Best HD for OS

A2Z · 14 Apr 2008 at 00:54

Whats the best (fastest, quietest, most reliable, (cheapest)) hard drive to be used primarily for Windows, just to boot off and install programs, NOT including Raptor's as they are too expensive

Craig321 · 14 Apr 2008 at 01:04

The single platter drives seems to be the way to go - very fast and quiet - ~90mb/s from a single drive.

Not 100% which models are single platter, someone else will need to answer that.

[Edit]
A lot of people seem to be going for the Samsung F1 drives, not sure if they're single platter though.

Adrianr · 14 Apr 2008 at 01:12

Samsung F1 320GB Single platter seem to be the latest choice, if you can get hold of one! Rather rare at the moment!

AbsenceJam · 14 Apr 2008 at 01:32

I'd personally buy a Samsung HD322HJ if you can find one. Rather fast indeed.

fobose · 14 Apr 2008 at 07:08

I went from a seagate 500GB 7200.9 (49MB/s average read) to a WD 640GB (95MB/s average read) for my main OS/games and storage drive and the difference is definitely noticeable.

Not bad for £70.49 (although I bought two for RAID 1).

ih8modem · 14 Apr 2008 at 09:40

Best bang for buck

The leading contenders appear to be :

Seagate 320GB single platter
Samsung F1 single platter (no link available)
Western Digital AAKS drives 640GB & 320GB

Additional speed gained from setting them up in RAID 0 (two drives).