[Matis]

As generic as the title is, I don't think any more is needed.

If you read my post at the topic about upgrading to Windows 7, you'll know that my hard drive sucks. 150 GBs is just not enough by today's standards(I hate not being able to have more than 5 of the latest games installed).

So I ask you, NGEmu: Any good 500 GB/1 TB HDD out there? High RPM, if possible. I would consider going for RAID or the like, but I don't really know how it works(sure, two HDDs = ~double the speed and all that, but how does data management, hardware "lettering" and disk space work when using it?).

 

[Spyhop]

WD is probably the current fav. 1TB 7200RPM's can be had for $75-$85. 1.5TB is probably the price point @ $140ish

 

[tuanming]

I vote for Seagate hdds. Nowadays, you would probably want to get 500GB or higher because they're much cheaper and decently priced.

 

[Spyhop]

Seagate's quality has been in decline lately.

 

[tuanming]

Defective parts or products are inevitable. Take look at AMD, Xbox360, WD hdds, nvidia, etc.

If you worry so much about it then might as well not buy in the first place.

 

[Spyhop]

Or you can just stop playing brand loyalties and go with whoever's got the better current quality. ie, Western Digital.

 

[koko]

Sorry, but Seagate died 2 years ago. WD is the imperial of HDDs now. Buy it or buy Samsung, good quality, but I prefer WD.

And buy the 1TB version, It's cheap like crazy.

 

[Princess Garnet]

sure, two HDDs = ~double the speed and all that

No, it's not about double the speed. It's not even close. Don't bother with RAID. From what I've read (I haven't tried it), it's barely worth it. I read up on this same thing myself, and I was actually hoping it was worth it (what, having four identical drives and all, I had nothing better to do about it than look it up and hope I could get a time and a quarter increase in speed from it), but from what I found, no, it's pretty much a waste for desktops. RAID was made for a server environment, and that's really the only time it has a place. We're pretty much talking single digit percentage increases on average.

 

[Spyhop]

You need a lot more than 2 HD's to get a noticeable read increase out of Raid 0.

 

[Paratech]

How's This for an option? Is it worth $60?

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

WD Caviar Black, or Seagate 7200.12 (note the 12, it is important to the quality and performance of the drive)

 

[Princess Garnet]

Yes, the 11 drives were failure prone (note sure of the performance though). I heard the 10 drives were okay, but nothing special.

You can safely get a Caviar Blue too. The performance difference between them and the Black ones is pretty moot, but the gap between them and the Green ones (which are 5400RPM drives) is larger by comparison. It'd be worth dropping down the size of the drive to step up the speed.

After looking on Newegg, the 640GB Blue is $69.99, so it's still $10 more than what you were looking at. I'd still recommend it. If you must stay lower, the 500GB version is $56.99. It's still worth it. You can always get more space down the road, but you can't speed up a slower drive. If you know you need that much space, you should honestly be willing to spend just a few more bucks.

I have four of the blue drives (two are from before they were naming them with colors), and also had two prior that were the same thing, but half the size (320GB ones). All six were damn fast for Windows and storage.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

AAKS drives?

 

[Cid Highwind]

Samsung Spinpoint is equally popular to the WD Black series, those are fast and quiet, though Samsung was more silent from what I remember when reading up on them.

Anyway, 500GB isn't economically efficient, for slightly more you can have a 1TB. The best is to see which level gives you the most GB/monetary unit

 

[koko]

How's This for an option? Is it worth $60?

No, The Caviar Green ones are garbages.

 

[Paratech]

How about this one? It's only$20 more?

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[Princess Garnet]

AAKS drives?

Yes, they were AAKS drives. The Blue drives are the AAKS.

How about this one? It's only$20 more?

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive

That drive is very good. I took a look, and it appears hard drives are in the "transition" stage to where the Black/32MB drives are as good from a price point as the Blue/16MB drives are. Before, you'd spend $10 to move up on the same size drive. Now, you spend $10, and move up from the 640GB Blue to the 750GB Black. That's probably actually the drive I'd choose if I were buying right now.

Anyway, 500GB isn't economically efficient, for slightly more you can have a 1TB. The best is to see which level gives you the most GB/monetary unit

The thing with hard drives is, it's always around the same point that it's "best bang for the buck". It's always "add a simple $10 and you move up a whole step". That doesn't mean moving up that step is the best idea. Not everyone wants to spend that much. If they only want less, then lesser "efficient" price points are still good. It's only when it get's real ridiculous, like when adding $10 to $40 or $50 to get double the space, is it not a good idea not to step up. I don't think buying a 750GB drive for $80 is a bad idea just because 1TB Green drives are ~$95. You have to step down performance and pay more money, and unless you need the extra space, that'd actually be a bad move, not a good one.

To add on to what you said though, it is the between the 750GB and 1TB drives that are the sweet spot. It was 500GB when I got my first two 320GB drives, and then it moved up to 640 when I added those. It keeps moving up, and at a good rate, I may add. These 1.5TB and 2TB drives aren't cheap, but they make the rest cheaper. Shame we'll have to "reset" and start down more again with SSDs.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

Yes, they were AAKS drives. The Blue drives are the AAKS.

yup, the 500GB shadow sent me is a AAKS, its different from the AAK by having 3 platters instead of 4. comparable seek and access rates to a 80GB raptor.