I realize that Tablo can’t necessarily state real clear to “buy these but avoid these like the plague” - but that’s ok as I’d rather have real life user input anyway.
Gen 4 - does something like the Seagate work well without data errors and issues, for example STGX2000400
And since motors and spinning things can DIE, use more power and take more space is anyone using a SSD hard drive for the Gen 4? I’ve had drives stop spinning and head errors and so on in the past with hard drives - though the 2T Seagate on my Legacy is 10 years old and works GREAT to this day! Shock.
While I don’t have the less efficient 4th gen, I do advocate for slow spin HDDs if on the cheap. That slow spin really helps with overall lifespan. As not just an OG owner, but part of the early OG customer base, both my OG units have slow spin 1TB (just to age things) HDDs and still operate without error (on 24x7 for all those years, no spin down). Again, just to age things, they are Hitachi branded Touro 1TB drives.
You likely can’t go wrong with Seagate or Western Digital, with WD being what I use on both OG and Gen4.
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I love my legacy quad and that 2T drive has been flawless as well - spinning away all but non-stop for 10 years (except when we rearranged the room a couple of times. I’m surprised in a way because I’d had hard drives fail for a lot of reasons - and the drive was a lot of that (years in IT - ugh, drive failure - hated it)
Seagate 2T from 10 years ago on my legacy - and wondered about adding a gen 4 for several reasons. Amazon has a 2T Seagate for a good price (IMO, been 8 years since I worked IT!)
My OG was installed early 2015 along with an (at least 2 year old) 1tb Fantom Drives 5400 rpm hard drive. So it would be about 13 years old now. Shows no signs of failing. It does spin down between usage.
I stick with Western Digital… I also prefer USB drives that have their own power supply / cord.
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I have that same one (for a different use) and have been very happy with it. Sadly, the price of all digital storage is going up. Some reports suggest that it has to do with the growth of massive server farms that support AI gobbling up resources.
This is the one I am using on my Tablo:
Although, there is some evidence now that suggests that for the constant rewrites that a device like the Tablo does, an HDD is longer lasting than an SSD, and are now notably less expensive.
I am using a WD drive. It has given me no problems and I am very happy with it:
I was previously using an old Seagate external drive with its own power supply. It worked great, but it never stopped spinning (never went into standby mode). The WD drive linked above does spin down when not in use, and it does not need its own power supply. Also, I purchased it for only $79 about 6 months ago.
I figured that the Seagate 2T I have on my legacy quad running flawlessly for a strong 10 years is testament to those drives. Yes, storage was getting cheap, with AI, server farms and bitcoin mining, that is likely to change. I’ve decided to go back to the same type my legacy runs.
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“Storage for gen 4 tablo - what to NOT get?”
Just stick with a new, name brand HDD (not SSD) and you will be fine.
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I found this helpful. It also has a link for recommended devices
That’s the first thing I found after doing a search but wondered if there were things to avoid, if people used SSDs and so on. But after looking at price differences, I decided against SSD and just stuck with one like I have on my legacy Tablo - a Seagate 2T USB drive. Inexpensive and what Tablo recommends on that page you linked - guess I can’t go wrong.
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I have two - Tablo Gen 4’s, and I use WD Elements drives ((2TB-1 year) + (5TB-3years)) on both of them… Never had a problem with either one..
I originally tried a drive with an external 12v power supply, but had trouble recording sports - 3+ hours - for some reason..
The USB-powered WD drive fixed that issue..
My understanding is that SSD drives are not recommended for this use, and that’s good enough for me…