wd – Pulpconnection

Holiday Gift Guide 2014: 10TB Drives

Gee Why — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 21:13:45 +0000

Forget hard disks that can store 8 terabytes of data. That’s so two weeks ago! Your digital packrat deserves two more terabytes like these new Western Digital 10TB, Ultrastar He10, drives. Yes, these drives are filled with helium that provide less resistance than oxygen and data is recorded on tracks shingled analogous to roof shingles. All in all, the size limit of 4-6 TB drives is shattered by the Ultrastar He10.

Not so fast on buying this gift though. Pricing hasn’t been announced but don’t be shocked to see price tags upwards of $1000.

Ignorance and Laziness Defeats a Backup Plan

Gee Why — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 22:08:13 +0000

Let it be known that even well-intentioned file backups can be defeated by plain old ignorance and laziness. I’m learning this first hand, waiting to take care of a hard drive issue that’s now bordering catastrophic. Why did I remove the drive from BackBlaze? Hoping Time Machine saves my bacon yet another time.

Why oh why, Western Digital???

Batter Up, Seagate

Gee Why — Sat, 11 May 2013 18:00:57 +0000

Dead drives

Strike 1! Western Digital 500-GB external drive that powers up but then is completely silent.

Strike 2! A different WD 500-GB external drive model that powers up. But then the drive sounds like it keeps trying to spin up again and again and again.

Strike 3! An external Maxtor 750-GB drive that powers up, spins up, and mounts on the desktop. But when I try to actually use it, I get errors and delays. Disk Utility says it needs to be repaired even though I just freshly formatted it.

After striking out with Maxtor and Western Digital, the next batter up is Seagate. And I’m hoping to drive one out of the park, swing for the fences at 4 TB!!