cheapest external 8tb HDD ?

Personally, I would go for the most dependable drive, 8 tb of (crucial/important/must save/your life, man) data lost in one fell swoop due to penny-pinching wouldnt cut it for me, , , , ,

I have to agree with cornemuse. Most of the time, you get what you pay for. I would shell out the shekels for a good internal type drive, such as a WD Blue or Black for up to 6TB or a WD Gold for 8TB, and put it in an enclosure.

Hi,
If the unit goes south so does your data even though the hdd inside might still be good bad thing about encryption
Indeed just get a enclosure and add what ever size hdd you can afford then if the enclosure goes out all you have to do is get a replacement.

ThrashZone said:

Hi,
If the unit goes south so does your data even though the hdd inside might still be good bad thing about encryption
Indeed just get a enclosure and add what ever size hdd you can afford then if the enclosure goes out all you have to do is get a replacement.

ThrashZone brings up a valid point. Many, if not most, external HDDs have built-in encryption to protect your data from snoops should you misplace the drive and someone else finds it or it gets stolen. The problem with that is, if the enclosure the external drive comes in ever goes bad, you will not be able to retrieve the data on the HDD inside even though the drive itself is ok. Besides getting a better quality drive when you buy an internal type drive and put it in your own enclosure, if the enclosure goes bad, you will still be able to access your data from the drive by putting it in another one.

Also, keep in mind that any drive can fail at any time without warning so it's a good idea to maintain backups of your data. You should have at least two backups, preferably one onsite and one offsite, since even backup drives can also fail at anytime without warning.

Just remember that portable drives seem to be the lowest quality of drives made. I see post after post here about portable drives that have failed or gone RAW or some other such problem. I don't trust a portable drive for anything. They are convenient, but don't seem to be reliable.

As had been said, using a real desktop drive and an enclosure is a better idea. Will this not work for a PS4 in your situation?

mikezilla2 said:

if its bigger than 8tb it may not work with my PS4 and some brands may not

is the manufatcturing process diffrent for externals ?

anyone got a listting of all the 8tb drives on the market and there prices ?

with the exchange rates - AUD is just a bit stronger than the CAD it might be cost prohibative

otherwise if i can get one of those cheap Daul NAs bays with WD reds that might be the way to go .....

Is there a reason you need 8TB or can you do as well with a 6TB? If you can use a 6TB drive, then your selection is better and will be less expensive. Since you are going to be using it for games, you will probably need a 7200 rpm drive, either a 6TB WD Black or an HGST 6TB or 8TB Helium drive (you do not want to use a NAS drive, such as the WD Reds).

I realize finances may be a bit tight but, the fact is, you get what you pay for. You pay the cheapest price, you will get the cheapest quality. Also, keep in mind that any drive, no matter how good it is, is subject to sudden irrecoverable failure at any time (I even had a WD Black, one of the most reliable drives made, arrive DOA) so you need to budget for at least one more drive (two would be much better) to backup what you put on the drive you are going to connect to your PS4.

Some external drives are made differently than internal type drives. Besides usually being lower quality and the aforementioned encryption issue, some do not have a SATA interface on the HDD and will connect directly to USB. Also, most, if not all, external drives are only 5400 rpm and, for gaming, you would be better off with a 7200 rpm drive.