Need new HDD, which would you own?

[scottiemedic]

I have a Samsung 830 series 256gb SSD as my OS drive. I have the AppData and User folders on my secondary mechanical HDD right now (WD 1tb Green SATA 3gbps 5400RPM). The drive feels sluggish when it needs to be accessed to load App Data or my user folder, either because of spindle speed or SATA 3gbps. It does my SSD no good to be so awesome if the HDD is going to slow it down (I know I have to sacrifice a bit due to HDD nature, but it's a bit on the rediculous side currently), so it's getting replaced. I'm going for 2tb+, SATA 6gbps, 7200RPM.

Which out of these drives would you guys put in your rig (and why if you want)? Or would you recommend a RAID setup with some others drives? If so, which? FYI, I'm running a 2500k on a Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=Property&Subcategory=14&Description=&Type=&N=100007603+600003269+600003483+600003340&IsNodeId=1&IsPowerSearch=1&srchInDesc=&MinPrice=10&MaxPrice=250&Manufactory=1305&Manufactory=1306&Manufactory=1984&PropertyCodeValue=359%3A50147&PropertyCodeValue=353%3A79384&PropertyCodeValue=353%3A18983&PropertyCodeValue=353%3A13499&PropertyCodeValue=355%3A7776&PropertyCodeValue=360%3A7800

 

[Chainzsaw]

Hello God,

I would go for the WD Caviar Black 7200 RPM. They are fast reliable drives. I can't remember exactly - but I think i'm using a WD Caviar Black 2TB.

A lot of people say they have problems with Seagate, but i've previously used Seagate and found them just as "reliable" as the other brands.

 

[apache_lives]

My workshop sees more Seagates in with faults, we prefer Western Digital.

Just remember to treat any storage device as if its going to die tomorrow - BACK UP YOUR DATA

As for performance, there next to nothing between the green, blue and black series drives when you compare them to even the most basic SSD i really dont see the point spending more on a black series drive when the others are cheaper etc

 

[scottiemedic]

All programs are installed on the SSD, but the AppData and Users on a nice big drive, so when I click Download, it automatically goes there. Programs only have to access the drive when I'm say, opening a file, for initial loads, it's SSD. That's why I moved it there, and so my SSD didn't get chewed away little by little like programs like to do everytime it makes a temp file or the whatnots.

I was leaning toward the Black series also, their warranty is over double the others. I've owned only Seagate and WD (with the exception of laptops, which I only owned the Samsung or Toshiba drive til I ordered a new HDD) and have had only 1 problem with a WD a couple years back (whole slew of the 1tb green drives had the same problem).

Seagate used to make a great drive in the Barracuda 7200.11/12 days, but everytime I look up anything associated with HDDs, Seagate never comes up anymore. I think they took too much time working on the Momentus XT line (which I do like a lot), and forgot to remember they made other drives.

I put them in the running cause if I' am right, someone might clarify this, but they went to 1tb platters recently?? SV35.5 ones?? Anyways, thanks for the opinions, hopefully I'll get some more the next couple days and pull the trigger this weekend, and maybe some more tech 'data' about the current drives out.

 

[Chainzsaw]

The 1TB platters are nice, but the WD Blacks are "tried and true" HDDs. I would just go for that.

Unless you really want to try out those single platters...they do look delicious.

Heres the Black review FYI:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/24310-western-digital-caviar-black-2tb-hard-drive-review-7.html

BTW the Blacks have "Dual actuators" which make them fast. They even come close to velociraptors.

I couldn't find any "hard reviews" of the SV35.5 ones, but I did find this:

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146200

It's only the 1TB version though.

I've found the only problem with my black hard drives is that they do get a little noisy when I open up that drive to access my media. But accessing the media is fast, and all the information is filled out quickly.

 

[scottiemedic]

Best answer selected by Scottiemedic.