looking for an internal disk ~ 3 TB of solid one that is more than 3 years old - please advice I have always bought Seagate, I have an old, solid 500GB (ST3500418AS), which is 12 years old and still hides without a problem, although some errors appear in SMART and a few years ago I also bought a...

Justify it? As for me, the lack of moving parts in the SSD is its PLUS.

So for my part, I would focus my attention on this disk: Link The price is reasonable, it is not a line of environmentally conscious products and comes with 64MB of cache. This should meet your expectations, although as I wrote at the very beginning, the defectiveness of hard drives is almost completely random (except for the actual sales of whole series of products). And as gradek83 wrote, even a lifetime warranty is associated with data loss at the time of failure. Nevertheless, based on many years spent with WD drives, I recommend this brand (except for the GREEN, ECO line).

Hello. What is this drive for? Ordinary data warehouse or something more industrial? Before reading any statement, be aware that hard drives are a topic that can attract comments that a given company is hopeless because they have a bad model. All companies have a hard time with this and there are no indestructible drives. Regarding the question itself, you haven't written what your budget is, but if you have enough cash, I highly recommend the WesternDigital Purple Drive: Link If you prefer something a bit cheaper, I think Toshiba will be your best bet, specifically this model: Link Regardless of the company, I'd rather beware of ECO, GREEN drives or anything else related to energy saving in your place. Generally, disks with a capacity of several terabytes are equipped with a pair of plates, but the principle is one - the fewer plates / heads, the better - fewer moving parts = lower failure rate.

As for the 3.5 disk, the WD4005FZBX 5-year warranty, but to tell the truth, what if you will have a lifetime warranty, and damaging the disk of lost data, no disk manufacturer will recover, only a new disk will give if they accept the warranty. Anyway, as a portable disk, I would advise SSD more resistant to shocks and falls, but you know that the dream increases adequately with the capacity.

An SSD will be a hit in the foot if this 3 TB of data is constantly on the move. That's why I asked the author what the disk was for.

No moving parts and read / write speed are a huge advantage of SSD drives - there is no doubt about that. On the other hand, the durability of SSD vs HDD - with solid data exchange on the disk, SSD returns on the shield. It's quite late, so instead of translating, I throw up some links: Link Link In short, I have had an SSD on the MLC bone for a year. It has a capacity of 128 GB, is 80% loaded forever, and is loaded with a 6 GB paging file. NAND lifetime is 94 out of 100%, daily data exchange is negligible, so assuming that the author is looking for a disk that he uses every day, a 3 TB SSD may not be 3-4 years old. EDIT: My conclusion is this: If the disk is to be a storage of permanent data - you do not need SSD speed (apart from the huge cost of a 3 TB SSD). If the drive is going to be home to active data with this amount of data, the longevity of the SSD will be a big downside. Therefore, I would advise HDD in both of the above-mentioned scenarios. However, this is only my opinion, based on my knowledge and experience. It is worth waiting for others to express their views. Greetings.

Hehe Funny these 3TB SSD tips ... no matter if portable or not. Nothing indicates that the author can afford such an SSD to transfer data. @Falconett I don't really understand the point of using HDD if data is to be used heavily? It makes no sense whatsoever. That's what SSDs were made to use and not get tired of with HDD. 6GB swapa what? WHAT where for what? Can't you afford RAM or what? Wasting swap space so much? I have a couple of years old kingston hyperx 120GB and recently gave him a rest. It was also rather constantly full and nothing happened to him. Saving SSD does not make sense - you have to use it as much as possible because we pay a lot of money for it, not to save it and it was nice on paper.

The author has not yet had time to say why he needs such a large disk and what budget he has. Personally, I think that some active data can be successfully populated on HDD, although I meant industrial solutions, for example, recording reception for up to 10 CCTV cameras. The author did not mention the speed requirement, only the endurance of the disk. If you absolutely have to check someone's wallet, I explain that I'm a poor man and can't afford the amount of RAM I need.

thanks for such an interest in the subject I do not need a disk to store data, also at super speed, as in SSD disks, I do not need a standard disk, it is to be used mainly for storing movies, recordings, images, also quite large files. And a few games, also large files. The budget is not rather limited, but I would not like to overpay again, so 400-500 PLN, I think it will be the optimal amount. It is known that nothing is forever, I would like to find such a solid disk as I have now, the 500GB Seagate I wrote about above - I am really happy, but it is slowly coming to an end after 12 years, so I am looking for a replacement, although more capacious. And I am asking for advice not to cut like last time, for about 330 PLN 2TB, which fell after 4 years - probably the domain of external drives has USB? have a shorter service life? so now I prefer ext. 3.5 - I am not going to move the disk, it will be in the PC I have an SSD drive, a small 120 GB for the system and programs. EYE TRION 100.

I recommend these: WD BLACK PERFORMANCE DESKTOP HARD DRIVE WD4005FZBX WD4004FZWX Only these PLN 400-500 may not be enough, prices start from PLN 700. 5-year warranty and 4TB, not 3, no 3TB. Check prices at seagate EXOS 7E8 models They also offer a 5 year warranty. Or, like a colleague above, I have a NAS drive in QNAP and it's OK.

I looked through the disks, gradek83 yes, prices are higher, I feel a pity to spend so much on the disk, unless it's really worth it? in order not to follow the cunning again he loses 2x Falconett found some negative reviews for this drive so I started looking for one without those and found WD PURPLE 3TB 30PURX 3.5 '' (WD30PURX) I have been to various stores and nobody complained about it, but what do you think about it as specs? Noteworthy, it has a speed of 5400 / min, but will this be noticeable in normal use, or will it reduce wear even more? from what I read, it is dedicated to collecting data from monitoring, so would it be good for me? As I mentioned before, I need it for data storage, sometimes launching a game

I'm adding a link and raise the topic

Best 3TB Internal Hard Drive: Seagate vs. Competitors - Recommendations for Older Models

marcinoxd 4935 19

Best answers

Which reliable 3TB internal hard drive should I buy for a PC mainly for storing movies, recordings, images, and some games, within a 400–500 PLN budget?

A good fit from the thread is a standard 3TB Western Digital drive, preferably a WD Purple or WD Red rather than any GREEN/ECO model, with Toshiba mentioned as the cheaper alternative [#17139253][#17140011] The specific models discussed were WD30PURX/WD30PURZ (Purple) and WD30EFRX (Red), and one poster explicitly recommended WD30EFRX for "peace of mind" [#17150737][#17152937] The posters say 5400 RPM is acceptable for storage and can be quieter and more energy-efficient, but it will be slower when copying very large files [#17152326][#17152937] They also stress that hard-drive failures are largely random, so even a long warranty will not recover lost data if the disk dies [#17139253][#17140011]

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#1 17139110 30 Mar 2018 22:41

marcinoxd marcinoxd

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Post #1
17139110 30 Mar 2018 22:41

looking for an internal disk ~ 3 TB of solid one that is more than 3 years old - please advice
I have always bought Seagate, I have an old, solid 500GB (ST3500418AS), which is 12 years old and still hides without a problem, although some errors appear in SMART
and a few years ago I also bought a seagate, although an external 2 TB drive for usb 3.0 (STBV2000200) and I just had this drive ... and it lasted 4 years
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#2 17139253 30 Mar 2018 23:57

Anonymous Anonymous

Level 1

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Post #2
17139253 30 Mar 2018 23:57

Hello.
What is this drive for? Ordinary data warehouse or something more industrial?
Before reading any statement, be aware that hard drives are a topic that can attract comments that a given company is hopeless because they have a bad model. All companies have a hard time with this and there are no indestructible drives.
Regarding the question itself, you haven't written what your budget is, but if you have enough cash, I highly recommend the WesternDigital Purple Drive:
Link
If you prefer something a bit cheaper, I think Toshiba will be your best bet, specifically this model:
Link

Regardless of the company, I'd rather beware of "ECO", "GREEN" drives or anything else related to energy saving in your place.
Generally, disks with a capacity of several terabytes are equipped with a pair of plates, but the principle is one - the fewer plates / heads, the better - fewer moving parts = lower failure rate.
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#3 17139283 31 Mar 2018 00:19

gradek83 gradek83

Level 43

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Post #3
17139283 31 Mar 2018 00:19

As for the 3.5 "disk, the WD4005FZBX 5-year warranty, but to tell the truth, what if you will have a lifetime warranty, and damaging the disk of lost data, no disk manufacturer will recover, only a new disk will give if they accept the warranty.

Anyway, as a portable disk, I would advise SSD more resistant to shocks and falls, but you know that the dream increases adequately with the capacity.
#4 17139288 31 Mar 2018 00:24

Anonymous Anonymous

Level 1

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Post #4
17139288 31 Mar 2018 00:24

An SSD will be a hit in the foot if this 3 TB of data is constantly on the move. That's why I asked the author what the disk was for.
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#5 17139309 31 Mar 2018 00:54

gradek83 gradek83

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Post #5
17139309 31 Mar 2018 00:54

Falconett wrote:
An SSD will be a hit in the foot if this 3 TB of data is constantly on the move.

Justify it? As for me, the lack of moving parts in the SSD is its PLUS.
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#6 17139325 31 Mar 2018 01:18

Anonymous Anonymous

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Post #6
17139325 31 Mar 2018 01:18

No moving parts and read / write speed are a huge advantage of SSD drives - there is no doubt about that. On the other hand, the durability of SSD vs HDD - with solid data exchange on the disk, SSD returns on the shield.
It's quite late, so instead of translating, I throw up some links:
Link
Link

In short, I have had an SSD on the MLC bone for a year. It has a capacity of 128 GB, is 80% loaded forever, and is loaded with a 6 GB paging file.
NAND lifetime is 94 out of 100%, daily data exchange is negligible, so assuming that the author is looking for a disk that he uses every day, a 3 TB SSD may not be 3-4 years old.

EDIT: My conclusion is this:
If the disk is to be a storage of permanent data - you do not need SSD speed (apart from the huge cost of a 3 TB SSD).
If the drive is going to be home to active data with this amount of data, the longevity of the SSD will be a big downside.

Therefore, I would advise HDD in both of the above-mentioned scenarios. However, this is only my opinion, based on my knowledge and experience. It is worth waiting for others to express their views.
Greetings.
#7 17139433 31 Mar 2018 08:16

enhanced enhanced

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Post #7
17139433 31 Mar 2018 08:16

Hehe Funny these 3TB SSD tips ... no matter if portable or not. Nothing indicates that the author can afford such an SSD to transfer data.

@Falconett
I don't really understand the point of using HDD if data is to be used heavily? It makes no sense whatsoever. That's what SSDs were made to use and not get tired of with HDD.

6GB swapa what? WHAT where for what? Can't you afford RAM or what? Wasting swap space so much?

I have a couple of years old kingston hyperx 120GB and recently gave him a rest. It was also rather constantly full and nothing happened to him. Saving SSD does not make sense - you have to use it as much as possible because we pay a lot of money for it, not to save it and it was nice on paper.
#8 17139786 31 Mar 2018 11:32

Anonymous Anonymous

Level 1

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Post #8
17139786 31 Mar 2018 11:32

enhanced wrote:

I don't really understand the point of using HDD if data is to be used heavily? It makes no sense whatsoever. That's what SSDs were made to use and not get tired of with HDD.

The author has not yet had time to say why he needs such a large disk and what budget he has. Personally, I think that some active data can be successfully populated on HDD, although I meant industrial solutions, for example, recording reception for up to 10 CCTV cameras. The author did not mention the speed requirement, only the endurance of the disk.

enhanced wrote:

6GB swapa what? WHAT where for what? Can't you afford RAM or what? Wasting swap space so much?

If you absolutely have to check someone's wallet, I explain that I'm a poor man and can't afford the amount of RAM I need.
#9 17139978 31 Mar 2018 13:19

marcinoxd marcinoxd

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Post #9
17139978 31 Mar 2018 13:19

thanks for such an interest in the subject
I do not need a disk to store data, also at super speed, as in SSD disks, I do not need a standard disk, it is to be used mainly for storing movies, recordings, images, also quite large files. And a few games, also large files.
The budget is not rather limited, but I would not like to overpay again, so 400-500 PLN, I think it will be the optimal amount. It is known that nothing is forever, I would like to find such a solid disk as I have now, the 500GB Seagate I wrote about above - I am really happy, but it is slowly coming to an end after 12 years, so I am looking for a replacement, although more capacious.
And I am asking for advice not to cut like last time, for about 330 PLN 2TB, which fell after 4 years - probably the domain of external drives has USB? have a shorter service life?
so now I prefer ext. 3.5 "- I am not going to move the disk, it will be in the PC
I have an SSD drive, a small 120 GB for the system and programs. EYE TRION 100.
Helpful post

#10 17140011 31 Mar 2018 13:38

Anonymous Anonymous

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Helpful post
Post #10
17140011 31 Mar 2018 13:38

So for my part, I would focus my attention on this disk:
Link
The price is reasonable, it is not a line of environmentally conscious products and comes with 64MB of cache. This should meet your expectations, although as I wrote at the very beginning, the defectiveness of hard drives is almost completely random (except for the actual sales of whole series of products).
And as gradek83 wrote, even a lifetime warranty is associated with data loss at the time of failure.

Nevertheless, based on many years spent with WD drives, I recommend this brand (except for the GREEN, ECO line).
#11 17140086 31 Mar 2018 14:03

gradek83 gradek83

Level 43

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Post #11
17140086 31 Mar 2018 14:03

I recommend these:
WD BLACK PERFORMANCE DESKTOP HARD DRIVE
WD4005FZBX
WD4004FZWX

Only these PLN 400-500 may not be enough, prices start from PLN 700.
5-year warranty and 4TB, not 3, no 3TB.

Check prices at seagate EXOS 7E8 models
https://www.seagate.com/pl/pl/enterprise-storage/enterprise-models/?mod
They also offer a 5 year warranty.

Or, like a colleague above, I have a NAS drive in QNAP and it's OK.
#12 17146928 03 Apr 2018 19:47

marcinoxd marcinoxd

Level 8

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Post #12
17146928 03 Apr 2018 19:47

I looked through the disks,
gradek83 yes, prices are higher, I feel a pity to spend so much on the disk, unless it's really worth it? in order not to follow the cunning again he loses 2x
Falconett found some negative reviews for this drive so I started looking for one without those and found
WD PURPLE 3TB 30PURX 3.5 '' (WD30PURX) I have been to various stores and nobody complained about it, but what do you think about it as specs?
Noteworthy, it has a speed of 5400 / min, but will this be noticeable in normal use, or will it reduce wear even more? from what I read, it is dedicated to collecting data from monitoring, so would it be good for me?
As I mentioned before, I need it for data storage, sometimes launching a game
#13 17150611 05 Apr 2018 15:57

marcinoxd marcinoxd

Level 8

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Post #13
17150611 05 Apr 2018 15:57

I'm adding a link https://www.emag.pl/dysk-twardy-wd-purple-3tb-3-5-sata-600-wd30purx/pd/DCNQLBBBM/
and raise the topic
#14 17150737 05 Apr 2018 17:23

gradek83 gradek83

Level 43

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Post #14
17150737 05 Apr 2018 17:23

I have no opinion about these disks, they may be cheaper in price, but as for me they are slow at such revolutions per second, if I'm not mistaken, max 60-70MB / s at 7200 130-140MB / s.

WD30PURZ
WD30PURX
The price does not exceed PLN 400, I do not know how the NAS has a 3-year warranty (RED)
Or pay extra PLN 100 and buy GOLDA WD2005FBYZ or BLACK WD2003FZEX only 2TB

As little space as possible, there is always a CLOUD storage option as long as you have a good UPLOAD
#15 17151114 05 Apr 2018 20:34

marcinoxd marcinoxd

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Post #15
17151114 05 Apr 2018 20:34

i found speed
http://review.kakaku.com/review/K0000634627/ReviewCD=711409/ImageID=177171/
http://review.kakaku.com/review/K0000634627/ReviewCD=711409/ImageID=177170/
so it doesn't look bad
although I wonder and I can't find info about this series anywhere, what is the difference between Z and X
on one page I read that
The X-series has speeds from 5,400 to 7,200 rpm
The Z series only has a speed of 5,400 rpm, but that was customer opinion
So maybe this speed is what this model X is doing
gold series - high prices because the cache is higher, the minimum is 128 - I do not need it
black-hmm series, similar, but hard with the availability of 3GB or actually no
#16 17152326 06 Apr 2018 13:23

Anonymous Anonymous

Level 1

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Post #16
17152326 06 Apr 2018 13:23

The speeds you found don't have to be reliable. It's hard for a 5400 rotational speed disk to keep a steady write or reading above 140 MB / s. On the other hand, reading from several cameras at the same time requires permanent recording.
You wrote that you do not care about SSD speed, but when copying data of 100+ GB PURPLE it can be tiring.
Opinions about this disk are hard to find, because the main application is industrial, and where something in bulk goes, few people will want to give feedback to all purchased products.

After all, for a price of up to PLN 450, I would focus my attention on these two drives:
1) Link
2) Link
The choice is theoretically large, but the rejection of 7200 RPM equipment limits the choice to just a few pieces. Only amounts from PLN 700 open a new segment that was replaced by gradek83.
Greetings.
#17 17152892 06 Apr 2018 18:17

marcinoxd marcinoxd

Level 8

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Post #17
17152892 06 Apr 2018 18:17

The speeds I found were 1st better, there are many more and they coincide. I also read that the latest 5400 RPM disks with high-density platters often provide similar, or even better performance than the 7200 RPM models, and for example Seagate stopped producing 7200RPM disks for laptops in one year (as the first).
In addition, the differences in the Number of revolutions / min comparison The mean delay [ms] is as follows:
5 400 5.55
7 200 4.16
10,000 3 so the differences are not great.
At the same time, such drives are usually quieter, more energy-efficient and less prone to mechanical damage (and I just care about endurance)
ps in Toshiba P300 I have not found mtbf anywhere and I wonder about this "head parking technology", about which they wrote that they want to turn it off so that it does not knock every now and then
#18 17152937 06 Apr 2018 18:38

gradek83 gradek83

Level 43

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Post #18
17152937 06 Apr 2018 18:38

marcinoxd wrote:
At the same time, such drives are usually quieter, more energy-efficient and less prone to mechanical damage

I have contact with these disks, they are MULLES. They are pressed into laptops because they are enegro economical and cheaper, and this in most cases is the reason that the NEW equipment is worse than a 10-year-old laptop.
Recently, I replaced 8 such disks and took them away by hand. For this, forgive yourself these speeds and buy wd30efrx for 3 years, you will have peace of mind, as I mentioned, how will the data fall, and so you will not recover as long as the damage is specific, but you are aware that during this period you can have a new disk even if a bad sector appears .
#19 17153013 06 Apr 2018 19:26

marcinoxd marcinoxd

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Post #19
17153013 06 Apr 2018 19:26

WD30EFRX - these opinions from the link below put me off quite a bit: /
https://www.ceneo.pl/17552911/opinie-1;0162-0
that I'm starting to wonder about this BLACK / GOLD series and a 5-year warranty
#20 18241858 27 Oct 2019 09:26

Dariusz iD Dariusz iD

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Post #20
18241858 27 Oct 2019 09:26

marcinoxd wrote:
thanks for such an interest in the subject
And I am asking for advice not to cut like last time, for about 330 PLN 2TB, which fell after 4 years - probably the domain of external drives has USB? have a shorter service life?
so now I prefer ext. 3.5 "- I am not going to move the disk, it will be in the PC .

External drives have such a problem that they fail due to overvoltage in the usb interface, or from overvoltages from motherboards. The only thing you need to do as a result of a failure is to recover data, create new partitions under disk management in win, when they are invisible or impossible - remove the disk from the case, connect it to sata and create new partitions. After such failures, external drives are fully functional.
Of course, if there is a guarantee, advertise it first.
Old CDs, computers, remove any discs will break.
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Topic summary

✨ The discussion revolves around finding a reliable 3TB internal hard drive, particularly for users who have had positive experiences with older models. The author expresses a preference for Seagate drives, citing a long-lasting 500GB model but also mentions issues with a 2TB external drive. Recommendations include Western Digital (WD) drives, specifically the WD4005FZBX and WD Purple (WD30PURX), which are noted for their reliability and warranty options. Concerns about the performance of 5400 RPM drives versus 7200 RPM drives are raised, with some participants suggesting that the lower speed may be acceptable for data storage purposes. The conversation also touches on the durability of SSDs versus HDDs, with a consensus that HDDs are more suitable for large data storage without the need for high-speed access. The author seeks a balance between cost and reliability, aiming for a budget of 400-500 PLN.
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FAQ

TL;DR: WD Red 3TB (64MB cache) or Toshiba P300 are safe picks; "defectiveness of hard drives is almost completely random." For desktop users picking a reliable 3TB HDD, avoid GREEN/ECO and keep backups. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17140011]

Why it matters: This helps you pick a dependable 3TB internal HDD for bulk storage without overpaying or risking data.

Quick Facts

7200 RPM ~130–140 MB/s vs 5400 RPM ~60–70 MB/s; pick by copy-speed needs. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17150737]
WD Black and Seagate Exos lines carry 5‑year warranties. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17140086]
WD Red NAS drives are commonly sold with ~3‑year warranties. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17150737]
≤ PLN 450: forum picks were WD Red 3TB or Toshiba P300. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17152326]
WD Purple 3TB (WD30PURX/Z) often listed under PLN 400. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17150737]

What’s the best 3TB internal HDD for bulk storage and occasional gaming?

Pick WD Red 3TB (WD30EFRX) or Toshiba P300 for dependable bulk storage. Both meet desktop needs without paying for surveillance or enterprise features. The WD Red option includes a 64MB cache and avoids aggressive power‑saving quirks. Skip GREEN/ECO lines for this use. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17140011]

Is WD Purple 3TB good for a desktop movie/game library?

It works, but it’s tuned for continuous surveillance recording, not desktop bursts. A user noted large copies (100+ GB) can feel slow on Purple. If you value quicker transfers, consider 7200 RPM alternatives or WD Red/Toshiba P300 in this price band. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17152326]

5400 vs 7200 RPM: what real‑world speeds should I expect?

Expect about 60–70 MB/s from 5400 RPM models and 130–140 MB/s from 7200 RPM. Choose 7200 RPM if you often copy big files. Choose 5400 RPM if you prioritize noise and power. "They are slow at such revolutions per second." [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17150737]

Should I avoid GREEN/ECO hard drives for a main data drive?

Yes. Forum advice is to avoid ECO/GREEN lines for primary storage due to performance trade‑offs. Focus on non‑ECO desktop, NAS, or surveillance lines matched to your workload. Fewer platters/heads is generally better for reliability. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17139253]

Are 5‑year warranty drives worth paying extra for?

They add peace‑of‑mind, but warranties replace hardware, not data. "Damaging the disk... no disk manufacturer will recover" your data. Maintain backups regardless of warranty length. WD Black models offer 5‑year coverage, but plan for redundancy. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17139283]

Is there a 3TB WD Black? What should I buy instead?

No 3TB WD Black was available; 4TB Black models exist with 5‑year warranties. Prices started around PLN 700 then. If 3TB is mandatory, look at WD Red or Toshiba P300 in your budget. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17140086]

Seagate vs WD vs Toshiba — who’s more reliable?

Brand alone doesn’t decide reliability. "All companies have a hard time... there are no indestructible drives." Evaluate specific lines, warranties, and workload fit. Keep backups to mitigate random failures. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17139253]

I’ve got 400–500 PLN — what should I buy today in this range?

In that band, users recommended WD Red 3TB or Toshiba P300. Both balance capacity and reliability for home storage. If your workload is write‑heavy surveillance, Purple also fits budgets under PLN 450. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17152326]

Do 5400 RPM drives last longer than 7200 RPM models?

Lower RPM reduces noise and power, but it doesn’t guarantee longevity. One user reported replacing eight slow 5400 RPM laptop drives. Prioritize backups over assuming RPM equals durability. [Elektroda, gradek83, post #17152937]

How do I recover an external USB drive that suddenly became invisible?

USB enclosures can fail from overvoltage. The bare drive may be fine. Try this:

Remove the HDD from the USB enclosure.
Connect it directly via SATA to the motherboard.
If it appears, recreate partitions in Disk Management and copy data. This often restores usability. [Elektroda, Dariusz iD, post #18241858]

Should I use an SSD for this 3TB use case?

Use SSD for OS and programs, HDD for mass data. An SSD is fast but costly at 3TB and can be disadvantaged under heavy daily writes. "Therefore, I would advise HDD" for bulk data in this scenario. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17139325]

WD30PURX vs WD30PURZ — is there a real difference?

The thread did not confirm a spec difference beyond model code and pricing. One shopper comment suggested RPM differences, but it wasn’t authoritative. Verify the official spec before purchase and choose on warranty and price. [Elektroda, marcinoxd, post #17151114]

Do fewer platters or heads really help reliability?

It’s a useful rule of thumb. Fewer moving parts can reduce failure risk in mechanical drives. As one expert put it, "the fewer plates/heads, the better." Match the drive line to your workload as well. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17139253]

Which drive fits CCTV or other constant‑write workloads?

Choose surveillance‑tuned drives like WD Purple. They target continuous recording and simultaneous camera streams. Avoid ECO‑oriented models for this heavy write duty. [Elektroda, Anonymous, post #17139253]

Do external USB drives die sooner than internal ones?

Many failures stem from USB interface overvoltage or motherboard spikes, not the HDD itself. After such events, the internal drive often works once connected via SATA. Always try enclosure removal before discarding. [Elektroda, Dariusz iD, post #18241858]