External HDDs: single 3.5" vs multiple 2.5"?

I haven't used 3.5" HDDs for ages, and frankly I remember them as unreliable crap that was just waiting to break down. My experience with 2.5" drives was, on the contrary, very positive - those I replaced with bigger ones were in good condition and sold successfully. I currently use 3x external 2.5" HDDs for data storage - 4TB 15mm and 2x 2TB 9.5mm drives.

I consider replacing them with single 8TB HGST He8 3.5" drive - single 8TB drive is easier to manage, after all. The drive will be connected to docking station, mostly - however, sometimes it will be moved around, also I may want to travel with it from time to time. The drive will be running Bitlocker software encryption and store different media - music, movies, software. Is it a good idea - or should I stick with 2.5" drives instead?

 

Docking station as in USB attached? No...

I would suggest 3.5" HDD's (with HGST being the best you can get, btw...) and a NAS solution that hangs off of your router. Minimum 4 drive bays; more is always better (and you don't need to populate them immediately either. QNAP is my first/only choice for NAS today.

See:
https://www.qnap.com/images/products/comparison/Comparison_4BayNAS.html


You could also start off with the much cheaper 2 or 3 TB drives (times 4) and slowly increase the size as needed too.

Using USB attached storage today is not what today's storage 'tech' is all about...

Good luck.

 

Nothing wrong with 3.5" HDDs, you have bad models and good models with both form factors. Seagate had some Barracuda drives that are known to die quickly that I can recall from the top of my head, I'm sure WD and others had their bad apples as well, so get something that is known to be reliable and you're good.

 

@tilleroftheearth @tijo thank you for your answers.

I am using proprietary docking station now, and will replace it with WiGiG docking station soon. NAS is not good enough due to size & weight - the solution must be compact and easy to transport, including on a plane. 3.5" external HDD weights about 1kg, that is as much as I am willing to tolerate - it's about the same weight as 4x 2.5" external HDDs.

My major concern is how will 3.5" drive tolerate transportation, and vibration when in use, e.g. a cat prowling around it, or jumping on the same table where the HDD is located. With 2.5" it's not much of an issue, they're made to withstand abuse... what about modern 3.5"?

 

Honestly, if you're worried about vibrations, etc. I would look if a solution that can tell the hard drive to park its heads when it senses that something is wrong exists. Something similar to how laptop free fall sensors work. I have no idea if even such a thing exists, but it's wroth looking into. I have killed both 2.5" and 3.5" drives due to the enclosure falling, the 3.5" drive was a HGST drive. regardless of the form factor, there is a limit to how much abuse a drive can take when it's actively reading/writing data. The cat jumping on the table should be a non-issue. If you are worried about space, then yeah the 2.5" drives are likely your best option because they are smaller.

 

I have a bunch of exernal drives, currently 3x 4TB 3.5" and one 5TB. When I replaced my desk, I moved them to another table temporarily and kind of dropped one on the floor in the process. No issues, no bad sectors, nothing. Working just fine... knock knock. Anyways, when turned off spinning drives can take quite a lot and on a bad day you'll break one if you sneeze next to it.

Some 2.5" drives have/had built-in sensors to detect sudden movements but I haven't noticed them mentioned in 3.5" drives.

 

Thanks everyone for their suggestions.

I compared shock tolerances of 3.5" He8 with 2.5" 15mm 4TB/5TB Seagate drives. Bottom line, 2.5" drives - even the tall ones with 5 platters - can tolerate as much shock while operating as 3.5" drives while idle, according to datasheets. 9.5mm and 7mm drives with less platters are even more robust. I will stick with 2.5" drives.

 

Yup, I've never had a drive die when it was off or the heads were parked. All the ones that died were actively spinning with the heads over the platters which is what killed them.