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I like to keep backups of backups of my lifetime collected data & thus have over 15 TB of external harddisks in my arsenal with a dominant share of Western digital disks( both passport & elements ) & few others like Transcend , Samsung SSD & a seagate ( old usb 2.0 ).
🔶️ Now , whenever we opt to go for a new external Disk purchase, the following challenges are encountered & if you are planning to invest thousands in purchase - my detailed review, even though a bit lengthy is worth reading.
👉 HDDs vs SSDs :
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While none of the mechanical HDDs can reach the blazing fast speeds of SSDs in excess of 500 MB/s R/W, The HDDs definitely offer a better value for money per MB of storage.
Also if data is corrupted in a SSD its almost never retrievable while in a HDD , there is always a hope depending upon extent of damage.
🔷️ So for majority bulk backup - HDD are a better option to costlier SSDs.
👉 WD vs Seagate :
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This is again a topmost struggle making a decision.
🔸️Now both are giant reputed american storage brands & preference is mostly based upon personal usage experiences.
🔸️I read somewhere that seagate offers better speeds& WD better reliability but i dont feel its true as speeds depend upon type of files being transferred & reliability upon manufacturing processes , which is hard to doubt for both brands.
🔸️ Regarding price WD is a bit costlier to seagate for same capacity.
🔸️ Both offer same warranties of 3 years.
I had a wd failure & my friend had seagate failure - yet we both got replacements with data restored from their service centres.
🔸️ Regarding inbuilt software , i suppose WD is better as it comes with WD discovery that can link with all your social portals for backup too.
🔷️ So you can go for any of these brands - WD being my personal favourite.
🔷️ To ensure failsafe operation , testing for bad sectors before use ( using WD utility or any other HDD inspection software like HD sentinel etc ) is always a good idea.
🔷️ Store these drives horizontally in a dry case & not vertically or inclined , as in latter case the heads and platters tend to deform & get stuck.
I learnt it the hard way.
💝 I bought the latest 2019 4 TB passport drive and 3.63 TB of usable space was available in it.
🔸️ The packing as usual was good enough with an instruction manual & 8 inches of connecting cable.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ The HD enclosure is premium ABS plastic which can surely withstand few non- severe slips & falls.
A periphery cushioning or base padding with shock absorbent rubber would additionaly be great.
4.2 /5 ⭐
🔸️ The design & looks of this new drive aren't as elegant & classy, as previous passports & elements as my personal opinion.
2/5 ⭐
🔸️ The drive is very compact, sturdy & light weight too.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ It was formatted in NTFS mode with 4096 bytes of allocation unit size.
ExFat is another option & you can play with allocation size also for better speeds but a bit less space.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ With a mixed media & software file folder transfer of 5 GB , i registered - a write speed of 112 MB /s & a read speed of 160 MB /s on my HP omen core i7 configuration , which i suppose is fair enough for a mechanical Hard drive.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ The new Hard disk has softwares for mac & windows backup both.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ The HD has a very small point like white led indication for status & won't bother much in dark rooms.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ The HD is very silent during operation & doesn't heat much even after few hours of backup.
5/5 ⭐
🔸️ Warranty offered is 3 years which is contemporary to industry standards & similar to seagate.
As already quoted earlier , i had one harddisk replaced & data restored in warranty like 6 years back by WD.
So no issues there, noone is going to offer pick & drop at home - be assured.
🤏 Final Verdict :
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All in all , I have always been a WD guy & this new 2019 version further restores my faith in the same.
