First off, I notice everyone goes 2TB vs 3TB or 4TB. Why is this when people have so much storage they choose more multiples of 2 than fewer multiples of 4?
Also, for media storage, does it matter the OS, or are recommendations the same across all platforms if the use is solely for media storage?
I ended up with 2TB just because the price break for 2TB was the sweet spot when I purchased my drives which was about a year ago.
I would assume that the 3TB is probably the sweet spot for pricing these days but since I am not in the market don't quote me on that.
I know some systems have limitations on drive size like 2TB so that might be another reason but usually you can upgrade firmware to support larger size drives as they become available.
I don't think OS matters as long as it is just storage but I have never been happy with Windows so I have been on linux based systems like unRaid for years.
Anyone else with a reason as to why at this point in 2013 people are still talking of 2 TB vs 3 or 4?
Buy what you can afford/your PC supports.
Just put my 2x3tb drives into my Ubuntu server this weekend. They work fine and as said above were the best £per GB. I'm limited to six on the motherboard. I also have a raid card but the card will not support >2tb
1. price what people can afford
2. hardware limitation
3. data loss (not everyone uses a rendunent system)
4. raid setup (if you need identical drives)
in no specific order
^^^^ this.
When I buy a drive. I buy 2. One becomes server drive. Other becomes mirror of it.
Do monthly backups using synctoy and USB3.
I will never buy 3TB+ drives again. So many problems with them. Just stick with 2TB WD reds. But use greens for backup.
It's only a couple hours to restore that too!
I don't use raid as its not a form of backup! Plus if I need a drive out to take somewhere. I won't mess up anything.
In my country the Netherlands
The cheapest hard drive's from Seagate go for € 0,038 per GB
It does not mater if you go for 2TB or 4TB the price per GB is the same.
The cheapest 2TB hard drive's from Western Digital go for € 0,039 per GB
The cheapest 4TB hard drive's from Western Digital go for € 0,058 per GB