HDD vs SSD for External Storage?

[Luddite]

I'm looking to get an external drive that will last me 7-8 years. I'm planning to take advantage of Windows 10 File History to back up my main drive.

1. Would continuous time machine-like backups be considered a high write load? If so, would this favor the use of HDD over SSD?

2. As far as concerns over bit error rates, bad sectors or bit rot, is there any difference between HDD and SSD?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm looking to get an external drive that will last me 7-8 years.

Good luck! You'll need it!

 

[greenhawk]

I'm looking to get an external drive that will last me 7-8 years. I'm planning to take advantage of Windows 10 File History to back up my main drive.

1. Would continuous time machine-like backups be considered a high write load? If so, would this favor the use of HDD over SSD?

2. As far as concerns over bit error rates, bad sectors or bit rot, is there any difference between HDD and SSD?

The write load I do not think would be high enough to worry about.

I would be more concerned with data loss from being unplugged for extended periods of time (SSD issue I read about recently). As long as you power it up every few weeks it should be fine, but that defeats the purpose of a offline backup somewhat.

It might be better buying a raid 1 capable NAS and using that. At least it will cover you if a drive dies, and you can get most of these NAS with a backup option of their own (plug a external drive in now and then) so the data is extra safe. from loss.

It all depends on how much space you need and how much money you have to play with.

Ideally, you would swap a backup / raid drive with a new one every few (3?) years to ensure they do not die randomly on you.

 

[maddogchen]

Yeah, I would go with a NAS with at least 2 HDDs

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Hard drives die. It's what they do.
Redundancy or you'll look the fool.

 

[Luddite]

The write load I do not think would be high enough to worry about.

I would be more concerned with data loss from being unplugged for extended periods of time (SSD issue I read about recently). As long as you power it up every few weeks it should be fine, but that defeats the purpose of a offline backup somewhat.

It might be better buying a raid 1 capable NAS and using that. At least it will cover you if a drive dies, and you can get most of these NAS with a backup option of their own (plug a external drive in now and then) so the data is extra safe. from loss.

It all depends on how much space you need and how much money you have to play with.

Ideally, you would swap a backup / raid drive with a new one every few (3?) years to ensure they do not die randomly on you.

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks.

Are RAID drives usually HDDs?

And when you swap one drive out, can the NAS device copy the current stored data onto the new drive? Or would I also need to get a HDD duplicating docking station or something to do that?

(sorry, don't know anything about NAS storage).