What size of HDD should I get?

[Gq29]

I am building a new system I have a question about how big of a HDD.

I have been using a 40GB HDD in my old system I built about 3 years ago and have found it to be a bit small considering how much stuff I ended up having on it.

I remember back when I built my system most people recommended if you were going to use it for gamming then the 20GB range was the best. The problem is I end up filling up even a 40GB in no time it seems and end up having to burn DVD’s to make room.

So what size of HDD do people recommend now a days. While I will be using it for mostly gamming I will also use it for archiving family home movies.

I also was wondering if there is a brand out there for under $60 at newegg.com that is recommended by the people here?

Thank for any and all replies to this thread.

 

[pat]

I am building a new system I have a question about how big of a HDD.

I have been using a 40GB HDD in my old system I built about 3 years ago and have found it to be a bit small considering how much stuff I ended up having on it.

I remember back when I built my system most people recommended if you were going to use it for gamming then the 20GB range was the best. The problem is I end up filling up even a 40GB in no time it seems and end up having to burn DVD’s to make room.

So what size of HDD do people recommend now a days. While I will be using it for mostly gamming I will also use it for archiving family home movies.

I also was wondering if there is a brand out there for under $60 at newegg.com that is recommended by the people here?

Thank for any and all replies to this thread.

Get the biggest thing you can afford.. it' that simple

 

[Gq29]

Thanks for the reply.

Well I guess the deal with the smaller is better for games is not a big thing anymore or perhaps things have changes since then.

Anyways, I guess I will probably pick up a 80GB HDD this time buy the looks of prices at newegg atm.

Any brands out there recommended or are the three big names, (Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital) still the leaders?

 

[Mavicator]

A smaller drive will give no advantages whatsoever. Figure out how much space you need right now, and double it. That is your minimum drive size to purchase. Nothing wrong with more storage! I have over 200 gigs of just data!

Any name brand is fine, I'm a fan of Western Digital. Don't care much for Maxtor but that's just me. Seagate is good as well. Get a 7200 RPM drive for the best performance versus price.

 

[dhlucke]

I'm a bad example since I have 914GB in this PC but what you can do is either buy double what you think you need or however big you can afford like someone suggested, or look at something like http://labs.anandtech.com/, type in SATA or PATA depending on what you're getting, sort by price/gb and you'll see that the 250GB drives are the sweet spot. The one that's a hell of a deal is the 320GB Western Digital drive which I have 2 of.

The reason I point this out is because an 80GB is $60 while a 250GB is $99 or a 320GB is $132 if you want to splurge.

The 80GB will be full in no time if you're making or storing movies.

 

[dhlucke]

I like Western Digital. I think the Maxtors are too noisy. Seagate is also good but I haven't owned one for very long.

 

[Gq29]

Well I ended up picking up the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L080P0 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive. I have a Maxtor 40GB in my old system and it has held up over the years with no complaints.

Plus the features are not too bad:

Quiet Drive Technology for acoustics-sensitive applications
Whisper-quiet fluid dynamic bearing motors
Maxtor Shock Protection and Data Protection Systems for greater reliability
RoHS Comliant (Restriction of Hazardous Substances)
Maxtor supports the Global Environment
Reduce lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) contents


Heck to be honest I had to just pick one so I could order my new systems parts. Noise is not that big of a deal for me and it seems that it should not be too bad according to the above.

I had stretched my budget to the limit already with the CPU, video card, and memory so I really had no choice about things other then going smaller then a 80GB.

I also picked up a new DVD burner for my system so archiving things to make sure I am good on HD space will be easier. :lol:

Thanks for all of the replies guys I really appreciated it. Heck I would have been screwed for space with a 40GB without your input.

 

[Rob423]

after my first 2 maxtor's craped out over 2 yrs of use, i'll stick with western digital forever now