old raptor vs new drives

[chel]

Hi everyone. Ive been lurking here for some time just reading threads and whatnot and have decided to sign up. My question is - are the older raptors (the 36gb version) still faster than the 7200 drives out there? I'm looking at replacing my 250gb maxtor drive with something new and am just wondering about what I should do with my raptor as Im using it right now for my os and a few other apps. If the new drives are faster than what would you recomend? My storage needs are pretty low and anything as low as 150gb is plenty for me. Budget ~150-200 cdn. Thanks for the help!

[chrisk]

Took a look at some benches from this site:
StorageReview.com's Drive Performance Resource Center | StorageReview.com

In real-world tests there is not much difference, with some 7200s coming out on top in some benches and the 36gb in others.

In a few of the threads on here and other sites the WD Caviar Blacks are pretty good in most opinions.

[chel]

Thanks for the link! I was actually looking at that site earlier but didn't see the comparison section.

[chel]

Does anyone know how the 500gb version of the caviar black hd's perform? I highly doubt I'll be using 1tb of storage in the next year so I would prefer to save some money and go with the 500gb flavor as long as the performance doesn't suffer.

[AkG]

The WD 640 regular (& BLACK) is a much better drive than the 500s (even a 640 regular compared to 500 BE). I own both and my 640s are much faster, both as OS and storage drives. IMHO worth the extra couple bucks over the 500.

EDIT: just checked and the 500 BE is a little over 92 bucks...the 640 regular is 93. A buck savings is not worth going with an older gen HDD. Heck the 640 BE is only 97!

[chel]

The only problem is that I have to buy from my local pc shop which doesn't carry any of the 640s :s

[chrisk]

I see you live in Ontario...whereabouts? Try shipping? Infonec has the 640GB Black ed for $89 Infonec Computers - Computer parts Canada, PC Components, laptop computers, motherboards, processors, CPUs and much more : WESTERN DIGITAL <font color=red>640GB</font> <b>Black Edition</b> SATA 3GB S DESKTOP STORAGE 7200RPM 32MB CACHE They are in Markham.

$8.99 shipping on orders over $100...perhaps you need something else to bundle with that order (ie. Blank Cds/DVDs, etc)

[chel]

Thanks for the help guys! I ended up going ahead and purchasing the 1tb drive, and so far its really impressive.

[chrisk]

Did you get the Black Edition? Did you get a decent price on it? Good to see you found something you like.