# Looking for a 4TB External Drive



## ofabhishek (Oct 21, 2020)

As WD is my preferred brand when it comes to HDD I have shortlisted these drives 

1. WD My Passport Portable External HDD 4TB/5TB (₹7899 at amazon)
2. WD My Book 4TB External HDD (₹6999 at amazon)

I prefer reliability over minor read/write speed advantage. My main usage will be to take backup of my entire photos & videos library which is about 1.5TB as of now and will be adding/updating it from time to time. My current setup includes 1 SATA SSD Boot Drive, 2x 1TB WD Blue & 2TB WD Purple.

I'll place the order as soon as I zero down on one. Kindly help me select one from above or any other model from similar price range.
Thanks.


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## omega44-xt (Oct 25, 2020)

Passport is powered by USB whereas My Book needs a separate AC adapter. I'd prefer Passport & personally use a 2TB one.


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## topgear (Oct 26, 2020)

If somethings goes wrong then data recovery chance from  My BooK is more compared to the Passport.


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## omega44-xt (Oct 26, 2020)

topgear said:


> If somethings goes wrong then data recovery chance from  My BooK is more compared to the Passport.


Not sure how as both are just normal HDDs.


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## ofabhishek (Oct 27, 2020)

topgear said:


> If somethings goes wrong then data recovery chance from  My BooK is more compared to the Passport.


Thanks.
I've decided to go for My Book only. As I've read somewhere that it has 3.5" HDD compared to 2.5" one on My Passport.


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## omega44-xt (Oct 27, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> Thanks.
> I've decided to go for My Book only. As I've read somewhere that it has 3.5" HDD compared to 2.5" one on My Passport.


If it has a 7200RPM drive, then it will perform better, otherwise 5400RPM at 2.5" or 3.5" doesn't matter much.


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## topgear (Oct 27, 2020)

omega44-xt said:


> Not sure how as both are just normal HDDs.



you can open the usb connector board from my book and use it as a normal hdd. My passport comes with USB port soldered ( no standard sata port  ) so less chance of data recovery.


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## ofabhishek (Oct 27, 2020)

omega44-xt said:


> If it has a 7200RPM drive, then it will perform better, otherwise 5400RPM at 2.5" or 3.5" doesn't matter much.


They both are most likely 5400RPM only(as per some user reviews, though I'm not sure).


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## topgear (Oct 29, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> They both are most likely 5400RPM only(as per some user reviews, though I'm not sure).



Yes, most probably WD40EFRX ( 5400 RPM NAS Drive ).


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## ofabhishek (Nov 5, 2020)

Received my WD 4TB drive.
It came with exFAT file system. Should I leave it at that or format again with NTFS ?

@topgear @omega44-xt
@whitestar_999

Thanks.


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## omega44-xt (Nov 5, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> Received my WD 4TB drive.
> It came with exFAT file system. Should I leave it at that or format again with NTFS ?
> 
> @topgear @omega44-xt
> ...


I prefer NTFS. I exFAT is required to run on Mac.


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## whitestar_999 (Nov 6, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> Received my WD 4TB drive.
> It came with exFAT file system. Should I leave it at that or format again with NTFS ?
> 
> @topgear @omega44-xt
> ...


Do a test run by copy pasting ~100GB of data(preferably large files like videos) after formatting to ntfs & keep crystaldiskinfo software open in background to check for temperature. I just experienced very pathetic after sales support by WD & will be creating a thread highlighting it once I hopefully manage to get my refund from the online retailer I bought it from(no thanks to WD btw if it happens).


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## ofabhishek (Nov 6, 2020)

omega44-xt said:


> I prefer NTFS. I exFAT is required to run on Mac.


Thanks. Formatted with NTFS.


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## ofabhishek (Nov 6, 2020)

whitestar_999 said:


> Do a test run by copy pasting ~100GB of data(preferably large files like videos) after formatting to ntfs & keep crystaldiskinfo software open in background to check for temperature. I just experienced very pathetic after sales support by WD & will be creating a thread highlighting it once I hopefully manage to get my refund from the online retailer I bought it from(no thanks to WD btw if it happens).


Thanks for replying. 
Though I'm using multiple WD drives since about 10yrs I'm yet to face any single issue. Heard mostly good words about their after sale support that's why I chose them again but still will be curious to know about the issue you faced with them.

-------

I have pasted around 400GB data as of now from my desktop's internal drive. Temperature varies between 25-35 degree.
Before that I've done a full error-scan for the entire drive using HDTune and there wasn't any red blocks which indicates I've received an undamaged drive, hopefully.


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## ofabhishek (Nov 6, 2020)

I've pasted another 100GB data from my Laptop but when I connected it again to the desktop those 100GB data folder is not showing up. Though the used space of the drive indicates the presence of that 100GB data as well. What could be the issue ?  Please help. 
My laptop is also running Windows 10 & all the drive is NTFS only.


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## ofabhishek (Nov 6, 2020)

topgear said:


> Yes, most probably WD40EFRX ( 5400 RPM NAS Drive ).


As per HWMonitor it has WD40EDAZ inside.


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## omega44-xt (Nov 6, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> I've pasted another 100GB data from my Laptop but when I connected it again to the desktop those 100GB data folder is not showing up. Though the used space of the drive indicates the presence of that 100GB data as well. What could be the issue ?  Please help.
> My laptop is also running Windows 10 & all the drive is NTFS only.


Virus maybe? I have seen viruses which hides files/folder. Download trial of a good antivirus & scan it. Scan using Malwarebytes as well.


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## ofabhishek (Nov 6, 2020)

omega44-xt said:


> Virus maybe? I have seen viruses which hides files/folder. Download trial of a good antivirus & scan it. Scan using Malwarebytes as well.


Unlikely as I already have windows defender and I generally take good care of any such risk.


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## omega44-xt (Nov 7, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> Unlikely as I already have windows defender and I generally take good care of any such risk.


Not sure then, but worth checking for viruses.


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## ofabhishek (Nov 7, 2020)

omega44-xt said:


> Not sure then, but worth checking for viruses.


Only difference I could notice is that in my desktop I'm using USB 3.1 (Gen1) port while in my laptop its probably USB 3.0 (Laptop being 5yrs old).


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## omega44-xt (Nov 7, 2020)

ofabhishek said:


> Only difference I could notice is that in my desktop I'm using USB 3.1 (Gen1) port while in my laptop its probably USB 3.0 (Laptop being 5yrs old).


Shouldn't make a difference.


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