Hard Drive and OS

[smittyt33]

Alright, well I just built myself a new desktop, and I thought I was going to be able to use the hard drive and OS from my old computer, but its so old that the hard drive isn't SATA. Haha, so thats a no-go.
So, my new problem is, I need a hard drive. And from what I've read around, SSD's are awesome at boot times, but realistically in my uses, (nothing hardcore, some gaming.) I'm not going to ever see the effects other than when my computer is booting, and the price just isn't worth that to me. ?
In result I'm thinking maybe a 1TB, either the Western Digital Caviar Black, or the Seagate Barracuda.
The Seagate is like $40 cheaper, which is very appealing to me, any reason I would go with the WD instead?
And there are two different 1TB Seagate Barracuda's on Newegg, what're the differences? (Other than the SATA 3.0 vs SATA 6.0, which, from what I've read, isn't going to make a difference either.)

--- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148321

--- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

And then, an Operating System.
Obviously I'm planning on going with Windows 7, but its hard for me to think that the only way to get it is paying easily over $100?..? Is there any other options?

I'm also thinking about getting myself a laptop pretty soon here, and I've heard that the Windows 7 Verification key sticker on the bottom of the laptop, a lot of the time, isn't the actual key being used on the laptop, so I could just use that key for my desktop,?
But then how would I get the OS installed on my desktop without the disk/s...?
Let me know your feedback, haha.

 

[nekulturny]

Both of the drives you linked to are pretty much the same except as you pointed out the SATA 3gb/s and 6gb/s. The other difference is the bare drive is OEM packaged, it doesn't include a sata cable, molex to sata power adapters, etc.

Theres no reason to choose Western Digital over Seagate in my opinion, both are equal in my eyes as competent hard drive manufacturers.

If you have a Best Buy in the area, you actually might get a better deal. I recently got a Retail packaged, Seagate ST320005N4A 2TB drive for 119.99 plus tax. This HDD is $142 on newegg. Albeit, its only a 5900RPM drive, in my system its just a backup drive, however the RPM speed denoting a faster drive is more or less a marketing gimmick. I also boot Ubuntu on this drive and I have no complaints.

Hard drive prices are kinda iffy right now from store to store due to flooding in Thailand last year, where most hard drives are made. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9224778/Thai_floods_catapult_Seagate_into_hard_drive_market_lead


Other options for getting Windows 7. Microsoft has a program called Microsoft Academic Alliance, as a college student, I have access to it, for free, I can download pretty much any Operating System Microsoft has ever made, (Windows7, XP, 98, 95, Vista, etc). I have an access key that I can use an unlimited amount of times. If you are in college, or know somebody who is, you might could find out if its available to you.


As far as sharing product keys-... I plead the 5th.

Addendum: If you have files on the older drive, they do make adapters you can purchase relatively cheap. I assume its an IDE drive, (I've got a couple myself). Most of the IDE to SATA adapters, are junky and cheap (I've yet to see a quality one on the market short of buying an expensive dock). You could use it to get the files off the old drives, but I wouldn't advise using it on a permanent basis. At least, not for running your OS on it.