With software full disk encryption, you can 'put password' to any HDD you want.

Other than the BitLocker (Windows) or FileVault (Mac OS X), you may consider:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truecrypt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DiskCryptor

There is also a list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of...yption_software

The Seagate Momentus XT hybrid drives are your best bet.

I'm not aware of any. And even if the warranty is longer, it still won't guarantee that you won't lose your media archive. RAID or manual backups to two or more HDDs will be a good idea. There is also cloud storage, but only if you don't mind storing your media files on other people's servers - not a good idea for private and confidential files.

This post has been edited by everling: Mar 13 2013, 11:01 PM

Double post.

This post has been edited by everling: Mar 13 2013, 11:01 PM

mSATA is not physically compatible with standard SATA ports. You might need an adaptor if you don't have hardware support.

mSATA performance tends to be not as fast as a typical SSD because there are fewer NAND chips on it and therefore less able to do parallel storage processing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#mSATA

Since you already have an SSD, there is no practical reason to switch to mSATA.

It is still okay, for now. The "Caution" alert is appropriate.

You can install Windows on it and boot from the HDD. But it is a slow HDD according to some benchmarks.

http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/2223...ot-81_575px.png
http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/2223...ot-83_575px.png
http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/2223...ot-86_575px.png
http://images.anandtech.com/galleries/2223...ot-88_575px.png

If it is not going into a NAS, you're probably better off buying a WD Blue or Green for cost-effectiveness and performance.

It is a little curious that the 1GB RAM doesn't help much with the random write.

As for trustable, CrystalDiskMark, ATTO and HD Tune can produce those results depending on how they conduct their tests. CrystalDiskMark's and ATTO's sequential tests could be a natural fit for that 1GB cache and give you those near SSD results, whereas HD Tune default benchmark does more random read/write for their benchmarks. If you try HD Tune's File Benchmark test, I'd guess you'll get results more in line with CrystalDiskMark and ATTO.

As for "good enough", it is good enough for a HDD. Although I would be concerned for long term reliability. One advantage of internal HDDs is that is very hard to accidentally disconnect or hit them. Do it often enough on an external HDD that is plugged in most of the time and the data on it might get corrupted. And then there is the quality of the PSU onboard the unit, which might not be as good as a good PSU typically found in our desktops. Then again, perhaps that onboard PSU could be good for three years.

This post has been edited by everling: Jun 16 2013, 03:33 PM

HDDs typically suffer in their random performance, there's no way for them to make up for it unless they go hybrid with SSD. And you're welcome.

Red is for NAS and/or RAID.
AV-GP is for CCTV.
Green is for normal but reduced energy usage.
RE4 is for enterprise usage.

RM200 sounds ridiculous, at least for common HDDs that can be had for less than that. Maybe they're also stealing the data from the HDD? It is possible to extract data from dead HDDs. So dead HDDs that once belonged to a finance department, celebrities or other people of significance could be valuable.

How old is your HDD before it died? The F1 is a pretty old model.

If you need the data on the HDD, please do not send it back to the manufacturer for RMA. The manufacturer will almost certainly give back another HDD, with a different serial number and without your data on it.

Unfortunately I haven't heard of a recent RMA statistics of that kind, so there's no way I could objectively state which modern HDDs are in the list of top 10 HDDs for reliability and durability. There was such a data reveal, but it is two years old now and is probably no longer true today.

You can always choose to go with popular opinion.

The only way you can guarantee that your data is not casually retrievable without authorisation is to use full disk encryption (FDE) and a good password. But you'll have to do this before the HDD died.

Truecrypt is a rather popular third-party FDE tool, or on Windows you can use Microsoft's Bitlocker. Don't do partition or file encryption, as copies of your data can be leaked to unencrypted portions of your disk; do full disk encryption. Be warned however, if you lost or forget your password, the probability of cracking it is very low unless your password is weak. There was an unfortunate fellow forumer who had forgotten his password and all his data was effectively lost.

If the HDD is already dead, then the only secure way to destroy the data is to dismantle the HDD and damage the platters. Of course, this will void any existing warranty.

Do note that the HDD's PCB has some value in the HDD repair market. Sometimes the HDD failure is due to damage on the PCB and replacing the damaged PCB might restore the HDD back to working order. They'll need some rather detailed information however, as PCB incompatibility is also rather high.

In the HDD, there's a pair of magnets that are strong enough that you really don't want your fingers to be between them when they snap together.

I don't understand why magnets is a popular thing to use to erase HDDs when the HDDs already have the strongest magnets that I have encountered located next to the platters themselves.

Edit: Oh, that explains it. Somewhat. http://www.dansdata.com/magnets.htm#drivemags

Edit 2: And this one appears to debunk the magnet myth, at least in 2006. http://cobolhacker.com/2006/10/28/is-it-po...e-with-magnets/

This post has been edited by everling: Jun 21 2013, 02:29 PM

Unfortunately I don't.

And it seems that it is possible to kill a HDD with magnets, but you'll need a really strong one. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/40595...l-a-hard-drive/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.

You have the option of keeping it in observation for the next few months.

1. Backup absolutely vital data.
2. Do a full hard disk scan.
3. If the value doesn't change or there are no other disturbing signs of hardware problems, then it is probably not going to get worse or die because of it.
4. Keep it in observation for the next few months. Maybe do another few full hard disk scans.
5. If there are no changes, then it is probably not going to get worse or die because of it.

Hard disks are designed to absorb some small damage and can continue working fine for the rest of its life. It'll probably be okay.

Of particular note, if your HDD is older than six months, you should give it a chance. Most HDD failures occur during their first six months; the survivors tend to live long lives.

A simple full format is sufficient test and it is all I use. Even programs like HDDScan does about the same thing, but you can explicitly conduct write and read tests with it.

HDDScan's surface map report indicates the access time for that block, unless that block was bad.

HD Tune Pro does use the green colour to indicate good blocks.

If it was Kaspersky, could it have been asking for permission to do a virus scan and not a surface scan? Another possibility is that perhaps you need to do a chkdsk on the external drive.

Yes, that should do it.

Could you please link to these reviews?