Hye Guys, now that the power supply is out of the way, next month I am planning on which hard drives to get. I have been a BIG fan of Maxtor, but now it is under Seagate. Below is the quick Specs of what I plan to do with these drives.
One HD will be The WD Raptor X 150GB (Main HD)
Atleast 3 to 4 HD for storage and the size will be 500GB Each.
Now the question I have is which brand is good to get. I want a HD that doesn't get TOO HOT, Quiet and Good in Performance. I know there are only few brands out there, but I just wanted to know which would you guys recommend.
Western Digital HD
Maxtor/Seagate HD
Samsung
Plus whatever else you guys recommend.Thx for all the help!
P.S. Fusion
Full Version: HD Selection?
If you've been a big fan of Maxtor, you've been VERY lucky with their hard drives, or you've got rid of them before they died. Maxtor drives are generally the bottom of the barrel, although they might have improved now that they're owned by Seagate.
My personal preference goes with Western Digital. The WD5000AAKS drives are very quiet, draw less power than "the rest", and have a reputation behind them to boot (ok people - forget about the JB series drives - they sucked).
My personal preference goes with Western Digital. The WD5000AAKS drives are very quiet, draw less power than "the rest", and have a reputation behind them to boot (ok people - forget about the JB series drives - they sucked).
I do like WD Hard Drives and that why I was planning to get the Raptor X. In the past I had Big problems with WD HD's. They were getting HOT and use to make a lot of noise. I have heard a lot of good this about WD HD's these days. I will look in your choice. THX!
Raptor... hum... ...
Take a look at the Seagate 7200.11 series, that’s there last series. They have high sustained tranfer rates and are quiet. Some models even come with 32MB cache
. Plus as a bonus, 5 years warranty...
Take a look at the Seagate 7200.11 series, that’s there last series. They have high sustained tranfer rates and are quiet. Some models even come with 32MB cache
. Plus as a bonus, 5 years warranty...
QUOTE (puntoMX @ Aug 24 2007, 07:34 PM) 
Raptor... hum... ...
Take a look at the Seagate 7200.11 series, that’s there last series. They have high sustained tranfer rates and are quiet. Some models even come with 32MB cache. Plus as a bonus, 5 years warranty...
Take a look at the Seagate 7200.11 series, that’s there last series. They have high sustained tranfer rates and are quiet. Some models even come with 32MB cache
. Plus as a bonus, 5 years warranty...i just talked to seagate support and they said that those drives are coming out the first week of september
I always use Seagate. I use a ST3300622AS (7200.9 series) as my main HD, and have 3 of the same as cloned backups (I rotate weekly) and a further three ST3300831AS (7200.8 series) as backups in case any of the others fail or I ever need a drive for another PC. They have a 5 year warranty.
A guy on usenet who repairs drives for a living (he's called Odie Ferrous if you want to google-groups him) *used to* rate Seagate drives as the among the most reliable. He used to use Seagates himself - dunno if he still does. His opinions change.
Below are quotes, in ascending date order, from usenet. I've bolded the main bits if you want to skim-read.
From a post in October 2004:
From 16 December 2004:
From 27 January this year:
From 23 March this year:
From 5 April this year:
From 25 April this year:
From 8 June this year:
A guy on usenet who repairs drives for a living (he's called Odie Ferrous if you want to google-groups him) *used to* rate Seagate drives as the among the most reliable. He used to use Seagates himself - dunno if he still does. His opinions change.
Below are quotes, in ascending date order, from usenet. I've bolded the main bits if you want to skim-read.
From a post in October 2004:
QUOTE
However, in the past 10 days or so I have had about 20 drives in for
recovery.
11 of those have been a mixture of Hitachi and IBM. (I still think of
them - for safety reasons only, you understand - of being one and the
same.)
Of those 11, 2 have been fixed. I will probably manage to fix all bar
about 3 of them. They are pigs to work with.
The other drives have been a mixture of Quantum, Maxtor (a lot - also
best avoided) Western Digital (nice drives to work with - they do as you
say) and an old Seagate.
Sure, there are a number of factors that throw a heavy bias against my
findings - but from what I see come in the door, and from actually
examining and working with the drives, I would NEVER consider purchasing
Maxtor or Hitachi. At the moment. Samsung also.
Granted the roles may well be reversed in a year or two - Hitachis
manufactured from Monday onwards may prove to be the most reliable
drives ever made. But for my money, I know what to avoid.
recovery.
11 of those have been a mixture of Hitachi and IBM. (I still think of
them - for safety reasons only, you understand - of being one and the
same.)
Of those 11, 2 have been fixed. I will probably manage to fix all bar
about 3 of them. They are pigs to work with.
The other drives have been a mixture of Quantum, Maxtor (a lot - also
best avoided) Western Digital (nice drives to work with - they do as you
say) and an old Seagate.
Sure, there are a number of factors that throw a heavy bias against my
findings - but from what I see come in the door, and from actually
examining and working with the drives, I would NEVER consider purchasing
Maxtor or Hitachi. At the moment. Samsung also.
Granted the roles may well be reversed in a year or two - Hitachis
manufactured from Monday onwards may prove to be the most reliable
drives ever made. But for my money, I know what to avoid.
From 16 December 2004:
QUOTE
I get a lot of drives through here.
The following is based on drives I receive for data recovery, and my own
perception of the storage market.
I am finding that of the current crop of drives, the Seagate ST series
is the best - I get very few in for recovery. They are my first choice
- by a long, long margin.
The worst are Deskstars. Again, by a long margin. Not only are they
falling over all the time, but they are absolute pigs to recover. This
goes for all their current models up to and including the 123.5GB (I
don't have sufficient data on larger drives to begin including them) as
well as their drives up to 3 years old. Avoid like the plague.
Maxtor are also terrible. I believe (from hearsay and from my own
experience - I do not have official figures for this) that Maxtor are
probably out-selling all other drives on the market. They seem to be
the standard choice for external drive housings, which is madness, as
they appear to be the most susceptible to heat-related failure. They
are also **** awkward to work with. Their overall percentage of failure
rate my not be as bad as that - but I don't know how many drives they
are shifting. I'm only guessing that they are the biggest sellers.
A few months ago I would have listed Western Digital as reliable.
However, I am suddenly seeing huge amounts of BB drives in. (WD800BB,
1200BB and 2000BB.) I see very few JB-configured drives in.
I know that a great deal of regulars on this newsgroup will disagree
with me. Before you start flaming, remember that these are all my own
opinions based on my own experiences and my own perception of the drive
market.
The following is based on drives I receive for data recovery, and my own
perception of the storage market.
I am finding that of the current crop of drives, the Seagate ST series
is the best - I get very few in for recovery. They are my first choice
- by a long, long margin.
The worst are Deskstars. Again, by a long margin. Not only are they
falling over all the time, but they are absolute pigs to recover. This
goes for all their current models up to and including the 123.5GB (I
don't have sufficient data on larger drives to begin including them) as
well as their drives up to 3 years old. Avoid like the plague.
Maxtor are also terrible. I believe (from hearsay and from my own
experience - I do not have official figures for this) that Maxtor are
probably out-selling all other drives on the market. They seem to be
the standard choice for external drive housings, which is madness, as
they appear to be the most susceptible to heat-related failure. They
are also **** awkward to work with. Their overall percentage of failure
rate my not be as bad as that - but I don't know how many drives they
are shifting. I'm only guessing that they are the biggest sellers.
A few months ago I would have listed Western Digital as reliable.
However, I am suddenly seeing huge amounts of BB drives in. (WD800BB,
1200BB and 2000BB.) I see very few JB-configured drives in.
I know that a great deal of regulars on this newsgroup will disagree
with me. Before you start flaming, remember that these are all my own
opinions based on my own experiences and my own perception of the drive
market.
From 27 January this year:
QUOTE
At the moment I am receiving primarily Maxtor and Western Digital drives
for recovery, as well as Seagate drives - but only those manufactured in
China. (Only talking about 3.5" drives here.)
Although I absolutely detest Maxtor drives, if they are placed in a
decent housing (which is not generally available from the major
suppliers - you have to go generic) they can perform fairly well. But
if the cooling should fail, the drive most likely will go as well. They
are incredibly susceptible to overheating.
My choice, based on recoveries I have received in recent months, are:
Seagate 7200.9 (but not any manufactured in China, and not 250GB
regardless of provenance) (There have been some reported problems with
the 7200.10, none of which I have been able to confirm or validate.)
Hitachi (recent / new models 400GB and larger - extremely good
performance)
Samsung (I get very few of these in for recovery - perhaps because they
simply don't have the market penetration of the above.)
Avoid Maxtor and Western Digital with a barge pole. If you are given
one, bin it.
Also avoid anything that has LaCie or Formac or OneTouch written on it.
I would also go so far as to include MyBook, Belkin and anything by a
major.
Best bet is to purchase a retail hard drive and a generic (no-name is
fine, so long as it has cooling - specialtech.co.uk have one that I
approve of, despite its plasticity - but it has an 80mm fan that blows
directly onto the circuitry of the driven and keeps the most susceptible
parts cool.)
for recovery, as well as Seagate drives - but only those manufactured in
China. (Only talking about 3.5" drives here.)
Although I absolutely detest Maxtor drives, if they are placed in a
decent housing (which is not generally available from the major
suppliers - you have to go generic) they can perform fairly well. But
if the cooling should fail, the drive most likely will go as well. They
are incredibly susceptible to overheating.
My choice, based on recoveries I have received in recent months, are:
Seagate 7200.9 (but not any manufactured in China, and not 250GB
regardless of provenance) (There have been some reported problems with
the 7200.10, none of which I have been able to confirm or validate.)
Hitachi (recent / new models 400GB and larger - extremely good
performance)
Samsung (I get very few of these in for recovery - perhaps because they
simply don't have the market penetration of the above.)
Avoid Maxtor and Western Digital with a barge pole. If you are given
one, bin it.
Also avoid anything that has LaCie or Formac or OneTouch written on it.
I would also go so far as to include MyBook, Belkin and anything by a
major.
Best bet is to purchase a retail hard drive and a generic (no-name is
fine, so long as it has cooling - specialtech.co.uk have one that I
approve of, despite its plasticity - but it has an 80mm fan that blows
directly onto the circuitry of the driven and keeps the most susceptible
parts cool.)
From 23 March this year:
QUOTE
I feel that all drives these days (high capacity - 300GB and larger)
apart from:
Seagate - Chinese manufacture
Maxtor - across the board
Western Digital - across the board....
...are reliable.
I received a Samsung 500GB SATA drive the other day - very, very nice.
Quiet, and the quickest single drive I have benchmarked to date.
In my mind, at least, Seagate are losing the edge of being the ultimate
choice of drive. I would quite happily use Hitachi or Samsung.
I've had a few Seagate drives in for recovery (300GB and 500GB) whereas
not one single Hitachi or Samsung in recent months.
apart from:
Seagate - Chinese manufacture
Maxtor - across the board
Western Digital - across the board....
...are reliable.
I received a Samsung 500GB SATA drive the other day - very, very nice.
Quiet, and the quickest single drive I have benchmarked to date.
In my mind, at least, Seagate are losing the edge of being the ultimate
choice of drive. I would quite happily use Hitachi or Samsung.
I've had a few Seagate drives in for recovery (300GB and 500GB) whereas
not one single Hitachi or Samsung in recent months.
From 5 April this year:
QUOTE
WD are right up there with Maxtor as being the most popular drives
through my doors, accounting on their own for about 75% of all my
business.
If I were you, I'd destroy the drive and spit out the Ģ50. Why replace
a crap drive with another crap drive?
Get yourself a Samsung or Hitachi or non-Chinese-manufactured Seagate
instead.
Infinitely more reliable than Western Digital.
Just my (informed) 2p.
through my doors, accounting on their own for about 75% of all my
business.
If I were you, I'd destroy the drive and spit out the Ģ50. Why replace
a crap drive with another crap drive?
Get yourself a Samsung or Hitachi or non-Chinese-manufactured Seagate
instead.
Infinitely more reliable than Western Digital.
Just my (informed) 2p.
From 25 April this year:
QUOTE
Is that Seagate drive manufactured in China by any chance?
I have to say that over the past month, my choice of drive has moved
over slightly more in favour of Samsung and Hitachi - 400GB and larger.
I have a feeling Seagate are going through a bad patch. Must have put
some of the Maxtor staff in charge of manufacturing...
I have to say that over the past month, my choice of drive has moved
over slightly more in favour of Samsung and Hitachi - 400GB and larger.
I have a feeling Seagate are going through a bad patch. Must have put
some of the Maxtor staff in charge of manufacturing...
From 8 June this year:
QUOTE
Avoid Maxtor and Western Digital like the plague.
I used to wax lyrical about Seagate drives, but am now seeing quite a
few of these in for recovery, so avoid also.
Best choice Samsung or recent Hitachi. Only 400GB and above - smaller
capacities still sketchy.
I used to wax lyrical about Seagate drives, but am now seeing quite a
few of these in for recovery, so avoid also.
Best choice Samsung or recent Hitachi. Only 400GB and above - smaller
capacities still sketchy.
Just a note - Seagate drives are NOT quiet. They started to get worse with the 7200.9 series, and the 7200.10 are just horrible. Ask anyone over at the SilentPCReview.com forums about the quietest drives. They'll say Samsung first, then WD, and Seagate somewhere down at the bottom. The big problem is their seeks noise, which in some cases is on par with Raptors.
I just don't trust Samsung drives yet - they might be great initially, but they don't have enough time on the market to prove their reliability yet.
Oh - another thing - don't get the Raptor X. Just get the plain Raptor. You don't spend hours looking at your hard drive, so what's the point in a window?
I just don't trust Samsung drives yet - they might be great initially, but they don't have enough time on the market to prove their reliability yet.
Oh - another thing - don't get the Raptor X. Just get the plain Raptor. You don't spend hours looking at your hard drive, so what's the point in a window?
ya my seagate is pretty loud during seek but it is still fast, about 63MB/s transfer rate.
I get those kinds of speeds on my WD2500KS drive.
That's on a non-perpendicular, low-density platter drive. Nothing really to write home about...
That's on a non-perpendicular, low-density platter drive. Nothing really to write home about...
QUOTE (puntoMX @ Aug 24 2007, 06:34 PM)
Take a look at the Seagate 7200.11 series, thats there last series. They have high sustained tranfer rates and are quiet. Some models even come with 32MB cache . Plus as a bonus, 5 years warranty...
. Plus as a bonus, 5 years warranty...They claim high sustained transfer rates. There have been any reviews yet to prove the claims. Honestly, I'd like to see them pull off what they claim...it'll put every other drive maker on notice, that's for sure.
Even if they can make 80% of the claimed speed, it’s still going to be one of the fastest drives ever based on SATA .
.
QUOTE (Zxian @ Aug 24 2007, 08:50 PM)
I get those kinds of speeds on my WD2500KS drive.
That's on a non-perpendicular, low-density platter drive. Nothing really to write home about...
That's on a non-perpendicular, low-density platter drive. Nothing really to write home about...
9MB/s difference
Seagates are loud, whirring, clunky drives. Nothing really impressive about them. Seagate has very little innovation as well. Western Digital are ahead of the pack in a lot of respects. They were amongst the first to introduce NCQ, TLER. You'll also find StableTrac, IntelliSeek and IntelliPark on the new Western Digital hard drives. That alone, puts them ahead of the league.
QUOTE (jcarle @ Aug 24 2007, 11:17 PM)
Seagates are loud, whirring, clunky drives. Nothing really impressive about them. Seagate has very little innovation as well. Western Digital are ahead of the pack in a lot of respects. They were amongst the first to introduce NCQ, TLER. You'll also find StableTrac, IntelliSeek and IntelliPark on the new Western Digital hard drives. That alone, puts them ahead of the league.
http://www.wdc.com/en/company/releases/Pre...60EF1AF650FB%7D
is that only for the 750GB drives tho or for the others also? sounds like some good technology.
Man guys, I am learning a lot from you guys. I guess it looking more like either Seagate or WD.
Also I wanted to know if someone know the model number for the Raptor X, the one without the clear panel. I looked around and I couldn't find it. Why spend extra if I dont' even plan to look at the HD once it's inside. So if someone knows the model number, please let me know. Thx!
Also I wanted to know if someone know the model number for the Raptor X, the one without the clear panel. I looked around and I couldn't find it. Why spend extra if I dont' even plan to look at the HD once it's inside. So if someone knows the model number, please let me know. Thx!
@ripken - the Perpendicular storage technology was initially invented by Hitachi. There's a good Flash video called "Get Perpendicular" that they released - very funny, very non-Japanese.
Another great feature that WD has with their new 1TB drives that are due out soon - IntelliPower. In regular words, it'll vary the rotational speed of the drive as needed to reduce power consumption when idle, and allow for full performance when needed.
@vegettoxp - Here's the product page for the Raptor non-X.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.as...amp;language=en
All you gotta do is search... I just put "Raptor" in the search box at WD's homepage and got the link.
Another great feature that WD has with their new 1TB drives that are due out soon - IntelliPower. In regular words, it'll vary the rotational speed of the drive as needed to reduce power consumption when idle, and allow for full performance when needed.
@vegettoxp - Here's the product page for the Raptor non-X.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.as...amp;language=en
All you gotta do is search... I just put "Raptor" in the search box at WD's homepage and got the link.
The Raptor without the window is just "Raptor" and the one with a window is "Raptor X".
Everyone has different experiences with HDD:s, a brand may work very well for some people but not for others.
I don't think the quality of the drive is the only major cause of failures. Cooling, handling and other hardware (primarily PSU) also has their impact on whether or not a drive will fail.
Active cooling (a fan or water), a high quality PSU (not some cheap no name stuff) and careful handling will make a drive last long.
Power spikes or sudden blackouts may also kill drives, using a UPS when the PC is in use and unplugging it when it's not can help.
I've used only Maxtor drives for the last five years (the oldest one still works as the only drive in a frequently used PC), my current drive is a 300GB DiamondMax10 (completely cloned monthly just in case) which has been heavily used (but not 24/7) since I bought it back in -04. A number of people I know have Maxtors that still works flawlessly.
A friend of mine had a number of drives, mostly (if not only) Maxtors, fail on him in just a few months (last year I think). But he had the drives placed closely together with no cooling and some crappy PSU to power them. Since he (per my advice) separated the drives and replaced the PSU, he hasn't had a single problem.
Of older drives from the mid-late 90's, Quantum (later bought by Maxtor) and Seagate often still works. I've seen a few WD-disks fail over the years. Maxtor, Fujitsu and Samsung where less frequent than WD in failing, but more than Seagate and Quantum.
Everyone has different experiences with HDD:s, a brand may work very well for some people but not for others.
I don't think the quality of the drive is the only major cause of failures. Cooling, handling and other hardware (primarily PSU) also has their impact on whether or not a drive will fail.
Active cooling (a fan or water), a high quality PSU (not some cheap no name stuff) and careful handling will make a drive last long.
Power spikes or sudden blackouts may also kill drives, using a UPS when the PC is in use and unplugging it when it's not can help.
I've used only Maxtor drives for the last five years (the oldest one still works as the only drive in a frequently used PC), my current drive is a 300GB DiamondMax10 (completely cloned monthly just in case) which has been heavily used (but not 24/7) since I bought it back in -04. A number of people I know have Maxtors that still works flawlessly.
A friend of mine had a number of drives, mostly (if not only) Maxtors, fail on him in just a few months (last year I think). But he had the drives placed closely together with no cooling and some crappy PSU to power them. Since he (per my advice) separated the drives and replaced the PSU, he hasn't had a single problem.
Of older drives from the mid-late 90's, Quantum (later bought by Maxtor) and Seagate often still works. I've seen a few WD-disks fail over the years. Maxtor, Fujitsu and Samsung where less frequent than WD in failing, but more than Seagate and Quantum.
Hey guys, if you don't mind, can you recommend me models of Which HD's I should look at. If you can. If you guys are busy, don't worry about it. I will look at the HDs and I will share my selection with you guys.
Thx for all the help!
Thx for all the help!
Ok Guys, here is my list that I have narrowed down too. All these are 500GB HD's and I need to know which one fits my needs and once again my need are the following things:
Not To Hot
Good Performance
Quiet
So if you guys can tell me which HD or HD's I should look at, it will really help me out. Then that way I can start to do my research and reviews on the HD's.
Maxtor (My Old friend) Maxtor Basics ATA 100 Hard Drive Kit - 500GB (Part # L01Y500)
Western Digital - WD Caviar SE16 (Model WD5000AAKS)
Seagate HD - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive
Samsung SpinPoint T166 (Model HD501LJ)
THX for all the help!
Not To Hot
Good Performance
Quiet
So if you guys can tell me which HD or HD's I should look at, it will really help me out. Then that way I can start to do my research and reviews on the HD's.
Maxtor (My Old friend) Maxtor Basics ATA 100 Hard Drive Kit - 500GB (Part # L01Y500)
Western Digital - WD Caviar SE16 (Model WD5000AAKS)
Seagate HD - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive
Samsung SpinPoint T166 (Model HD501LJ)
THX for all the help!
This one, hands down: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.as...amp;language=en
QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 25 2007, 07:14 PM)
Seagate HD - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive
QUOTE (puntoMX @ Aug 25 2007, 09:51 PM)
QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 25 2007, 07:14 PM)
Seagate HD - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive
lol, just wait a couple weeks, first week of september is when tech support said it will come out. they better be telling me the truth
Thx for the input guys. Just for FYI, will I be able to find reviews on the "Seagate HD - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive"?
Hey Guys, I was just thinking, Do I really need a High-End HD for storage. I mean I am already gona buy the Raptor for my Main OS Drive. Why buy a expensive storage drive. What's your guys opinion in this. I was look at spending $100 and $120 being the max. Do I really need an expensive drive for storage?
THX!
Hey Guys, I was just thinking, Do I really need a High-End HD for storage. I mean I am already gona buy the Raptor for my Main OS Drive. Why buy a expensive storage drive. What's your guys opinion in this. I was look at spending $100 and $120 being the max. Do I really need an expensive drive for storage?
THX!
who said anything about an expensive drive? your raptor is an expensive drive! 500GB are currently between $110 and $120. the 7200.11 will hopefully be near those prices.
You won't find a Raptor in that price range either.
BTW, there is a difference between the Raptor 150 and the Raptor X 150. The Raptor X is an enthusiast drive that lacks the time-limited error recovery (TLER) feature found in the "regular" Raptor 150. It's a feature specifically for use in server/RAID applications and is also found in the Caviar RE and Caviar RE2 drives.
BTW, there is a difference between the Raptor 150 and the Raptor X 150. The Raptor X is an enthusiast drive that lacks the time-limited error recovery (TLER) feature found in the "regular" Raptor 150. It's a feature specifically for use in server/RAID applications and is also found in the Caviar RE and Caviar RE2 drives.
QUOTE (nmX.Memnoch @ Aug 26 2007, 01:17 AM)
You won't find a Raptor in that price range either.
BTW, there is a difference between the Raptor 150 and the Raptor X 150. The Raptor X is an enthusiast drive that lacks the time-limited error recovery (TLER) feature found in the "regular" Raptor 150. It's a feature specifically for use in server/RAID applications and is also found in the Caviar RE and Caviar RE2 drives.
BTW, there is a difference between the Raptor 150 and the Raptor X 150. The Raptor X is an enthusiast drive that lacks the time-limited error recovery (TLER) feature found in the "regular" Raptor 150. It's a feature specifically for use in server/RAID applications and is also found in the Caviar RE and Caviar RE2 drives.
ya but doesnt that only matter if you running it in RAID?
the raptor x also claims to have better cooling with its little fins, prolly only helps by one degree, lol.
there is only a 5$ difference in them at newegg.
@vegettoxp - Let me list off all the hard drives I've bought in the past two months:
2x WD2500KS
2x WD3200AAKS
4x WD5000AAKS
Need I say more?
Seriously though - the WD5000AAKS drives perform well, keep cool, and are very quiet - even during seeks. This is coming from a silence freak...
2x WD2500KS
2x WD3200AAKS
4x WD5000AAKS
Need I say more?
Seriously though - the WD5000AAKS drives perform well, keep cool, and are very quiet - even during seeks. This is coming from a silence freak...
QUOTE (Zxian @ Aug 26 2007, 04:34 AM)
@vegettoxp - Let me list off all the hard drives I've bought in the past two months:... ...Need I say more?
Well, we only can read that there exists only one Harddrive brand for you
.QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 25 2007, 09:25 PM)
Thx for the input guys. Just for FYI, will I be able to find reviews on the "Seagate HD - Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s NCQ 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive"?
Nope, just a lot of people waiting for them…
I've got to say, between the two different types of drives I have in my system, the Seagates win (by far) in terms of noise level. I own three Seagate ST3250620A drives and three Western Digital WD2500JB drives. The WDs I have are pretty loud compared to the Seagates. Also, contrary to what Zxian mentioned about the WDs he has, the Seagates seem to stay much cooler than the WDs I have (but that might just be model-specific). Another advantage to the Seagate drives is that they come with a five year warranty! 
QUOTE (gamehead200 @ Aug 26 2007, 01:38 PM)
Western Digital WD2500JB
The JB series drives from WD were horrible in just about every aspect. Their latest drives don't have a single thing in common with those drives other than the WD logo. I'm sure WD would love to erase both the BB and JB series drives from history.
QUOTE (Zxian @ Aug 24 2007, 03:38 PM)
My personal preference goes with Western Digital. The WD5000AAKS drives are very quiet, draw less power than "the rest", and have a reputation behind them to boot (ok people - forget about the JB series drives - they sucked).
QUOTE (gamehead200 @ Aug 26 2007, 11:38 AM)
I own three Seagate ST3250620A drives and three Western Digital WD2500JB drives.
@gamehead - you're comparing a bad drive with a really bad drive, so the bad drive will win. Pick up a new KS or AAKS series drive and you'll be pleasantly surprised.
If you're looking for a good source for quiet hard drives, look no further than the list of SPCR's Recommended Hard Drives. Like memnoch and I have said before in other threads, Samsung's may be great in terms of noise levels and such, but they're too new on the market to recommend as a long-term storage solution.
The link you gave us only shows a few drives, it’s not even complete Zxian. It would have been better to compare let’s say 6 brands/types of 500GB drives, 2 drives presented by each brand/type would be the minimum.
I would agree with you if it was meant to be a comparison list, but it's a recommendation list. They've even given a reason for each recommendation.
If you want reviews and comparisons, check out StorageReview.com.
If you want reviews and comparisons, check out StorageReview.com.
QUOTE (nmX.Memnoch @ Aug 26 2007, 03:08 PM)
If you want reviews and comparisons, check out StorageReview.com.
Thank you, itīs known that hey have good neutral (something you canīt say from hardware sites in general) reviews there. Today I checked if they had more info on the 7200.11, but still no luck.
On the subject of noise levels, always install the drive with some anti-vibration drive mounts and not just in a solid steel/aluminum cage. Also put the entire case on something soft, like a carpet, an old newspaper or similar (be ware of static electricity). Both of those simple measures can reduce the low-frequency noise significantly.
It will be interesting to see the reviews of the Seagate 7200.11-series.
It will be interesting to see the reviews of the Seagate 7200.11-series.
QUOTE (Zxian @ Aug 26 2007, 04:18 PM)
@gamehead - you're comparing a bad drive with a really bad drive, so the bad drive will win. Pick up a new KS or AAKS series drive and you'll be pleasantly surprised.
I figured you'd say that!
But then again, I really don't care about performace or noise in the systems that they're in... As long as they can store data, and if they die on me, I really don't care anyway...
Hey Guys, I did a quick Price Check for the Seagate 7200.11-series and the lowest price I saw was $169. I do like this hard drive, but I hope the price comes down on this HD or else I am not gona spend that kinda money when I can get the same HD Size (500GB) for lest money.
I agree that WesternDigital JB drives are crap, I have a two year old WD800-JB that they are replacing this week.
QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 27 2007, 12:43 AM)
Hey Guys, I did a quick Price Check for the Seagate 7200.11-series and the lowest price I saw was $169. I do like this hard drive, but I hope the price comes down on this HD or else I am not gona spend that kinda money when I can get the same HD Size (500GB) for lest money.
the hdd isnt out yet and the only stores that have them are no name stores. those are all pre-orders. wait for it to come out to newegg.
Thx for the info, I guess when the HD comes out for everyone, the price might come down to what I want to pay. So would you guys recommend me:
1 HD will me Raptor (Main HD)
3 - 4 Seagate 7200.11 HD for Storage or Should I look at Western Digital WD5000AAKS HD?
Thx for all the help and I hope we get some good reviews on the Seagate 7200.11 HD's Soon!
1 HD will me Raptor (Main HD)
3 - 4 Seagate 7200.11 HD for Storage or Should I look at Western Digital WD5000AAKS HD?
Thx for all the help and I hope we get some good reviews on the Seagate 7200.11 HD's Soon!
The Raptor is the fastest single-user drive today, but some of the new drives might beat it in some tests (but not access time).
Are you planning on using the drives in RAID for increased data reliability and/or performance, or do you need 2TB of storage?
Have you thought of some backup solution to backup all data on those disks?
Are you planning on using the drives in RAID for increased data reliability and/or performance, or do you need 2TB of storage?
Have you thought of some backup solution to backup all data on those disks?
@vegetto - you're asking a question that I don't think anyone can answer. Nobody knows how the 7200.11 drives will perform yet, since there aren't any benchmarks out.
As for your system drive - forget about the raptor. Get yourself two 250GB or 320GB drives and run them in RAID0. You'll get much better overall performance, and it'll cost about the same price as a single Raptor.
If you don't believe me - check out this. It's two HDTach results overlaid. The one result is my two WD3200AAKS drives, and the other is jcarle's two 74GB Raptors. As you can see - my performance wins on everything except for random access times. Remember - that's TWO Raptors in that graph, and you're considering getting only one.
As for your system drive - forget about the raptor. Get yourself two 250GB or 320GB drives and run them in RAID0. You'll get much better overall performance, and it'll cost about the same price as a single Raptor.
If you don't believe me - check out this. It's two HDTach results overlaid. The one result is my two WD3200AAKS drives, and the other is jcarle's two 74GB Raptors. As you can see - my performance wins on everything except for random access times. Remember - that's TWO Raptors in that graph, and you're considering getting only one.
QUOTE (Zxian @ Aug 27 2007, 06:06 PM)
@vegetto - you're asking a question that I don't think anyone can answer. Nobody knows how the 7200.11 drives will perform yet, since there aren't any benchmarks out.
As for your system drive - forget about the raptor. Get yourself two 250GB or 320GB drives and run them in RAID0. You'll get much better overall performance, and it'll cost about the same price as a single Raptor.
If you don't believe me - check out this. It's two HDTach results overlaid. The one result is my two WD3200AAKS drives, and the other is jcarle's two 74GB Raptors. As you can see - my performance wins on everything except for random access times. Remember - that's TWO Raptors in that graph, and you're considering getting only one.
As for your system drive - forget about the raptor. Get yourself two 250GB or 320GB drives and run them in RAID0. You'll get much better overall performance, and it'll cost about the same price as a single Raptor.
If you don't believe me - check out this. It's two HDTach results overlaid. The one result is my two WD3200AAKS drives, and the other is jcarle's two 74GB Raptors. As you can see - my performance wins on everything except for random access times. Remember - that's TWO Raptors in that graph, and you're considering getting only one.
well it also depends on what he is after. a high read speed wont help everyone..
and i think im confused about where you say that yours wins in everything but random access? the average read is the same. yours has better burst. so is that it? 2x74GB raptors look better to me in that case..
Let me put it to you this way - Two WD3200AAKS drives at NewEgg works out to $150. A single 74GB Raptor at NewEgg is $160. We just said that two Raptors are about the same as two WD3200AAKS drives - but you'd end up paying twice as much.
He'd be paying more for a setup that works half as well.
He'd be paying more for a setup that works half as well.
i wasnt talking about the price, i was talking about performance.
and newegg must have gotten rid of that discount, for a while i think the 74gb raptor was around 130$ which i know is still crazy.. but now its only 15$ more for the 150gb versions, lol. i just want to try out a raptor some time and see how they really are, i just cant force myself to pay that much for it.
and newegg must have gotten rid of that discount, for a while i think the 74gb raptor was around 130$ which i know is still crazy.. but now its only 15$ more for the 150gb versions, lol. i just want to try out a raptor some time and see how they really are, i just cant force myself to pay that much for it.
Well - performance is more or less the same. I doubt that you'd really notice a difference. In terms of what's the best value, 2xWD3200AAKS is far better than a single Raptor.
A lot of useful information to read and help me make my final decision. Just to give you guys a heads up, I don't plan to do RAID. I have never setup RAID, ever. So I don't plan to do it now. Regarding the Raptor Subject, the reason I want the Raptor is because of it 10,000 RPM and the Seek time. Having the Raptor as the Main HD for the system will help in overall Performance, In my opinion. If I am wrong, please let me know. The other drives I plan to put in will just be Storage HD's. Either 2TB or 4TB. I haven't decided on how may TB's I need as of storage.
Also if you guys don't mind telling me what are the Pros and Cons of RAID. To tell you guys the truth, the reason I have never setup RAID is because I never needed too. The system I am running right now has 300GB Maxtor and a another 250GB Maxtor and I have never had any problems as of lost data so far. Hopefully it will say that way. I know you need two of the same HD's in order to do RAID.
Also about spending money on the Raptor, I know I can get 2 WD 500GB HD's for that same price, but like ripken204 said, I wanna see the Raptor Performance in my new system running Vista!
THX for all the input!
Also if you guys don't mind telling me what are the Pros and Cons of RAID. To tell you guys the truth, the reason I have never setup RAID is because I never needed too. The system I am running right now has 300GB Maxtor and a another 250GB Maxtor and I have never had any problems as of lost data so far. Hopefully it will say that way. I know you need two of the same HD's in order to do RAID.
Also about spending money on the Raptor, I know I can get 2 WD 500GB HD's for that same price, but like ripken204 said, I wanna see the Raptor Performance in my new system running Vista!
THX for all the input!
@Vegetto - RAID0 isn't true RAID. It's striping the data on the disks for purely performance reasons.
You said that you wanted the Raptor for the performance boost. Setting up two drives in RAID0 will give you better overall system performance than a single raptor. You'll get a little hit with seek times, but usually that makes up for itself with the higher transfer speeds. You wanted to know the pros and cons of RAID. See this page. It gives you pretty much all the basic information about RAID that you need for now.
Did you see the graph I showed you? That's' two 320GB drives vs two raptors. A single raptor will give you worse performance than that - plain and simple. Long story short - RAID0 gives a noticeable performance gain over a single drive. Yes, you lose the data on both drives if one dies, but you shouldn't store vital data on the RAID0 array. That's why you would use a RAID1 or higher arrangement for your 500GB storage drives.
If you want to see a case example of someone who's setup massive storage and performance in the past few months, look no further. The two key points - 1.5TB of redundant storage in on a 3ware controller, and a quad-core system that takes about 20 seconds to boot up. The former wouldn't be possible without RAID5, and the latter wouldn't be possible without RAID0. Once you go RAID, you never go back.
You said that you wanted the Raptor for the performance boost. Setting up two drives in RAID0 will give you better overall system performance than a single raptor. You'll get a little hit with seek times, but usually that makes up for itself with the higher transfer speeds. You wanted to know the pros and cons of RAID. See this page. It gives you pretty much all the basic information about RAID that you need for now.
Did you see the graph I showed you? That's' two 320GB drives vs two raptors. A single raptor will give you worse performance than that - plain and simple. Long story short - RAID0 gives a noticeable performance gain over a single drive. Yes, you lose the data on both drives if one dies, but you shouldn't store vital data on the RAID0 array. That's why you would use a RAID1 or higher arrangement for your 500GB storage drives.
If you want to see a case example of someone who's setup massive storage and performance in the past few months, look no further. The two key points - 1.5TB of redundant storage in on a 3ware controller, and a quad-core system that takes about 20 seconds to boot up. The former wouldn't be possible without RAID5, and the latter wouldn't be possible without RAID0. Once you go RAID, you never go back.
QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 28 2007, 02:22 PM)
A lot of useful information to read and help me make my final decision. Just to give you guys a heads up, I don't plan to do RAID. I have never setup RAID, ever. So I don't plan to do it now. Regarding the Raptor Subject, the reason I want the Raptor is because of it 10,000 RPM and the Seek time. Having the Raptor as the Main HD for the system will help in overall Performance, In my opinion. If I am wrong, please let me know.
Two cheaper drives in RAID0 will give you much better performance. The Raptors haven't really been updated in a while other than to come out with the new 150GB capacity...but that's about the only change to them. Where the Raptors really shine is when you have them configured in a file server on a really good RAID controller, and with multiple users accessing them at the same time. For a single user setup (a desktop) there's not that much of a performance improvement to justify the cost.A pair of (much) cheaper current technology drives configured in RAID0 will give you much better performance on a single user setup. Sure, if one drive fails you lose everything...but what makes it so different from running a single drive? With a single drive, if that drive fails you lose everything anyway...so take the chance and increase your performance with RAID0.
QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 28 2007, 02:22 PM)
The other drives I plan to put in will just be Storage HD's. Either 2TB or 4TB. I haven't decided on how may TB's I need as of storage.
You need to research this. First, if you plan on going greater than 1TB for a single volume, you will be setting up RAID. There's no way around it because there is no single drive that's larger than 1TB right now. Second, there are issues that need to be dealt with when going above 2TB. Most RAID controllers won't allow you to configure an array larger than 2TB anyway.QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 28 2007, 02:22 PM)
Also if you guys don't mind telling me what are the Pros and Cons of RAID. To tell you guys the truth, the reason I have never setup RAID is because I never needed too. The system I am running right now has 300GB Maxtor and a another 250GB Maxtor and I have never had any problems as of lost data so far. Hopefully it will say that way. I know you need two of the same HD's in order to do RAID.
You can find plenty of information on Google by searching for the term 'RAID'. Some of the information is good, some of it is bad, and some of it is downright wrong. To put it plainly, the most commonly used RAID levels are 0 (striping), 1 (mirroring), and 5 (striping with parity). RAID10 (striping with mirroring) is starting to become more of a player now as well since drive sizes have gotten larger and prices have gone down.One word of warning: You do not want to run RAID5 on an integrated or low-end RAID controller. It'll use the CPU to calculate the parity information and hurt performance of the system in every way imagineable.
QUOTE (vegettoxp @ Aug 28 2007, 02:22 PM)
Also about spending money on the Raptor, I know I can get 2 WD 500GB HD's for that same price, but like ripken204 said, I wanna see the Raptor Performance in my new system running Vista!
See above. Two (good) drives in RAID0 will blow a single Raptor out of the water.
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