Buying Advice for Hard Drives Please

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 18:12

Hi all,

I am after replacing my two IDE Hard Drives (a 80gb IBM deskstar and a 40gb WD and both annoyingly loud) with either a large SATA II HDD such as a Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31636) (HD-002-HI) or 2 drives: Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A31637) (HD-001-HI) and a Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB WD360GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-007-WD).

I have heard so many people raving about Raptors so was thinking of using the Raptor for games and the Hitachi for O/S, Office Applications, MP3's etc.

Is this a daft idea? Are these two drives quiet or does anyone have any other suggestions?

thanks

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 18:34

Has anyone any suggestions (or is my idea not a good one). I would really appreciate any feedback as to what hard drive(s) to buy

thanks in advance

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 18:48

Thanks Smids,

HD-054-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 120GB ST3120813AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-054-SE)
£46.95 £46.95

or

HD-056-SE Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 NCQ 200GB ST3200827AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-056-SE)
£55.95 £55.95

and

HD-007-WD Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB WD360GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-007-WD)
£63.95 £63.95

does this look good? How quiet are they and would I really notice the difference running my OS and games throgh the raptor?

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:10

Thanks again Smids.

Final questions before I get the credit card out.. Is there any specific set up needed with two SATA II drives (i know that there is no master and slave settings required like on my current system). Is it best to get the raptor up and running 1st with the O/S then format the seagate afterwards?

As for my current programmes (MS office, games, MP3's, pictures etc) can I set up the system initially with 3 drives (Raptor, Seagate and my 80 gig IDE) and drag and drop files and data to the seagate?

really appreciate your help smids!

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:10

oops forgot to ask.. or is it better for applications (MS Office) to do a clean install?

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:23

Hi Smids (again!)

you should be charging me for your help lol. I have an Asrock 939 dual sata Motherboard (just edited my signature with my complete rig on it). Would it be difficult with this board?

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:36

you know about F6 etc?

No.. I am afraid I don't.

The driver packages from their website have a readme on making the XP install floppy to install the sata drivers.[/QUOTE]

My current system has not floppy drive. Do I need to buy one or can I use a dvd drive instead?

hope these are not dumb questions!

thanks again Smids

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 19:58

sorry to double post but got credit card at the ready.. Do I need to buy a floppy drive (again sorry if this is a dumb question)

medrep · 3 Mar 2006 at 20:09

Thanks again. Will put a floppy drive on my order. Will let you know how it all goes!

Have a great weekend Smids.. thanks a lot