Help me choose an HDD for my build [SSD on OS]

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S8B

Honorable
Dec 7, 2013
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10,510
Hey everyone,

I need some guidance in choosing an HDD for my [first] rig. I have chosen to go the OS-on-the-SSD route and need a secondary drive for storage. I have contemplated going RAID 0 for the secondary drive, but after some research, it seems like the advantages of RAID 0 are not really significant. My question is, how important is the performance of the secondary storage drive for my use and for my build?

I plan on using my build for 'normal daily use', some occasional game, photoshop, and engineering applications such as Solidworks (CAD modeling and Finite Element Analysis), Matlab, etc.

Build Specs:

Processor: i7-4770k
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A
Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600 (G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series)
Primary Storage: 240GB SATA III SSD (Seagate 600 Series ST240HM000)
Graphics Card: MSI HD 7870 GHz Edition
PSU: Rosewill Green Series 630W
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro

I have been looking at these two drives:

1) WD 2TB Black (http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Cache-Desktop-WD2003FZEX/dp/B00FJRS628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386480230&sr=8-1&keywords=WD+2+TB+black or http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B004CSIG1G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386480230&sr=8-2&keywords=WD+2+TB+black)

2) WD 2TB Green (http://www.amazon.com/WD-Green-Desktop-Hard-Drive/dp/B008YAHW6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386480290&sr=8-1&keywords=WD+2+TB+green)

There's clearly a significant price difference (~$75) between option 1 and 2, along with a difference in performance as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :D
 
Solution
Swordkd
I would go with either the WD Blue, or Seagate Barracuda myself. Both offer excellent performance per cost. The WD Black's are excellent drives as well, offering faster seek times and longer warranties, but you'll pay for it. If you wanted to maximize performance I'd suggest buying two of my first suggestions 1tb drives, and setting up a Raid 0. It's fairly simple, and will give you plenty of storage space as well as decreasing the amount of time needed for accessing larger files for your CAD work.
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Swordkd

Swordkd

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Oct 3, 2012
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I would go with either the WD Blue, or Seagate Barracuda myself. Both offer excellent performance per cost. The WD Black's are excellent drives as well, offering faster seek times and longer warranties, but you'll pay for it. If you wanted to maximize performance I'd suggest buying two of my first suggestions 1tb drives, and setting up a Raid 0. It's fairly simple, and will give you plenty of storage space as well as decreasing the amount of time needed for accessing larger files for your CAD work.
 
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Solution
Moltoeser

Moltoeser

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Mar 3, 2013
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Personally I prefer Seagate's Barracuda range. They're cheap and fast. But if you want an answer from the 2 listed, I would go for the Green drive unless you're planning on some more heavy stuff!
 
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S

S8B

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Dec 7, 2013
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10,510
I was considering the Barracuda drives, but I've read they can be a hit or a miss when it comes to reliability. The WD 2TB Black looks like a great drive with a great 5-year warranty, but that price is also making me hesitate. And the WD 2 TB Green, well, I just hope it wouldn't be a bottle neck for my system.
 
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S

S8B

Honorable
Dec 7, 2013
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10,510
Another question: I have a 1TB external drive laying around... Would I be able to back up / mirror my SSD + HDD on to the smaller-capacity external drive so long as the actual storage on my PC is less than 1TB? Or is that simply just not possible.

I'm trying to save money by not having to buy yet another HDD for the back up (for the time being).
 
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Swordkd

Swordkd

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Oct 3, 2012
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If you can create 2 partitions on your external drive that are large enough to hold all of the information on your 2 other drives, I don't see why not.

I usually just copy whatever I need onto a dvd and call it good, and start over fresh. Game saves, music, etc.
 
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