2016/05/14 11:02:53
tomixornot
             1TB    2TB    3TB    4TB    5TB    6TB    7TB    8TB
WD BLACK     73.38  121.39 148.69 195.99 219.99 289.89
Per TB       73.38   60.70  49.56  48.99  43.99  48.31
WD BLUE      53.83   76.99  89.99 114.99 177.95 204.99
Per TB       53.83   38.49  29.99  28.74  35.59  34.16
WD GREEN     78.39  116.29 139.89 257.89 376.39 428.89
Per TB       78.39   58.14  46.63  64.47  75.27  71.48
WD PURPLE    59.71   84.99 106.99 147.55 211.98 259.99 nil    330.99
Per TB       59.71   42.49  35.66  36.88  42.39  43.33         41.37
WD RED       60.99   89.99 114.99 149.99 194.99 233.99 nil    339.77
Per TB       60.99   44.99  38.33  37.49  38.99  38.99         42.47
 
             1TB    2TB    3TB    4TB    5TB    6TB    7TB    8TB
SEAGATE  
DeskTop      51.99  63.95  89.85  119.95 198.99  214.99 nil   299.99
Per TB       51.99  31.97  29.95   29.98  39.79   35.83        37.49
SEAGATE NAS  64.99  81.99 104.99  139.99 nil     240.99 nil   348.99
Per TB       64.99  40.99  34.99   34.99          40.16        43.62
SEAGATE ARC  nil     nil   nil    nil    181.89 nil    nil    239.99
Per TB                                    36.37                29.99
 
             1TB    2TB    3TB    4TB    5TB    6TB    7TB    8TB
TOSHIBA
DeskTop      49.50  69.50  89.50  nil    nil
Per TB       49.50  34.75  29.83
TOSHIBA X300 nil    nil    nil    149.99 152.99
Per TB                             37.49  30.59
TOSHIBA Green 50.99 76.99
Per TB        50.99 38.49
 
*Current Newegg price with some on discount
I'm compiling info on price / TB, hopefully this is useful for others as well.
 
 
2016/05/14 12:18:51
slartabartfast
It will probably be useful to someone for a while, but prices are pretty fluid.
 
There is somewhat of an apples vs oranges issue, in that you are listing different types of hard drives, which have quite different design characteristics to make them suitable for particular uses. The "black" version in your list has a dual cache design that is going to be particularly useful in massive data transfer situations, as well as faster speed. The NAS versions are generally designed to be used in fault tolerant arrays in servers, so they limit retries if data is not retrieved the first time, on the assumption that the drive can be faulted and the data retrieved from another drive faster than by re-reading it too many times. The purples are specifically designed to record constant video input from surveillance systems, and are much more error tolerant than typical drives since stopping the drive on error will result in some data loss, and data errors will not be as critical in producing usable images. And of course the green drives are designed to power down, slow or stop, when demand is low to conserve power. 
 
For error free real time audio using a single drive (not in an array) in a dedicated DAW, a standard desktop drive or possibly one of the black drives make sense. Green drives are suitable for backups. I would not use the red or NAS drives except in an array, and I would not use the purple drives at all for any general storage.
2016/05/14 13:00:30
arachnaut
I usually buy a new hard drive under one of these conditions:
1) I run out of space
2) I see SMART errors that indicate drive may soon fail
3) After 3 or 4 years of usage.
 
The first two are obvious.
The last is because most drives follow the standard life curve where they show more failures after 3-5 years.
And also, after 3-5 years, just about all my hardware is obsolete.
 
All that being said, my next system will have a lot more SSD drives.
2016/05/14 15:03:12
kitekrazy1
 Lucky I never had a drive fail in 3-5 years. I had a old Seagate finally go after 8 years.   I've had to RMA WD Blacks within their first 6 months.
 I run Seatools and WD Diagnostics weekly along with Perfect Disk.  
 
They are starting to come out with insane storage sizes in these drives.  I don't think I'd ever want a 6TB drive in my system but would use it for storage using a dock. 
2016/05/14 21:57:34
tomixornot
I'm looking for storage to move a few of my aging drives (over 10 years!) before they stop operating for good. The new drive shall be placed into a USB3 drive enclosure, backup and put off line. 
 
From the chart, the WD blue 4TB seems lowest cost per TB at the moment.
 
The Seagate Archive 8TB is quite cost effective too, but I've read the READ performance is quite low.
2016/05/15 10:03:46
BobF
I picked up a pair of Toshiba DT01ACA300 drives a few months ago.  I use them in a USB3 dock for backups.  They've been performing quite well.  Less than $100 each.
 
 
2016/05/15 14:21:04
kitekrazy1
 I started using a drive dock for my drives.  I decided not to spend anymore money on enclosures. They take up more space than the drives and then use have a whole mess of power supplies for them.
2016/05/16 23:54:31
arachnaut
tomixornot
I'm looking for storage to move a few of my aging drives (over 10 years!) before they stop operating for good. The new drive shall be placed into a USB3 drive enclosure, backup and put off line. 
 
From the chart, the WD blue 4TB seems lowest cost per TB at the moment.
 
The Seagate Archive 8TB is quite cost effective too, but I've read the READ performance is quite low.




These Archive types of drives use SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) which is not designed for Read/Write applications.
It is only suitable for backups, photos, etc., and makes a poor boot drive.
2016/05/17 04:12:35
ston
My chart:
 
1990: omfgwtf HOW MUCH?! I could buy Switzerland for that. £1M for 1TB
2016: LOL!1 cheaper than peanuts, roughly 20,000 times cheaper
 
20 thousand.  Times.  Cheaper.  Tell me something else that was available in 1990 that's now 20K times cheaper :-)
 
 
caveat: unfortunately software has become 20 thousand times more bloaty
 
2016/05/17 12:10:25
bitflipper
My last computer had two Western Digital drives, one green, one black, both 1TB. The black was twice as fast as the green. Definitely worth a few extra bucks for the black's performance.
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