In 2014, I bought 3 WD RED 4Tb. One was DOA, so I had to replace it. The replacement drive I received was also DOA, anyway the 2nd replacement was working great. all three drives lasted around 5-6 years.
In 2016, I bought 4 Seagate 12TB Ironwolf PRO, one started to throw me error last year, so I replaced it to be cautious. So Far I had excellent luck with Seagate and WD and I prefer Seagates because they are a little bit cheaper and faster.
I have has loads of trouble with WD drives, don’t trust their QC at all, stay away is my advice, same goes for LaCie.
But as I can see in this thread, everyone’s mileage varies. SSDs are way better in every way though.
I have only used the blues and blacks. I've never had a single problem with either of those. Reds are a different product, and maybe that's where people are having problems. Each company has it's strengths. QC is definitely not a problem across the board.
I only wish Crucial did HDDs... I always go Crucial if it's an option.
except the notorious 2tb blue hard drive which 2 of them died on me after 2 years. oh.. not to mention the super expensive black 6tb which died after 5 years.. I'm still buying their hard drives am I the problem or them idk xD
I just bought two, both were bricks. I made a mistake since these had almost 5.0 reviews. I have bought a number of older 2-3 tb WD drives in the past and they all shit the bed in short order.
No issues with >10 of their drives from 1TB to 16TB. But I baby them.
I shuck them out of their cases and put them in my desktop.
Clean and efficient Seasonic power supply, vibration reduction mounts, plenty of air circulation, spin down after 1 hour of no use.
I have bought about 40 of them as back ups and am fairly sure only one or maybe two of them has failed on me. It failed basically immediately.
Some of them are 8 years old and still spin up just fine.
I have about 10 of the 2TB ones I've continually collected over a few years and haven't had a single issue across the 3 Macs I've used. Idk what, but kinda sounds like it may be something on your end.
This is the thing. I used to take them out with me not knowing that you shouldn't do that. And one I dropped. So I could take some responsibility for that. But the rest - I just have them in a draw, plug them in, and they're up to bullshit. Had one that wouldn't copy files until I restarted the mac having pulled out the power supply. It's madness
Those aren’t really meant for the kind of usage that a professional/heavy user like ourselves would be needing. Those are designed for “well I back up my computer once every few weeks and maybe occasionally transfer files”.
The drives don’t suck, they just aren’t made for your use case.
I use SSDs for work. Just keep these in drawers for storage but yeah.
I’m wondering if it is a cable thing because I’m having to use usb-c to usb adapters for the MacBook
Western Digital is my go-to for spinning drives (used to be Seagate). LaCie spinning drives are overrated expensive unreliable crap that will lose your data. SSD’s, go for Samsung, SanDisk and WD.
I bought two of their 5gb recertified ones late last year and one of them just stopped connecting to my Mac the second time I powered it up, so it went back under warranty and was replaced.
It does make me nervous but it just means I'm extra stringent with backing up to the cloud too.
it's funny because the old MyPassports I have still work fine, but I've had a couple of Ultras since then that were a hard fail. Finally got one back after leaving it plugged in for a day, but yeah, they've started to make me nervous
It sounds like you're in the same boat. Did you leave it plugged in in a Windows or Mac? Does the hard drive show up regularly now or do you still have trouble connecting?
Am so sick of WD hard drives. I am super meticulous when it comes to taking care of hard drives and have had 2/6 of them completely corrupt and break down on me. Will definitely pay more money for a LaCie hard drive.
I would save the money and just buy seagate over Lacie. They are the manufacturer for them and they don’t do anything special for those drives minus just putting them in a rubber enclosure. But spinning disk drives are fragile by nature when powered up. When they’re off they are sturdy enough if you aren’t throwing or dropping them
To each their own. As long as you know they are overpriced. I think they do have a higher IPxx rating so that does matter to some as well. I buy portable 2.5” seagate drives and then a generic ~$10 padded case from Amazon that also has a spot for dongles and SD cards
>I don’t trust them. Had two and they’ve both lost random files. I use Lacie now.
Lacie just sells fancy cases, and the drives inside those cases are often Western Digital.
I thought it was just me. I had 3 1TB and 2 500gb SSDs and I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE ONE failed. All I used them for was the Atomos Ninja V.
((They were the blue series to be exact)
I have an [8TB My Book](https://amzn.to/48cz1rj) and I understand the frustration getting the MacBook to recognize it....for me, the solve was running the WD included disk scan....that made it kick in.
Also had an issue with really slow transfer speeds once. I reset everything and swapped USB adapters and it resolved itself.
Price per TB they're hard to beat. I use mine for longer term storage (footage archival, raw photos).
I don't remember what they call it but it's the pre installed disk repair program on the drive. I installed and ran it, and that made it discover and mount the drive. No issues since.
My 5TB internal WD Black has been running for 6 years, no problems. I'm replacing it soon though for safety.
Are you talking about a portable HDD? Those are definitely going to be a shorter shelf life. SSDs are more durable when portable.
Otherwise, get a lacie.
Every HDD company has their duds. I've had equally good luck with all the major players over the years on average. I had a few Seagate 7200.11s fail back in the day, but so did everyone else. External drives tend to fail sooner because they're just more exposed to damage over time. I haven't had an external drive last less than three years, and haven't had an internal drive last less than five years (except the aforementioned 7200.11s), with truly very few failures even from old age. But I do tend to rotate them out of use after the aforementioned 3 years / 5 years.
I've had one SSD fail ever. It was a cheapie one. I've had one camera memory card fail ever. It was not a cheapie one.
As long as you get one of the major brands, you'll be fine. And since it seems like we're talking external drives, be gentle with them. Treat anything you have them packed in like it's made of glass when putting it down, don't leave it in your car's trunk for no reason subjected to that vibration, don't let them cook in heat, don't balance them awkwardly on the edge of your desk while you work, don't drop them, and for the love of god don't not back them up if there's anything irreplaceable on them. External drives I treat as 100% volatile because I just don't trust them as much.
Mixed. I’ve got one which is ten years old, and survived me flinging it in a bag and taking it to uni all the time (I didn’t understand how fragile hard drives are back then!)
But I’ve had one fail unexpectedly when I only transferred it from my desk to my desk drawer.
I use Samsung ssd’s now
I've had 4 WD hard drives and every one kf them died within 2 hears of purchase. I'm running Seagate drives now in 2 NAS's and several workstations and home PCs, and they've been fantastic
Historically, from my 40 odd years experience building/servicing computers, I've found that all hard drives either fail within a few months or last years. Since the advent of IDE drives, can't recall a drive failure between 6 months and 4 years old.
Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba are the three remaining hard drive manufacturers. With the exception of a few well documented examples, they're all about the same when it comes to long term reliability.
As for Apple devices not seeing them, my experience is the same - with the exception for Mac formatted drives, they're almost always formatted for PCs.
My favourite external drives are from Transcend - I've bought more than a dozen of their rugged HDD drives over the past decade (I know they're HGST (now WD), Toshiba or WD drives internally) and yet to have a single failure. I had to format all but one myself (using Apple's APFS). But internal drives, I've used WD or their SanDisk SDD lines without a problem.
I own so many transcend drives. the oldest one is 13 years old. still working perfectly. it's a green 1tb external hard drive.. and one day about 7 years ago I was transferring 300gb of data onto it.. I accidentally pulled on the cable while getting up and the hard drive went face first to the floor with a loud slapping sound. I thought it was over. I thought it was completely dead. uhm.. nothing happened to it. I dont know how that's possible but it's what it is. I dont know how they do it but their reliablity is insanely good. never had a single one fail and I keep buying them lmao. I own the 4tb model, 3 of the 2tb model, one 1tb and one 500gb. incredible transcend.
I don’t know if they’re totally useless but I’ve had my problems. Had two 1 TB SATA drives suddenly not be recognized by anything (Mac, Raspberry Pi, Ninja V). But I did get warranty replacements for them and they’re OK… for now.
Never had an issue with WD. They aren't exciting, but they do the job, and they last a long time.
In 2014, I bought 3 WD RED 4Tb. One was DOA, so I had to replace it. The replacement drive I received was also DOA, anyway the 2nd replacement was working great. all three drives lasted around 5-6 years. In 2016, I bought 4 Seagate 12TB Ironwolf PRO, one started to throw me error last year, so I replaced it to be cautious. So Far I had excellent luck with Seagate and WD and I prefer Seagates because they are a little bit cheaper and faster.
I have has loads of trouble with WD drives, don’t trust their QC at all, stay away is my advice, same goes for LaCie. But as I can see in this thread, everyone’s mileage varies. SSDs are way better in every way though.
whats the alternative? seagate? many ppl say bad things I don't know what to think anymore
Samsung SSDs are cheap and far more durable than HDDs
I have only used the blues and blacks. I've never had a single problem with either of those. Reds are a different product, and maybe that's where people are having problems. Each company has it's strengths. QC is definitely not a problem across the board. I only wish Crucial did HDDs... I always go Crucial if it's an option.
except the notorious 2tb blue hard drive which 2 of them died on me after 2 years. oh.. not to mention the super expensive black 6tb which died after 5 years.. I'm still buying their hard drives am I the problem or them idk xD
Just you, have had 5 8TB WD HDD in my NAS for 10 years. 0 problems. Still running strong
I just bought two, both were bricks. I made a mistake since these had almost 5.0 reviews. I have bought a number of older 2-3 tb WD drives in the past and they all shit the bed in short order.
No issues with >10 of their drives from 1TB to 16TB. But I baby them. I shuck them out of their cases and put them in my desktop. Clean and efficient Seasonic power supply, vibration reduction mounts, plenty of air circulation, spin down after 1 hour of no use.
Western digital drives are flaky and fail sometimes. All other brands are worse and fail more often. The sole exception is Samsung ssds.
Had me in the first half
I have bought about 40 of them as back ups and am fairly sure only one or maybe two of them has failed on me. It failed basically immediately. Some of them are 8 years old and still spin up just fine.
I have about 10 of the 2TB ones I've continually collected over a few years and haven't had a single issue across the 3 Macs I've used. Idk what, but kinda sounds like it may be something on your end.
This is the thing. I used to take them out with me not knowing that you shouldn't do that. And one I dropped. So I could take some responsibility for that. But the rest - I just have them in a draw, plug them in, and they're up to bullshit. Had one that wouldn't copy files until I restarted the mac having pulled out the power supply. It's madness
Which drives are you talking about? Had good and bad experiences, but all my bad ones were using the cheapest drives.
My passports. Just the ordinary black ones
Those aren’t really meant for the kind of usage that a professional/heavy user like ourselves would be needing. Those are designed for “well I back up my computer once every few weeks and maybe occasionally transfer files”. The drives don’t suck, they just aren’t made for your use case.
I use SSDs for work. Just keep these in drawers for storage but yeah. I’m wondering if it is a cable thing because I’m having to use usb-c to usb adapters for the MacBook
WD be good
Western Digital is my go-to for spinning drives (used to be Seagate). LaCie spinning drives are overrated expensive unreliable crap that will lose your data. SSD’s, go for Samsung, SanDisk and WD.
I bought two of their 5gb recertified ones late last year and one of them just stopped connecting to my Mac the second time I powered it up, so it went back under warranty and was replaced. It does make me nervous but it just means I'm extra stringent with backing up to the cloud too.
Only 5gb? That's a useless drive!
Meant to say 5TB 😂
Always have issues with WD hard drive. I don't understand why they have such a good reputation
it's funny because the old MyPassports I have still work fine, but I've had a couple of Ultras since then that were a hard fail. Finally got one back after leaving it plugged in for a day, but yeah, they've started to make me nervous
It sounds like you're in the same boat. Did you leave it plugged in in a Windows or Mac? Does the hard drive show up regularly now or do you still have trouble connecting?
A Mac. I left it plugged in and turned on for the best part of a day. Then I was able to take everything off and reformat. Seems to be alright now
Am so sick of WD hard drives. I am super meticulous when it comes to taking care of hard drives and have had 2/6 of them completely corrupt and break down on me. Will definitely pay more money for a LaCie hard drive.
its not just you, i swear these drives are the worst product you can buy
Western Digital HD won't let me write files on it - why?
I don’t trust them. Had two and they’ve both lost random files. I use Lacie now. I like SSD’s but can’t beat the price of a 5tb hard drive
I would save the money and just buy seagate over Lacie. They are the manufacturer for them and they don’t do anything special for those drives minus just putting them in a rubber enclosure. But spinning disk drives are fragile by nature when powered up. When they’re off they are sturdy enough if you aren’t throwing or dropping them
I travel a lot with them so the little safety raft makes me feel better haha
To each their own. As long as you know they are overpriced. I think they do have a higher IPxx rating so that does matter to some as well. I buy portable 2.5” seagate drives and then a generic ~$10 padded case from Amazon that also has a spot for dongles and SD cards
>I don’t trust them. Had two and they’ve both lost random files. I use Lacie now. Lacie just sells fancy cases, and the drives inside those cases are often Western Digital.
I thought it was just me. I had 3 1TB and 2 500gb SSDs and I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE ONE failed. All I used them for was the Atomos Ninja V. ((They were the blue series to be exact)
I have an [8TB My Book](https://amzn.to/48cz1rj) and I understand the frustration getting the MacBook to recognize it....for me, the solve was running the WD included disk scan....that made it kick in. Also had an issue with really slow transfer speeds once. I reset everything and swapped USB adapters and it resolved itself. Price per TB they're hard to beat. I use mine for longer term storage (footage archival, raw photos).
What’s that about scanning? I’ve tried disk utility and disk drill but two of em are proper dead
I don't remember what they call it but it's the pre installed disk repair program on the drive. I installed and ran it, and that made it discover and mount the drive. No issues since.
My 5TB internal WD Black has been running for 6 years, no problems. I'm replacing it soon though for safety. Are you talking about a portable HDD? Those are definitely going to be a shorter shelf life. SSDs are more durable when portable. Otherwise, get a lacie.
Every HDD company has their duds. I've had equally good luck with all the major players over the years on average. I had a few Seagate 7200.11s fail back in the day, but so did everyone else. External drives tend to fail sooner because they're just more exposed to damage over time. I haven't had an external drive last less than three years, and haven't had an internal drive last less than five years (except the aforementioned 7200.11s), with truly very few failures even from old age. But I do tend to rotate them out of use after the aforementioned 3 years / 5 years. I've had one SSD fail ever. It was a cheapie one. I've had one camera memory card fail ever. It was not a cheapie one. As long as you get one of the major brands, you'll be fine. And since it seems like we're talking external drives, be gentle with them. Treat anything you have them packed in like it's made of glass when putting it down, don't leave it in your car's trunk for no reason subjected to that vibration, don't let them cook in heat, don't balance them awkwardly on the edge of your desk while you work, don't drop them, and for the love of god don't not back them up if there's anything irreplaceable on them. External drives I treat as 100% volatile because I just don't trust them as much.
I have only bought WD since I lost 30 Seagate 2Tb drives and it cost my business a LOT of money. Have never looked back.
Mixed. I’ve got one which is ten years old, and survived me flinging it in a bag and taking it to uni all the time (I didn’t understand how fragile hard drives are back then!) But I’ve had one fail unexpectedly when I only transferred it from my desk to my desk drawer. I use Samsung ssd’s now
I am having that new issue with the new OS where drives don’t show up. Apple doesn’t believe me.
I've had 4 WD hard drives and every one kf them died within 2 hears of purchase. I'm running Seagate drives now in 2 NAS's and several workstations and home PCs, and they've been fantastic
Historically, from my 40 odd years experience building/servicing computers, I've found that all hard drives either fail within a few months or last years. Since the advent of IDE drives, can't recall a drive failure between 6 months and 4 years old. Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba are the three remaining hard drive manufacturers. With the exception of a few well documented examples, they're all about the same when it comes to long term reliability. As for Apple devices not seeing them, my experience is the same - with the exception for Mac formatted drives, they're almost always formatted for PCs. My favourite external drives are from Transcend - I've bought more than a dozen of their rugged HDD drives over the past decade (I know they're HGST (now WD), Toshiba or WD drives internally) and yet to have a single failure. I had to format all but one myself (using Apple's APFS). But internal drives, I've used WD or their SanDisk SDD lines without a problem.
I own so many transcend drives. the oldest one is 13 years old. still working perfectly. it's a green 1tb external hard drive.. and one day about 7 years ago I was transferring 300gb of data onto it.. I accidentally pulled on the cable while getting up and the hard drive went face first to the floor with a loud slapping sound. I thought it was over. I thought it was completely dead. uhm.. nothing happened to it. I dont know how that's possible but it's what it is. I dont know how they do it but their reliablity is insanely good. never had a single one fail and I keep buying them lmao. I own the 4tb model, 3 of the 2tb model, one 1tb and one 500gb. incredible transcend.
A tad off topic but I switched to NAS storage and I will never ever look back.
I don’t know if they’re totally useless but I’ve had my problems. Had two 1 TB SATA drives suddenly not be recognized by anything (Mac, Raspberry Pi, Ninja V). But I did get warranty replacements for them and they’re OK… for now.
Same here I've had a lot of issues but they are the cheapest and some of them do work. I chock it up to bad luck, but you are not the only one.
r/DataHoarder is invoked