mccFeb 28

Are Western Digital drives trustworthy these days. If I want to buy a pretty big non-flash hard drive for "backup and throw in a drawer" purposes, is this a good choice

https://www.amazon.ca/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU6Y0050BBK-WESN/dp/B07X41PWTY

Amazon.ca

Show threadmccMar 1

ME: I want a 5 TB hard drive

Amazon: We can do that

Canada Computers: I can give you 12 TB for twice the price

Christine: Wait, Canada Computers has 12 TB drives for *how* much? Get two

Me, walking back from yonge-dundas square the next morning, absolutely twisted, carrying 24 TB of platter drives:

Show threadmccMar 1

Hey if I want to format an HD for archival purposes, and I want it to be accessible from both Windows* and Linux** without problems, do I use… exfat? Will exfat freak out if I format it at absurdly high sizes like 12 TB, or give me an annoyingly high "minimum file size" or something? Are there any more-reliable/journaled FSes that both these OSes are happy with?

* 10
** Let's say Debian Trixie

Show threadCharlotteMar 1
@mcc chaos option: ntfs as the Linux ntfs driver is pretty good these days.
Show threadJ.M. HillMar 1

@Foritus @mcc was gonna suggest this myself. NTFS is perfectly adequate on Linux nowadays and I imagine it will still improve with time.

Now, assuming we're talking about an actual HDD, data longevity on magnetic media is more likely to present an issue in the long term.

Show threadmcc
@jmhill @Foritus What other options are there? I was told that flashdrives can lose data if they are unpowered for more than a year and this claim is repeated often on the internet
Mar 1 at 6:53pmWeb
Show threadZimmieMar 1
@mcc @jmhill @Foritus While SSDs can lose data when unpowered, that’s more of a boogeyman than a real problem. It’s like cell wear. Problems can be induced under extreme conditions. As long as you stick to the brands which make their own flash, SSDs practically never die from wear, and they almost never lose data even going without power for years.