Good boot drive for around 100?

jmarsch

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Feb 19, 2007
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Hi all!
I'd like to buy a good SATAII boot drive replacement for my computer. I'm looking for my fastest option for around a hundred bucks. (I've thought about stretching to $200 and getting a 60GB SSD, but I'm afraid that 60GB might get a little cramped).

Any suggestions?
 
Solution
the samsung f3 is one of the fastest mechanical drives available (it's untouched in value). You could get a 1 TB for under $100, but you won't see crazy fast boot times like you would with a good SSD.

notty22

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For 100 you can get the announced Kingston 30g drive, next month.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/kingston-SSD-boot-drive-30gb,9432.html
The 40g Vnow that was announced to be 105.00, is now 129.99 the same as the Intel X25-V (same drive) though Intel has trim.

For two hundred one option , get one small ssd like above and get the 1tbWD caviar black as your , profile libraries folder, apps and bulk storage.
Its what I did, !
 

jmarsch

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Feb 19, 2007
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Thanks, but I'm kind of looking for something larger than that as my boot drive. I've just been burned too many times by having too small a boot drive -- even if you move your profile folder off of the drive, all the apps that you install seem to want to drop things in the system directory, and this machine will have some large apps on it (games and development tools).

I think I would want to get at least 128GB as my boot (just because I'm sick to dealing with the ramifications of running out of space), so that puts an SSD out of the picture. I'm looking for a fast hard drive. I was thinking about a black edition WD or a Samsung F3. Any suggestions?
 

foolycooly

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the samsung f3 is one of the fastest mechanical drives available (it's untouched in value). You could get a 1 TB for under $100, but you won't see crazy fast boot times like you would with a good SSD.
 
Solution

jmarsch

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Feb 19, 2007
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Thanks Foolycooly. I'll probably either go with the F3 or just wait until I can get a larger SSD for less money. The SSD is really tempting, but I'm afraid I'd fill a 60GB, and then be dealing with all the nonsense that comes of having a nearly full boot drive. If this weren't a development machine -- if I just used it for webbing and email and maybe a game or 2, I'd be all over the 60GB SSD drives.
 

Pointertovoid

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My 7200.12 (take multiples of 250GB) is fast, but I didn't have the opportunity to compare with equally recent models. Fabulously silent anyway.

F3, yes.

Hitachi's 7k1000.c (500GB/platter, hence better than 7k1000.b) would be my choice now because my older 7k160 is so good, but I couldn't compare with recent competitors.
 

steve9207

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jmarsch - You know I used to think the same thing. In fact, I recently posted a question about upgrading my boot drive to a RAID0 Samsung F3 (2 x 500GB) like I recently put in a build for my parents. The info provided on this forum lead me to further info and I ended up buying an SSD about a week later. I decided on the OCZ Vertex after reading all the reviews (supports TRIM, great Random Read & Write 4kb speeds). Then, it turned out to be on sale for $99 at MicroCenter (after MIR) - normally $160. You can get the 60gb version for $180 right now after MIR (normally $210).

I too was worried that I would fill it up too quickly. So, here's what I've got going. Windows 7 Ultimate, MS Office, Norton 2010, Firefox & IE are installed on the boot drive (I still have 10GB free of 30GB, so I could throw on CS4 too if I wanted). I have some other less accessed programs and all of my media, docs, etc on my 7200.12. I'm thoroughly happy with it and doubt I'll ever go back to a traditional magnetic HD for my boot drive. And, once 160GB drives drop significantly, I'll throw one in my laptop in a second.

Really, if anything if you're worried about filling it up, then I'd focus your research on finding tests people have run on new drives & then full drives (I was able to find this on the Vertex before I bought it and was satisfied with the results)...



Pointertovoid - here are some specs on my: 7200.12 1TB (partitioned to about 350gb / 650gb), (2) Samsung F3 500GB in RAID0, and my OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD loaded with the above apps... The tests were run in Crystal Disk Mark

3drivecompspecs.jpg


3drivecompRead-1.jpg


3drivecompWrite.jpg