Hard Disk Drive - The dead and Alive



We now live in an era of technology. Back in the early 90’s, 1 GB was considered a LOT! Except now even 3TB won’t suffice. Welcome to the age of ‘hoarding’ in the tech era. Like most people I deluded myself and purchased an external HDD for the purposes of ‘work’. I actually use this device to store movies and series. Yup. The other uses for this device are to take a back-up of my laptop, photos, e-books and music.

I have used two external HDD’s FreeAgent GoFlex by Seagate and Basic Storage by Western Digital Elements. Listed below are the basic features I look for before purchasing an HDD as I use a Dell Laptop that is currently running on Windows® 10.

Specification/Brand
Seagate
WD Elements
Storage
1 Tb
1Tb
Hardware Interface
USB 2.0
USB 3.0
Compatibility
Windows®7, Windows Vista®, Windows® XP (32-bit & 64-64bit) operating system or Mac®oSx10.4.11 or higher; 10.5.8; or 10.6.2 (32 bit kernel only) [Reformatting for mac may be required]
 Windows®10, Windows® 8, Windows 7 or Windows Vista® operating systems.
Requires reformatting for Mac OS.
Weight
770gms
270 gms
File System
NTFS
NTFS
Model Year
2011
2017
Price
INR 7,500/-,  INR 4,900
INR 7,350 , INR 4,499

Why this post you ask? Well, I had been using my Seagate HDD religiously for over 3 and a half years when it suddenly decided to die on me. Here is the thing though; I use my gadgets to their maximum capacity. I love looking into all the features available with the device. In this case it was the security and encryption of data that was made available that first lured me to this HDD. Gadgets to me are living creatures and I don’t tend to throw them on my bed, couch or anywhere else. Everything is always respectfully placed in their ‘designated’ area. That being said, I have always been gentle with my HDD and I religiously follow the, “The ‘USB mass storage device’ can now be safely removed from the computer.” rule. Thereby preventing any over writing or corrupting of the HDD. Thus, it was a nightmarish situation for me when my laptop recognized the HDD but refused to open it. After taking an online zip back up of my ‘data’ files that I could retrieve from the HDD I knew I would have to bury it with a final goodbye. I did have it checked to see if I could salvage it but all we heard was the murmur of the disk wheel spinning in a plastic box. Why I didn’t have it sent for retrieving all my Data you ask? Well, it costs approximately INR 11,000 to have data worth 1 TB retrieved. I decided I’d much rather buy a new HDD instead of going through all that trouble.

I am one of those people who go into shock when my beloved gadgets stop functioning. I actually grieve their loss and this is what set me on the path to look for complaints against Seagate storage devices. When I started seeing reviews of how many devices failed after the 3 year warranty mark I was surprised! This had me rooting for the Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit that was filed against Seagate for the High failure rate of their 3TB HDDs which were not made with the specified components thereby compromising on the quality of their product which in turn led to its failure.
 
The HDD has added protection when it's safely zipped in this cushion-y pouch.

After this episode I started backing up my content in my e-mail account, Google drive and Dropbox. I managed this way for about a year and half and then finally gave in when I realized I was running out of space quicker than I expected.

With that began my extensive research on HDDs. That’s when I came across WD elements and ended up purchasing it. The transfer speeds are amazing. It starts up on being connected to the laptop. It doesn’t need an external source of power. Extended usage doesn’t heat up the device too much. The device apart from being light is also very sturdy and has so far not given me any trouble.

1TB is sufficient storage space when you have sufficient cloud back up as plan B. Bottom line though remains the same – it’s a storage device. It can die on you without warning. But there are always recovery tools available online for those keen on restoring their data but that also requires an empty HDD to transfer all the retrieved data. I guess what I’m saying is keep two HDDs when your data needs excessive protection, especially if you are someone who is constantly updating your work on your computer. That way you have the option of recovering data immediately and can also have the damaged drive repaired only to the extent of its functionality i.e. of course if you are equipped with tools to recover your data with software available online. As far as cables go, the maximum for WD is 5 meters but be warned this will reduce the write/transfer speed but serves its purpose.

All in all, WD seems to give its customers a good durable device that is light and has amazing transfer speeds even when the size of the file is big. Also, WD provides excellent online support.

Product: Seagate GoFlex
My Rating: 2/5
Recommend: NO, please buy yourself 2 HDDs for the price of one Seagate HDD.

Product: WD Elements Basic Storage
My Rating: 3.9/5
Recommend: Yes, buy and learn to get online support in case you face any glitches.




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