Will this hard drive last for a long time- I'm looking for long-term storage of pictures and videos. Thanks!
1502977
It's hard to say. I've had varied experience with Seagate drives. Some have lasted 7 or 8 years; and one lasted only 2 years. I've only had this one for a few months. I don't take chances. I back up my computers daily to this drive; and I back it up monthly to another large drive that I keep away from the house. I hope this helps.
1502978
I've only had it for a few months so I can't really say long term, but I haven't had problems thus far.
1502979
Seagate usually makes quality products. However, in my experience, your best bet for a durable hard drive is a solid state hard drive (SSD). I am sure Seagate makes a good SSD option as do many other companies.
1502980
It's hard to say. I've had varied experience with Seagate drives. Some have lasted 7 or 8 years; and one lasted only 2 years. I've only had this one for a few months. I don't take chances. I back up my computers daily to this drive; and I back it up monthly to another large drive that I keep away from the house.I hope this helps.
1502981
Hi, unfortunately I'm not able to ensure how long it would last but I can tell you, I've been dealing with Seagate drives for years and I have never had a problem. I've been using this particular one for a couple of months now and it has been working perfectly. It is powered externally, not thru the USB, that's one thing that guarantees a better performance and long-lasting life.
2247940
Yes, you can store DVDs, TV shows and photos on this unit. I've got four of these and videos are mostly what I store on them. HDTV captures tend to take up a lot of space.The drive comes preformatted as FAT32 for compatibility with most operating systems and that limits the maximum file size to 4GB. If you want to store large files (e.g. DVD ISO backups) on this hard drive, I suggest you reformat it using another file system. If you use Windows 2000 or higher, might I suggest reformatting to NTFS?Unless you have a player with USB capability and support for computer files (the Oppo Digital comes to mind), you're limited to watching on your PC. Yes, you can store DVDs, TV shows and photos on this unit. I've got four of these and videos are mostly what I store on them. HDTV captures tend to take up a lot of space.The drive comes preformatted as FAT32 for compatibility with most operating systems and that limits the maximum file size to 4GB. If you want to store large files (e.g. DVD ISO backups) on this hard drive, I suggest you reformat it using another file system. If you use Windows 2000 or higher, might I suggest reformatting to NTFS?Unless you have a player with USB capability and support for computer... » Read More Yes, you can store DVDs, TV shows and photos on this unit. I've got four of these and videos are mostly what I store on them. HDTV captures tend to take up a lot of space.The drive comes preformatted as FAT32 for compatibility with most operating systems and that limits the maximum file size to 4GB. If you want to store large files (e.g. DVD ISO backups) on this hard drive, I suggest you reformat it using another file system. If you use Windows 2000 or higher, might I suggest reformatting to NTFS?Unless you have a player with USB capability and support for computer files (the Oppo Digital comes to mind), you're limited to watching on your PC. « Show Less
704264
Candidly, I think it really doesn't matter what the ratings are. I know it is somewhat the same as the WD Red drives. The key is whether they continue working and last a while. I have had drives by other makers that had 3 year warranties and lasted over 5 years before I retired them (all were still working). Lots of the numbers thrown to the consumer by drive companies have little meaning when it comes to mean fail times as everyone uses drives differently and it also depends on what drives you get and what shape they were in.
1600661
I have had the drive as my main operating system, as well as mass storage drive for almost a year, and so far, it has been reliable, fast, and quiet. However, as the previous person responded, I am using Linux, which does put less stress on the drive and the file system is a bit better at file allocation, ETC...My experience is very positive in this environment. (Using the 3TB version partitioned into three sections)
1085868
It all depends whether you need a drive that will last well with repeated use - from my experience, the SATA card which links the hard drive to the power/data transfer port that your USB lead plugs into is poor quality and too flimsy, meaning that it fails reasonably quickly if you're using it on a daily basis like myself. The unit looks great and the case is very robust, but functionality-wise, and as recommended earlier, I'd go for the Buffalo Mini Station Extreme which is proving far more reliable for regular use.
212326
I will agree with the other two comments.. Just upgrade the drive to a larger size. Storage is pretty cheap these days. Good Luck!
743439
ssd life span should be a non-issue if you plan to upgrade every 3-4 years. it is almost 40 percent savings, why not? just check with the seller the working condition of the drive before committing the purchase.
250636
All vague answers to a vague question. What do you mean by best? I'd like to know how many photos I can store per GB memory.
1458939
Yes, it is a great little hard drive. I've had one for over a year and it works fantastic. It's small and easy to use. I have used it as a media drive too, and had 950+ gigs on it and I've had no problems. You won't be disappointed.
1819658
I have two, one for the laptop and one for the desktop. I've had both for about 8 months, and not a single problem. These things can take more of a beating than regular HDDs (not like you should be beating them:( )but alas, as with all technology, some do fail. I'm good so far though! Not packing them full of files helps.
629561
I've just had my 4th large (>1TB) WD drive failure in less than 2 years. I've had more drives fail in the last 2 years than in the last 20. All of them large WD drives. I'm done with WD. All these failures were with drives less than 3 years old. Just absolutely unacceptable.
285314
I purchased two in Oct 2013 and use them on alternate months to back up 100 GB of files. One is for the even numbered months the other for odd numbered months. So I have used each at least 6 times. I have had no issues.
496139
Like most external USB drives, I'd not rely on it for long-term backups over one year. Augment it with a cloud product that is acceptable for the type of data being backed up (i.e. personal, confidential, commercial, etc.). In my experience, none of the disks used in these devices are high-grade, and in commercial applications, we'll go to a NAS with RAID.
758181
Yes..........but..........who cares.....it's a great drive.......& you can utilize it for a long time......with that much capacity!
147382
And my experience - I've purchased like 5 of them in the last year, 1 of them (8 GB) failed after a few weeks, all pictures/videos lost. So many people complain here the same. They have a big percentage of lemons. If you do buy one of these, be sure to backup the entire card as often as possible - at least on a daily basis, or whenever you take new photos/videos.I have also been using for so many years Sandisk, and never had a problem with them. They are a bit more expensive, but I guess you get what you pay for.
1678462
All of these drives are good. It depends on the usage. I use mine in a Drobo array for video editing. They are fast enough, but not super fast. The more data you have stored, the slower they run. Probably need to make sure future drives are "enterprise" models.
316047
For flash memory 5 to 10 years max. If you want permanent storage I would look at: m-disc.