# Hard Drive Over 6tb **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896 "2016-07-25T22:45:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/1 "2016-07-25T22:45:33Z")
I have a Hitachi 6tb hard drive, that is great, I just recently got an ad from Newegg featuring a 10tb hard drive (Western Digital), and I see they are making them from 7tb and up now. I was just wondering if anyone has actually bought a hard drive greater than 6tb and what your opinions are about them. I don’t really have a question, I am still a good 1.5tb from filling up my 6tb drive, so I’m not looking right away, just wondering what the results and opinons are of those who have already own drives greater than 6tb Thanks ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/2 "2016-07-25T22:57:04Z")
That porn addiction is a beyatch, ain’t it? 😉 … jokes a guy still trying to fill up his 750g backup drive. But not with porn. At least, not totally. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/3 "2016-07-25T23:32:48Z")
Wow. I had no idea that drives had gotten that large, although perhaps I should not be surprised. My current one is 1.5TB, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/4 "2016-07-25T23:55:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Wow. I had no idea that drives had gotten that large, although perhaps I should not be surprised. My current one is 1.5TB, I think. I shoot HD video at about 12-13 GB / hour / camera. I haven’t started shooting 4k yet because of storage space issue, coupled with the fact that not that many people can view it on anything other than a phone & I don’t think a screen that small does it justice. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/5 "2016-07-26T20:20:46Z")
I think they should be fine, just read the reviews and judge accordingly. But if you can afford it, buy a second one to use as a backup. Regularly copy all the data from drive1 to drive2. The following Command Prompt command will do that, assuming the drives are c: and d: **xcopy c:\* d:\* /e /d /c** /e tells it to copy all subfolders, even empty ones. /d tells it to only copy files that are newer or don’t exist at the destination. /c tells it to continue copying even if individual files have access errors (system files, etc.) Note this will not give you a bootable backup, not even close. This just backs up all files that your currently logged in account has access to, which should include all your photos/music/videos/documents. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/6 "2016-07-26T22:04:19Z")
Mine is _only_ 3TB and it’s _only_ about half full. As someone who has been in the computer manufacturing business since the paper tape and punch card days, that’s an almost unbelievable size. I’ve always been a believer that riding the bleeding edge can only get one into trouble so I’m not one to run out and buy the biggest/fastest gadget. I always assume that the biggest hard drives are only just barely reliable to bring to market. One more thing, if your data is important to you, remember back it up. I have a couple of 3TB external drives and I use a leapfrog syncing strategy to back up all my data. I’ve lost data before and it sucks. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/7 "2016-07-27T05:19:50Z")
Delete: ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/8 "2016-07-27T05:25:17Z")
What **standing wave** said. ↑ ↑ ↑ Back up Back up Back up Smaller is cheaper Cheap Cheap More bays More bays More bays If I need more bites, more drives on line If I need more bites, more drives on line If I need more bites, more drives on line All copies in a fire proof safe All copies in a fire proof safe All copies in a fire proof safe If it is not connected nor in the tower Bad guys, wives, little brothers, drunks, lightning, fires, floods, hackers, kidnappers of systems, the newest malware, worms, scripts and forgetfulness are all defeated !!! Careful labeling & color coding and attention to detail allows you to sleep well even at night during a storm while your friends are screaming about any of the above reasons for losing their data. Do not fly the A model of anything. Do not ride on the tip of the arrow. Your information should never be risked like the money in your pocket at a casino. 99% of the stuff on my computer and stored media will be of no interest to anyone after I die. I am 72. I have quit worrying. But this old habit I am keeping just because I want to never be the one crying out in panic… The fun part is no one who is not already doing this type of thing will not start doing it until the day after they should have done it and it is now too late. Threads like this are like threads on religion, politics, P-51 vs Spitfires, Fords vs Chevy, mac vs pc and on to ad nauseam. Bawahahahaha ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/9 "2016-07-27T18:15:48Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > Mine is _only_ 3TB and it’s _only_ about half full. As someone who has been in the computer manufacturing business since the paper tape and punch card days, that’s an almost unbelievable size. I can remember my boss and I saying gleefully “We’ll _never_ fill up this new 1 meg hard drive!” Now I have a 4TB drive being delivered tomorrow for my home use. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-over-6tb/760896/10 "2016-07-27T22:48:21Z")
I’ve got a 2TB drive that I use for my photos and it’s nearly full. I’m going to have to upgrade in the next few months. Zev Steinhardt