External USB 3.0 vs Internal SATA II ???

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  1. Posts : 513
    Windows 7 Pro x64
       #1

    External USB 3.0 vs Internal SATA II ???


    Machine is DELL Optiplex 780 Tower, Windows 7 Pro, 5-port USB 3.0 card, 4-port front panel USB 3.0.
    Two internal HDDs; one is O/S and Miscellaneous documents; the other is 2TB pictures only.

    I am getting close to running out of storage space on my internal 2TB HDD.
    All four of my internal SATA ports are occupied, as are the PCIe ports.
    I have two unused PCI ports.

    Although it would be more convenient and seamless to just up the size of my pictures HDD, I dislike the idea of a HDD of more capacity = just more to lose when it fails (I do meticulously back things onto other ext. HDDs).
    Also, it has been my observation that, once you go past 2TB, the bigger the HDD the bigger the percentage of negative early-failure reviews.

    I have plenty of USB 3.0 ports plus two self-powered 7-port USB 3.0 hubs.

    Which is my better option for more working pictures storage, install one of these 6-port SATA II PCI cards, or go with a USB-connected external enclosure ?

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...k_ql_qh_dp_hza

    Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.
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  2. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #2

    I would just replace the 2TB drive with a larger one. There is nothing wrong with using a larger HDD as long as you have it properly backed up.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 0
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #3

    If you're worried about larger HDDs failing, then I'd go the SATA II route. USB can and will fail at times. But USB 3.0 would be faster since it supports up to 5 Gbps, but I've never encountered that speed myself.

    Do you even have space in the PC to accommodate another HDD with a PCI SATA II card?

    The better solution would be to get a 4TB HDD and another 4TB HDD for backups. I've heard great things about Hitachi with large HDDs and their failure rate. And I've read that HDD repair and data recovery services don't often see Hitachi's. Though that could also be due to people simply not buying Hitachi drives. Dell used to use them in their laptops. I have a 1TB Hitachi myself and it's about 3 years old now and still going strong. * knocks on plastic* Like you, I have a backup strategy as well with all my computers and HDDs. Some data is even backed up and encrypted to Amazon S3 and on DVD/RW. Been meaning to get a nice high quality Blu-ray burner to burn data to 100 GB disks. I just don't trust flash-based or mechanical media for really, REALLY important data.

    Here's some drive stats: Enterprise vs. Consumer Hard Drives: 2018 Hard Drive Performance Review
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 513
    Windows 7 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Room inside the case and PCI slots is no problem.

    Another poor man's reason that I have against the larger HDDs is that if anything fails it all fails and is twice the cost to get back in action again.

    If I have a ten gallon bucket and the bottom falls out of it, I have lost the bucket and ten gallons; whereas, if I have two five gallon buckets and the bottom falls out of one of them, I still have one serviceable bucket and half of my ten gallons.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #5

    BuckSkin said:
    Room inside the case and PCI slots is no problem.

    Another poor man's reason that I have against the larger HDDs is that if anything fails it all fails and is twice the cost to get back in action again.

    If I have a ten gallon bucket and the bottom falls out of it, I have lost the bucket and ten gallons; whereas, if I have two five gallon buckets and the bottom falls out of one of them, I still have one serviceable bucket and half of my ten gallons.
    If you get an HDD with a good warranty, you don't have to worry about the cost of replacing it if it fails while under warranty. There are plenty of good HDDs with five year warranties.

    Again, if you have your data backed up, you will not lose any, no matter what size the drive is. When ever you add a drive to your computer, you should budget for three drives: one for the computer, one for an onsite backup, and one for an offsite backup (even just one backup drive, while not ideal, is still better than no backups).
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 513
    Windows 7 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Lady Fitzgerald said:
    If you get an HDD with a good warranty, you don't have to worry about the cost of replacing it if it fails while under warranty. There are plenty of good HDDs with five year warranties.
    I appreciate the advice and will consider it; however, I have had very little real world luck with warranties, especially with computer/electronics warranties; and, the bigger the company, the more impossible it is to get actual satisfaction; once they get your money, they aim to keep it.
    In my own experience, a warranty is no better than the thirty-day return window; once that thirty days is up, you are on your own.
    I am not saying that others haven't had wonderful warranty experiences, just that that has never been the case with me.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 2,798
    Windows 7 x64, Vista x64, 8.1 smartphone
       #7

    I had a similar problem with my storage of photographs, and a similar philosophy about capacity/reliability.

    So, what I did was to buy a 5.25" Bay Internal HDD Hot Swap Caddie for my computer. I can now easily swap out HDD and install different HDD according to my personal needs.

    Amazon.co.uk: hot swap hard drive caddy
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #8

    BuckSkin said:
    I appreciate the advice and will consider it; however, I have had very little real world luck with warranties, especially with computer/electronics warranties; and, the bigger the company, the more impossible it is to get actual satisfaction; once they get your money, they aim to keep it.
    In my own experience, a warranty is no better than the thirty-day return window; once that thirty days is up, you are on your own.
    I am not saying that others haven't had wonderful warranty experiences, just that that has never been the case with me.
    Buy from Western Digital (WD) or HGST (which is owned by WD). I've had to invoke their warranty only once. I had a WD Green start throwing reallocation errors shortly before the warranty ran out and they quickly replaced it with a refurbished drive. Stick with WD or HGST drives that have five year warranties. HGST especially has a good reputation.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 555
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #9

    Also, it has been my observation that, once you go past 2TB, the bigger the HDD the bigger the percentage of negative early-failure reviews.
    I doubt this is true of home use storage for your pictures.

    Generally these folks are using them for data centers, security etc. and who knows what they are doing with them. How many times they'd been formatted and or written over. I've seen people do some stupid stuff, and god knows I've done some myself. Just on forums alone I've seen people destroy drives right in front of me. One guy had a drive that showed good, kept formatting it due to inexperience installing windows. He said fifty times he formatted it after botched installs, and it died. Even with a new drive you might get a bad one but that's just how it goes. All the happy people and not the ones writing these reviews though they do write them, mostly it is people that are unhappy. Best we can do is make an informative guess to buy the best one we see with these reviews. WD Seems to be a fine brand for me.

    If you do get a new drive I would copy over chunks of the data a little at a time to keep the heat down on the drive. Is this a scientific approach...No, but it seems like a good idea to me as heat is not good for these things. Same thing with my USB's. When I get a new one I transfer the data in chunks so it don't get to hot all at once.

    I'm not real computer savvy but I would be more worried about exceeding the power usage on this thing.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 9,600
    Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #10

    BuckSkin said:
    ...Also, it has been my observation that, once you go past 2TB, the bigger the HDD the bigger the percentage of negative early-failure reviews...
    That certainly doesn't jibe with my experience. Before I abandoned HDDs for SSDs, the only 4TB HDD I had "failed" was a 4TB WD Black that arrived DOA (probably due to bad handling during shipping since it was ordered and delivered post Thanksgiving) but was quickly replaced by the vendor with a new drive. Again, it depends a lot on the quality of the drive. Buy cheap drives, that's the quality you will probably get. As long as you get good, quality drives with long warranties and you keep them properly backed up, your data and investment will be reasonably safe.
      My Computer


 
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