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I currently own one external HDD (CnMemory airy 3TB), but it's filled to the brim so I need another one. Since the amount of space I require is growing at an alarming rate, I need a rather large one, I'm aiming for 5TB.

I'm planning to use the new HDD for all of my data, which includes backups from the internal harddrives in my computer and my large movie/TV collection along with some other larger stuff. I could then use my current 3TB hard drive exclusively as a back-up for my important/sensitive stuff, so that either harddrive could fail at any given time without me losing anything that's really important to me.

So the important features of my new hard drive are the following:

  • 5TB storage or more. 4TB is acceptable if there is a good 4TB model that is reasonably more affordable than a 5TB alternative.
  • USB 3.0
  • Durability
  • No fancy stuff that I would have to pay for (I don't need any sophisticated backup-software for example, I do my backups manually)
  • Normal/average transfer speed. Don't need something super fast.
  • Should have an on/off switch (not set in stone). I usually have my external HDD always connected but turned off when I don't need it. I do not want something that is always on.

My price range is 150~200 € (Germany). I would prefer something less pricy, but I'd rather have something reliable that won't randomly break too soon.

Edit: Price range update. Still hoping for an answer by the way, I'm thankful for any and all recommendations!

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  • Quick question. Is this drive going to be used for archive or plugged in and spinning most of the time? The price difference between a NAS and archive rated drive is YUGE!
    – BigElittles
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 20:08
  • @BigElittles See my last bullet point. 'I don't want something that is always on'. My current external HDD is permanently plugged in, but I only turn it on when I need to access the files on it or do fresh backups.
    – MoritzLost
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 20:13
  • No recommendation, just a note: the cheapest 5TB hard drives I've found are around 140€, and that's just for the drive -- no external enclosure or anything.
    – Mark
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 21:22
  • @Mark well that's still in the acceptable range. I don't need external enclosure, I'm looking for an external HDD after all
    – MoritzLost
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 21:27
  • I've been able to find them with an enclosure in your price range, but having a hard time confirming if they ship to Germany. If it's still unanswered tomorrow I'll take another crack at it.
    – BigElittles
    Commented Jan 31, 2017 at 21:40

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I'd recommend some 3.5-based drive from WDC like Elements Desktop or My Book 6Tb. WDC seems to be a best manufacturer in the terms of reliability nowadays according to this study https://github.com/linuxhw/SMART#hdd-by-vendor

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