HDD - 'bog-standard' vs 'server/enterprise'

[lee737]

I'm looking at HDD's to put into a USB enclosure I recently picked up.....
Duty cycle will be very low - archival backup.....

On a local retailer, I note a Seagate 8TB BarraCuda for about A$220, then a Seagate Exos 7E10 8TB drive for around $390, and other (Synology!) 8TB server drives more like A$600..... nearly 3x the cost.

To be honest, I wouldn't cough up $600 for an 8TB drive - but how about the Exos for the extra $170.... is it worth it????

I've only had experience with department store USB externals, and to be honest, they've been pretty good value, with rare failures, and I can only assume they would use the cheapest HDDs around....

 

[Rusty]

Exos are great drives indeed. While you should avoid the 5300 Syno series for your needs, the HAT3310 models (7200 rpm) might also be a choice. I am just saying if you want to stay in the price range of the consumer range while staying on top of compatibility. Ofc, compatibility will matter for main bays, not external ones, but you never know when you might want to use it as one of the main drives.

Regarding paying extra for the exos, look for warranty differences, as speed will not matter while being used as an external drive.