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New PC, which drive?

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I'm putting together a new PC and wondered what is the best hard drive to go for. I will consider SSD at some point, but I am waiting for the technology to make the most of SATA 6gb/s.

I was considering a Western Digital SATA III drive, the WD1002FAEX or the WD10EALX, but I've seen people say that it's pointless going for a SATA III drive over a SATA II drive.

Therefore, what are the best options for a single hard drive (up to 1TB) to use on a new i5 2500K based PC?

I have a WD1001FALS in my current PC, so could use that if there are no better options.

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anonymous1 said:
Hyper, There is no good reason to wait for SSD's to get Faster... With a name like HYPER get one today.


The problem is, I think including an SSD in the build is going a bit too far for my out of date knowledge. I'm upgrading from an old Pentium D based system running XP to a Sandy Bridge running Windows 7. I literally haven't looked at much inbetween.

If I did go with an SSD, I don't really know how to achieve the correct configuration to get the best from it. I know I'd be installing Windows and the important stuff on the SSD, but don't yet know what needs to be transferred from the boot drive to a secondary drive to ensure the optimal performance.

I like the WD 640GB Black. It is a good size, it is fast, it gets good reviews, it is economical.

Later you can move the mechanical drive to D: and install an SSD as C:.

Right now you can find SSD's in the 120GB class for around $200. This is plenty for C: for most people, maybe you could get by with 60GB-80GB even.
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cadder said:
I like the WD 640GB Black. It is a good size, it is fast, it gets good reviews, it is economical.

Later you can move the mechanical drive to D: and install an SSD as C:.

Right now you can find SSD's in the 120GB class for around $200. This is plenty for C: for most people, maybe you could get by with 60GB-80GB even.


Is that the WD6402AAEX (6Gb/s) or the WD6401AALS (3Gb/s)?

I am sure 60GB would probably be enough for my needs. I did look at a Corsair and an OCZ, but I would still need a secondary drive to go with the SSD. I'm a bit over my budget now, so I'll add one later when they are even better and cheaper, which also gives me time to find out the proper way to implement one.

Sata-III or 6Gb/s speeds won't be seen anywhere near to the Theoritcal speeds on the HDDs but SSDs hold promise. So, get a Sata-III SSD drive. Say, a 128 GB SSD and make it as a primary disk. Next, add a good HDD such as WD Black or anything you prefer but make sure you get 64MB cache model with a decent RPM (7200).
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First the 640 Blacks were great..........before the 500GB per platter drives came out. Now they are outdated. Get a Samsung Spinpoint F3, it has been the best"bang for your buck" drive for a while now. The WD 1TB FAEX can be like 2% faster in certain circumstances but at the higher price it is usually found at is not worth it. Spinpoint F3 500GB or 1TB. Honestly all the new drives in multiples of 500GB use the newest denser platter design and are all close in speed but the F3 is usually cheapest, fastest and very reliable.

If you are looking at the 1 tb Western Digital drives, I would not recommend the WD1002FAEX. I have been using the drive for a few months and the sound is just terrible. I am not a huge stickler when it comes to sound, but the sounds when it is seeking are terrible.

Thanks for the help everyone.

I decided to go with a 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 in the end. I hadn't looked at the Samsung drives, other than seeing them on sites and not really taking much notice. I actually thought that the F3 drives were all low power, but now I realise there are SpinPoint and EcoGreen F3's. :) 

So after looking at reviews, benchmarks and comparisons, the Samsung seemed the logical choice at almost half the price of the WD1002FAEX. :D 
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