Vantage Data Recovery

People are always asking us for advice regarding data storage and security issues, usually in an attempt to avoid future problems after a major data loss catastrophe that has required our data recovery services.  Questions about anti-virus software, spyware detection, and backup methods are fairly common, and we do our best to provide answers (or at least, to point people in the right direction).  But, by far, one of the most common questions we get is “who makes the best hard drive?”

In truth, there is no easy answer.  The best hard drive model to buy as a replacement for one that has failed should have good reviews for speed and performance, exceeds your foreseeable capacity needs, and is at a good price.  Through the years, all hard drive manufacturers have had certain models that have been “problematic”.  If you were to ask 3 different computer service technicians which hard drive brand has given them the most problems, you’d likely get 3 different answers.  Recognizable drive failure patterns for a particular model line may not be evident for months or even years, at which point that drive model will likely be out of production.

When choosing a drive, you want to first want to determine the size you need, then consider the hard drive’s RPM or disk speed, and its cache size.  In both cases, higher numbers will translate into better response time.  Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is not truly relevant.  It is not a guarantee - any drive can fail at any time.  MTBF is strictly a manufacturer’s estimation based on the best possible circumstances.  Seek time, latency, and other such specifications are likewise not terribly pertinent as any differences between drives will probably be undetectable to the user.

The most important thing when choosing which drive to buy is to compare drives with similar specs to determine an accurate cost per gigabyte.  Balancing size and speed should provide the most cost effective solution.

Regardless of brand, every hard drive should be expected to fail at some point in time.  The only way to protect yourself from the possibility of data loss is to develop and maintain an adequate backup strategy.