best value shuckable ext USB drives as of apr2020+

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So i've been out of the loop for a little bit. Got held up by college and corona...

I'm needing to buy 12-36TB worth of external USB hard drive storage sometime between now and later fall, possibly even thru Dec. To start dealing with a growing data problem which could increase by as much as 6TB every month starting immediately. (though if it reached 36tb it's probably somewhat peaked and rapidly slowing, it could go beyond 36tb at a lower rate) I may or may not be able to wait for sales depending how long it takes. Since it's multiple drives savings and stuff will add up some.

Mostly wanting "good value" per TB drives, taking into account that reliability or usability can skew things a bit upward. For instance I have a preference for 10tb or especially 12tb drives where possible, because that's a size thats more usable to me as it also happens to match LTO8 tape volumes. (either the m8 format for the 10tb, or the full size at 12tb) I'll pay a little more for those sizes but not massively. 14tb or larger is disfavored, it's definately first choice 12tb, second choice 10tb, third choice "whatever is best $ per fairly reliable TB".

The drives would just be used as externals for up to one year. Eventually though they would get shucked and put into an SAS based gigabit-ethernet attached NAS (which i'm hoping can maintain gigabit rates, no idea if shingled drives are still intermittently slow and such/hasn't bought drives since about 2011 when they first were coming out, but LTO tapes can only slow writing so far before shoeshining). So things ive heard about like "pin mods" and what drives are more or less suited for NAS use I need to get up to speed on. Does anyone want to share either short or longer advice on what drives to get or watch for to go on sale? (ie has Seagate EVER improved their reliability or are they the same as they've been since the 2011 floods... i'll still buy them but i'm well aware they are the bottom tier of expectation)
 
Yep i've seen those. :) I was just wondering if anything else is even in the running or if that's the hottest trick right now... it sounds like most-to-all are nonshingled fast which is even better for my use. I'd rather have a 12tb nonshingled than a 14tb shingled even at the same cost/writing LTO needs reliable speed.

Just wondering if I should only watch those exclusively like a hawk (and if any places besides Bestbuy and B&H being good locations) or to expand the search.
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Best value
$199 Bestbuy WD 14TB easystore drive is my choice.
Have 6 running at home.
 
Best value
$199 Bestbuy WD 14TB easystore drive is my choice.
Have 6 running at home.
The 14's are all shingled though, correct? (someone said the 10's were also which i thought was strange that the larger 12's would not be) I have a concern about sustained transfer rate (or does that only apply to writing?) since LTO tapes that cant be fed data fast enough can injure the tape.
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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The 14's are all shingled though, correct?
No , those are normal PMR drive.
I copy ( write ) and delete many hundred TB media files with the 14TB drives.
Writing speed between 150 MB/s to 190 MB/s
 
I thought part of it was based off older press releases somewhere that suggested 14tb shingled drives were going to be made. If it's 100% that all of the 10/12/14tb WD line are never shingled and there's no changes planned in the future that would be very positive, i'm just trying to get as definitive of answer as possible. (obviously a single report of someone shucking one and finding a shingled drive would show it's not the case, so i'm trying to remember where I heard those stories)
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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If it's 100% that all of the 10/12/14tb WD line
There is no guarantee regarding future WD disk spec.

What you could do is:
Buy the drives, keep the drives inside the USB case, check smart and model number.
Run drive surface tests for few days before removing drive from the case.