questions about capacities of portable HDD

long ago I heard someone saying that portable hard drives of "even" number of capacities e.g. 2TB 4TB 6TB 8TB are more durable than 3TB or 5TB. He had some theories about the detailed hardware but I forget about that.

Is it real? coz I am thinking to get a 5TB but if 4TB is more durable I will go for 4tb

 

I don't recall coming across that theory. I buy whatever gives most TB for my money. The most recent portable drive I would was 3TB which cost about 20% more than 2TB but gives 50% more capacity.

John

 

my portable drives are at least 4TB, full of precious videos

 

@kenny1999 I assume you're talking about Seagate 2.5" 15mm drives. Seagate does not include information on number of platters or platter density in their datasheets; generally speaking, 7mm drives means up to 2x platters, 9.5mm - up to 3x, while 15mm can house up to 5x. More platters means less reliability. 4TB 15mm drives were introduced alongside 7mm 2TB ones, pushing platter density to 1TB per platter. It is logical to assume that 5TB drive has 5x platters thus theoretically less reliable. Generally speaking, both drives should be OK unless you deliberately drop them - but overall, you definitely should treat them with more respect and care than 7mm or 9.5mm drives.

 

The capacity/'eveness' or number of platters of a given HDD doesn't indicate how reliable it will be.

All HDD's/SSD's (or any other storage medium) are subject to failure from various aspects; HDD's are no different but because of the mechanical aspect; may be considered worse.

If a HDD is working well past the first month and certainly past the first year and it is not subject to excessive vibrations/knocks (either because it is babied or just used on a stationary machine/station) it will most likely keep working indefinitely (until it is effectively obsolete...).

At no time though should you deploy a new storage system/component and not have multiple copies of your data residing elsewhere too.

'Reliability' is very high for many, many, many HDD's from just as many individuals perspectives... however, when the winds of chance select you to experience HDD failure... it is a 100% catastrophe - unless you have backups (multiple backups are best...) that you can fall back on.

Good luck.

 

now i"ve bought a WD portable 4T on Amazon which is USD 114 now. I believe it's a great deal

it's enough for me for the next two months