Hard Drive Failure

Unless you want to have somebody look at the machine, the sensible course is to use an external disk instead of a secondary internal.

Autumn Breeze,
You're a very good dancer, because in this entire Thread you've successfully dance around the Brand Name and Model # of that failed drive.

I've only EVER had one brand of drive that has given me that kind of BAD service. And it was a Western Digital (WD) still in new warranty. It failed withing two months. I sent it back to WD for a warranty exchange. The replacement drive failed within one month. Again, sent it back for a Warranty Exchange. The third drive was so scratched up, it looked like it had been kicked across a concrete floor. I wouldn't even put it back into any PC of mine. I gave it away to a guy who wanted a data disk. It failed within one month.
NOW, Guess which brand is on my SH1T list?

SSD's have come down in price to the point where I'd not even think about buying another Mechanical (spinner) drive.
I have four SSD's running happily in my various PC's. In a laptop, they are just Plug-n-Play, but in a desktop PC I have to use the special mounting brackets so they fit in 3.5" drive bays.
Going from the old spinner.
Replacing a spinner in a laptop with an SSD = a huge increase in performance, since laptop spinners are so slow anyway, by their very nature.
While in a desktop PC, an SSD can definitely give the old PC a BOOST.

Two Brands of SSD's that I've used (and AM using) are Crucial and SanDisk. I've never had a moments problem with either.
My very first SSD was a PNY brand. It failed within the first month. I called PNY and they flatly refused to do anything about it. So they are also on my "Never More" list.

Good Luck to you,
TM

AutumnBreeze said:

It looks this way. Will I need to get an SSD then? If I use an external caddy, I won't be able to avoid moving the disk while it's in use, which will probably damage a HDD fairly quickly. Am I right?

Hdd are not that easy to damage. As long as you dont drop them from a considerable height, they should last many many years.

It depends how much storage you need. Hdd are more economical - especially in the large sizes.

Most people with 4tb or even 2tb disks use hdd.

I am surprised it is that much for 500gb.

ssd:
Decent brand ssd - crucial mx500 500gb is about £45 in the UK. Other brands such as kingston are available for a bit less, but not much less. It is worth getting the crucial mx 500. The Samsung 870 EVO ( different from the Qvo) is allegedly slightly better but it carries a massive price premium.


mechanical:
I have a wd blue 7200rpm 1tb hdd that has been good , model is WD10EZEX - about £35 or less in the Uk - avoid the larger size WD because they are smr. CMR is better.

I have several Crucial SSDs 1tb, one Samsung SSD1tb. I haven't had an issue with any of them. Price/performance Crucials are cheaper, performance, don't really notice it.

The prices have gone up a lot here over the last few days.