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Hi Gerbils,

NCIX Canada has Toshiba HDD on sale this week, 1 TB is 49.99, 2TB is 89.99, 3 TB is 119.99.

The model is Toshiba DT01ACA100.

I have only bought WD HDDs since starting to build my own PCs in 2008, will these do the job?

My main rig has a 1TB WD Black from 2009 or 2010 as storage, a Samsung 840 250gb as System which will soon be replaced by a Samsung 840 EVO 250gb as system drive and the 840 will be used for Steam Library and recording with Shadowplay / DXTory / Fraps.

I am rather low on HDD storage at the moment and figure for $50, it's a good way to expand storage for documents and multimedia.

I just don't know how trustworthy Toshiba is as they weren't named in in that recent reliability study that was posted.

Thoughts?

They are very good. They are rebranded Hitachi Deskstars which by studies done by Backblaze have proven to be the most reliable out there. (Also speaking from personal experience I have a ton of Toshiba / Hitachi deskstars and all have been rock solid).

Too bad MemoryExpress doesn't have them... I would have liked to take advantage of their Uber Price Beat policy to make them even cheaper.

So I guess the question now is.... which size to choose?

Prestige Worldwide wrote:

Which size to choose?

2.0 TB or larger.

Thanks for your helpful replies, deanjo and JAE.

1 last question:

Looks like the model numbers on 2 and 3 TB are not similar to the 1TB.

Are they still good?

1TB - DT01ACA100 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 32MB
2TB - HDKPC09 2TB SATA3 7200RPM 32MB
3TB - HDKPC08 3TB SATA3 7200RPM 32MB

The HDKP* ones are just Hitachi model numbers rather than Toshiba ones. They'll be fine . If you google the HDKP number you'll find a fair few entries using the Toshiba model number (DT01ACAx00) and the Hitachi one in the same listing.

Got 4 of the 3TB ones running in my server with not a single problem.

IBM/Hitachi (and Toshiba, the heir to Hitachi's 3.5" product line) really did learn their lesson from the "Deathstar" fiasco. Their reliability since then has been quite good.

You just found some of, if not the best HDD's around. I have a old 30GB Hitachi drive laying around here that I bought new back when 30GB was a big drive. This thing still works after, at a guess, twenty years or so. Its too small to be of any use now but it makes for a great conversation piece.

Seems to me I should make a purchase, then.

My friend that I trust a lot when it comes to hardware is telling me to buy 2 1TB instead of 1 2TB because there "2tb has higher error potential."

Is there any truth to that?

No.

If you're really concerned, buy two drives, get an external dock for one of them and make routine backups.

Prestige Worldwide wrote:

Seems to me I should make a purchase, then.

My friend that I trust a lot when it comes to hardware is telling me to buy 2 1TB instead of 1 2TB because there "2tb has higher error potential."

Is there any truth to that?

It was true some time ago, but I doubt it's the case with recent drives.

Prestige Worldwide wrote:

Seems to me I should make a purchase, then.

My friend that I trust a lot when it comes to hardware is telling me to buy 2 1TB instead of 1 2TB because there "2tb has higher error potential."

Is there any truth to that?

Nope, probably the exact opposite as you are now dealing with twice the number of parts. The difference being that it is unlikely that two 1 TB drives would fail at the same time.

Right-o. The 2TB model is $102 including GST and $8 express ship (cheapest option). Could get it for $99 from DirectCanada due to free ground shipping but a higher product price but might as well get it a few days sooner.

Thanks for the help!