Best bang for your buck Hard Drives.

[Sniper]

Looking for something fast for my i7 build but not into paying the price for V-Raptors. What would you guys pick?

[Chilly]

WD 640GB 32MB Cache Black Edition, no questions asked. Reliable, Fast, Great Price.

Buy 1, almost as fast as a V-Raptor.
Buy 3, throw em in Raid 5, redundant, faster, and STILL cheaper than V-Raptor, not to mention 1280GB of usable space
Buy 2, throw em in Raid 0, faster and cheaper than a V-Raptor, not to mention 1280GB of usable space

Listed in order of speed.

[miggs78]

Sure for under $100 it is a great buy.

Sniper whatsup.. what's your budget like though, how much is the max you gonna spend on the HDD, that way we could suggest something.

Right now, 500GB drives seems to have some good sale prices, for $63 surely. Then yet again, a 1TB hard drive in most cases is only maybe $20 more than a 750GB hdd price. I myself am looking at a 1TB HDD, you can get one for about $120. Prices have gone up for lots of things, the 500GB prices don't seem to affected, the 640GB drives went up about $10 than they were before the CAN prices went up, I didn't notice the prices before and after on the 750GB drives..

[Chilly]

BestDirect (NCIX Sister) has the for 84.47, and I've seen them on sale at NCIX every once in a while for $70.

Buy Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warranty


More information as to your budget and what you needs are, would be great as per miggs78 above!

[Sniper]

Hey not much just trying to slowly piece this system together. As Reno says he'll be in depends by the time I get it done lol.

I have a 500gb 32mb i'm using now but was looking for something else to throw in Raid0 ontop of that as it currently has alot of data on it I don't want to lose plus it's currently in a dual boot. I was hoping to get 2 new drives then thransfer the dats to them from the 500gb.

Uhm price isn't really the issue as if I need somehting it'll wait till I have the money for it. The HDs though I'd prolly nab them up next week if they were reasonably priced.

[Oversized Rooster]

I recommend the WD6401AALS HD (Caviar Black). I have 2 of these in my rig, a WD5000AAKS and a 300GB VelociRaptor. Aside from the obvious access time advantage which the VelociRaptor has, it seems its speed is no longer much better than the 7200rpm drives. Here are HD Tune pics from my HDs:

VelociRaptor Drive C:


WD6401AALS Drive D:


WD6401AALS Drive E:

[miggs78]

Well if you're stepping up from a 500GB, might as well get a 750GB or something like that, but since you want 2 drives, settle with a 640GB..

Personally speaking, even though some might disagree, stay away from Seagate drives, lately I've seen many people on the net having issues with them including the 1TB drive, performance isn't as expected. Samsung 1TB HDD is actually pretty good, because of its 3 platter design. But WD is also good, and I've also heard warranty wise they are pretty good too.

So it is your call, 750GB aren't well priced, my options if I were you, 640GB or 1TB hard drives, since both of them go on sale often, and are prices just about not too bad in the current CAD dollar market.

[Sniper]

K I think I might go with a couple WD black 640s then. I have a seagate now & knock on wood has been working mint for me all along.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by Sniper

K I think I might go with a couple WD black 640s then. I have a seagate now & knock on wood has been working mint for me all along.

No one's knocking down Seagate, their older drives are GREAT, its just that fairly recently, they seem to have increasing QC issues. Hopefully they can get their act together, but recent stumbling in QC would make me shy away from Seagate for now.

Good choice on the WD 640 Blacks, you will not be disappointed.

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by Chilly

No one's knocking down Seagate, their older drives are GREAT, its just that fairly recently, they seem to be increasing QC issues. Hopefully they can get their act together, but recent stumbling in QC would make me shy away from Seagate for now.

Good choice on the WD 640 Blacks, you will not be disappointed.

I'm not sure that it's just a slight QC problem with Seagate(this time...), which all mfgr's have from time-to-time. I honestly feel that buying Maxtor, and implementing some of their tech/QC practices is the Albatross around Seagate's neck, right now.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by 1Tanker

I'm not sure that it's just a slight QC problem with Seagate(this time...), which all mfgr's have from time-to-time. I honestly feel that buying Maxtor, and implementing some of their tech/QC practices is the Albatross around Seagate's neck, right now.

Frankly I agree, they should of never bought Maxtor out, and just let them(Maxtor) die a peaceful death.

[mattlef]

I've been thinking of getting two of those 1TB F1's and throwing thing in RAID0... Anyone have any experience with these?

[misterd]

Got a 750GB Seagate 7200.11 that I want to throw at a wall right now. It makes random clicks a lot more then it ever used to ... maybe every 2 minutes now?

I do also own a Samsung F1 1TB and it's in my file server so I can't say much about noise or clicks even since I can't see, let alone hear it. It just works and i'm happy.

I'm in the market also for a few more drives.. one to replace my Seagate and another for the file server so i can take out older/smaller IDE drives. However I don't really want to downsize from a 750 to a WD 640 cause I lost my delete key. Maybe two in RAID will fix me up.

I'll probably end up buying 2 more Samsung F1's unless there's a great deal on WD 1TB's Blacks.. we'll see what the sale brings tonight.

[miggs78]

At the moment, pick your choice of either WD or Samsung. Lots of people believe Samsung is like a Hit 'n' Run, if it works it lasts long, if it starts giving trouble then you're unlucky.

If Seagate don't do something to improve their Quality issues, they are looking to loose some die hard fans, I've always used Seagate's drives, but recently after hearing all the horror stories I went the WD way. I haven't raided them yet (2 drives) more because I am in the same boat as some of you including you Sniper of buying another HDD, those WD 250GB didn't last too long, as I wasn't happy with them. I am leaning towards the Samsungs F1 1TB drives. Then also WD have a very nice drive.

Please let us know your final decision Sniper and why you made it your decision, it could help others too :)