does not break your toes). Granted, the price is higher, but it fits the "stay working for many many years with daily use" criterion also.

I've made very good experiences with SSDs from Samsung. I currently avoid Kingston and Crucial because they get quite warm to the touch and throttle file transfers after some time.
For the cell technology I'd choose TLC (Triple Level Cell). They currently combine good capacities with expectable 500 MiB/s throughput and are priced moderately.

[gmini 0]

20 hours ago, hawkflights said:

If I were outfitting a NAS for my own use I'd probably choose Western Digital platters (HDD) — the Blue, Red, and Black series all seem quite reliable with low rates of failure both out of the box and after years of use.

Oh so you are talking about their PC drives with the different colors right? I was talking more about the ones that come in encasement-type portable drives, you know like the "elements", "my passport", etc. Or do you recommend using the their "PC" drives as a portable? And anyways what's the difference between the ones in plastic cases and these colored metal ones? And lastly how do i know which color drive is inside the plastic cased ones?

giganerd, i don't think i can afford an SSD unfortuantely, these get super expensive when you buy high capacity like 4+ TB. Unless you got some link for a good price to send me.

[george493 2]

I've had a 4TB Seagate external drive for 2+ years now. No problems, and it runs cool, 90 F(+ or - same as an internal laptop drive). I also have a 6TB Toshiba for 2 years, no problems, BUT in summer it runs up to 150 degrees F, so I shut it off until I need it. In winter months it runs around 120 F. These are both 3 1/2" format. I tried the smaller 2 1/2" externals but two out of two failed in first week.
Internal drives are western digital 2 1/2", 2 x 2TB(one is in CD tray with adapter), very good, and cool running(completely clean your laptop exhaust port regularly, from heatsink-fan to port).
Seagate has some 2 1/2" internal drives(2TB=7mm high, 3,4,5TB=9.5 high). Transfer rates on the 6TB were very poor(you cut out bottom of laptop case, insert drive w 6" ribbon with a 180 degree twist).
Purchase any above by comparing different site prices. Be careful of purchasing a drive that came out of an external case, whether 3 1/2" or 2 1/2", it will probably be unwarranted. And Seagate 2,3,4,5, 2 1/2 drives are difficult to get "New". They usually have no warranty from various sellers. You can't get them directly from Seagate.

[nexsteppe 24]

7 hours ago, gmini said:

Oh so you are talking about their PC drives with the different colors right? I was talking more about the ones that come in encasement-type portable drives, you know like the "elements", "my passport", etc. Or do you recommend using the their "PC" drives as a portable? And anyways what's the difference between the ones in plastic cases and these colored metal ones? And lastly how do i know which color drive is inside the plastic cased ones?

Please excuse me, I didn't properly consider the word "portable" in this context.
Without pulling the drive enclosure apart after purchase (sometimes not easy to do without basically wrecking the seal of the enclosure), it's very hard to know what drives and components are used.  And these parts are subject to change by the manufacturer.
Not liking this uncertainty, I make my own.  Putting a WD "Blue" HDD in a cheap Sabrent or similar enclosure would be my current choice for a cheap portable drive.  It will not be fast, but should do the job.
Note that larger form factor 3.5" HDDs will often require more power than most USB buses can comfortably accommodate, so you'll want an enclosure that can take power from a wall adapter or another port if you go this route.  If this isn't an option, stay with 2.5" drives.

If your plan was backing up your whole digital life to a single portable drive though, please reconsider.  While the famous 3-2-1 rule is overkill for most of us, portable drives are a single point of failure if the data on them isn't also stored elsewhere.

[gmini 0]

10 hours ago, hawkflights said:

Please excuse me, I didn't properly consider the word "portable" in this context.
Without pulling the drive enclosure apart after purchase (sometimes not easy to do without basically wrecking the seal of the enclosure), it's very hard to know what drives and components are used.  And these parts are subject to change by the manufacturer.
Not liking this uncertainty, I make my own.  Putting a WD "Blue" HDD in a cheap Sabrent or similar enclosure would be my current choice for a cheap portable drive.  It will not be fast, but should do the job.
Note that larger form factor 3.5" HDDs will often require more power than most USB buses can comfortably accommodate, so you'll want an enclosure that can take power from a wall adapter or another port if you go this route.  If this isn't an option, stay with 2.5" drives.

If your plan was backing up your whole digital life to a single portable drive though, please reconsider.  While the famous 3-2-1 rule is overkill for most of us, portable drives are a single point of failure if the data on them isn't also stored elsewhere.

What's your suggestion when you say to reconsider? 
I plan to put my data in two drives, so two copies total. Do you think it's good enough?

[OpenSourcerer 1442]

20 hours ago, gmini said:

giganerd, i don't think i can afford an SSD unfortuantely, these get super expensive when you buy high capacity like 4+ TB. Unless you got some link for a good price to send me.

Well, 4 TiB is of course pricey, mostly QLC and some TLC do that. If you wait a bit, the QLC SSDs will cost less and give you the 4+ TiB you are looking for.
If you have a good internet connection where you want to use it and at home, I'd even recommend using a media server like Plex. That one can stream videos over the network while you have your 4+ TiB data mountain always at home, and in there you can have your NAS HDDs. But since you can do RAID there, you might even end up investing more than for a portable SSD.