Question Which HDD?

Simbo2020

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Hi All,

I’m looking for an HDD for my new media player. I’m looking for a 16TB but I’m a little confused by the different variants.

Which do you think would be best out of the Seagate Skyhawk AI and Seagate Exos? Does anyone know what the differences are?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
What is your media player and have you checked what HDD's it supports?

It may not support any 16TB drive and only be compatible with 12TB drives at most, but only specific models.

The Skyhawk drive isn't really suitable for your media device, it's designed for surveillance systems and for a lot of writing to the drive.

The Exos is an Enterprise grade HDD designed for data centres and excellent reliability with large scale data transfers.
I'd say it's not the ideal fit for your media player and probably very expensive compared to other options.
 
What is your media player and have you checked what HDD's it supports?

It may not support any 16TB drive and only be compatible with 12TB drives at most, but only specific models.

The Skyhawk drive isn't really suitable for your media device, it's designed for surveillance systems and for a lot of writing to the drive.

The Exos is an Enterprise grade HDD designed for data centres and excellent reliability with large scale data transfers.
I'd say it's not the ideal fit for your media player and probably very expensive compared to other options.

Thanks for the reply.

I have a Zappiti One SE 4K HDR. It can take 16TB drives and lists the ones compatible....the Seagates are the only 16TB drives compatible. From what I’ve seen the Skyhawk and Exos seem a similar price.

Here is a list of compatible drives:

Recommanded HDD models for all Zappiti 4K HDR use
WD BLUE (up to 6 TB) - less noisy than bigger drives
WD GREEN (up to 6 TB) - old models, not available anymore
SEAGATE SkyHawk™ (all models)
SEAGATE SkyHawk AI (all models)
SEAGATE Exos™ (all models) ) > In SATA only (SAS models not compatibles)
SEAGATE Archive HDD (up to 8 TB) - old models, not available anymore
SEAGATE Baracuda (all models)
SAMSUNG SSD (up to 4 TB)
 
I wouldn't use the Skyhawks. It's not what their for and the complete opposite of how you'll be usingt them.

You're paying a real premium for both the EXOS drives and that it's 16TB.

Personally I'd be looking at a smaller drive or an alternative solution

Not sure if this would work over USB instead of internal, it contains WD Red drives which are not compatible but it's over USB, not SATA - Amazon product ASIN B07W5V8GC9
Or if you think you need that much space, you'll probably eventually fill it.
Time to look at a NAS?
 
I did originally look at a NAS before eventually going for a media player as I thought it would suit my needs more at the moment.

I have a 6TB drive which is now full but the rate at which I buy new movies I thought a 16TB drive would last me the best part of a decade!

I’ll certainly look at a NAS again but I do think a single box under my TV is still my best bet for now.

If I do go for a large drive the Exos is the one to go for?
 
You have a choice of two and one isn't suitable.

So the EXOS it is.

However, I do think it's odd that other HDD's are only listed up to 8TB's. I'd be contacting Zappitti to be sure before buying as it may just be an oversight.

I thought a 16TB drive would last me the best part of a decade!

That might be pushing it for longevity. All drives eventually fail.
 
Thanks for your replies, they’ve been really helpful.

When I said ‘best part of a decade’ I meant more about how long it would take me to fill the drive up rather than any potential failures.

Zappiti actually list drives that aren’t compatible too:

Compatible only with the Zappiti Pro 4K HDR (not compatible with other Zappiti 4K HDR models)
SEAGATE IronWolf™ (all models)
WD RED (all models)
WD RED PRO (all models)

Not recommanded
WD GOLD (all models)
WD PURPLE (new models - problems to insert in the Zappiti rack)
SAMSUNG (all models)
HITACHI (all models)

Not compatible
WD RED (all models)
WD BLACK (all models)
SEAGATE NAS Series (IronWolf™)
SEAGATE Baracuda (up to 14 TB)

Recommanded HDD models for Zappiti NAS RIP Audio Video Edition use
WD RED (all models)
WD RED PRO (all models)
SEAGATE IronWolf™ (all models)
SEAGATE IronWolf™ PRO (all models)

I will reach out to Zappiti to make sure that information is up to date. Otherwise I guess I’ll be buying the 16TB Exos.....cheapest I’ve seen them for is £407.
 
Zappiti are adamant that the Skyhawks are ideal for media players.

Does anyone know how the noise levels compare between the Skyhawk and Exos?
 
IMO a Skyhawk isn't suitable as it's designed to be written to 24/7 for a surveillance system and you're rarely going to write on it, you're using it to archive.

The EXOS is an Enterprise drive, used in data centres for long term storage and data reliability, I think it's overkill for your use, but it is more suitable.
 
I looked at the reasoning why Zappiti recommend only certain drives for a friend who recently bought one of their 4K players and it's because the Western Digital red drives and some others require more power to actually run them than the Zappiti can supply, to be honest i think if that's the case then Zappiti need to go back to the drawing board and design a better product, i recommended my friend to use external drives instead so he bought 2 Western Digital 10TB USB drives instead and is really happy with them.

Great deal at the moment on the 12TB drives Amazon product ASIN B07VXKF1L4
 
Avoid the Seagate Ironwolf. I bought 5 in October. Had two fail already and a 3rd has just alerted predictive failure! The array hasn’t finished rebuilding from the last failure yet.

I suspect as all 5 were bought from the same place with not time between the purchases they all came from the same duff batch.

Back in the late 90s Seagate had an awful reputation for faulty drives, seems not much has changed.
 

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