Can someone help me pick out a HDD please?

stevearm · 3 Oct 2011 at 10:27

Hi all,

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to HDD's, so was hoping some of the regulars on here could possibly point me in the right direction? I need:

- 3.5 internal HDD
- 2TB
- 7200 rpm

To run in a DEll Precision T5400 from a few years ago, and will be running XP. I've not heard great things about 'green' HDD's, is that right, are they best avoided?

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks guys

tigerstyle · 3 Oct 2011 at 10:55

Might want to change those for ocuk links!

And go samsung

Surveyor · 3 Oct 2011 at 11:18

You want one of these:

Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB

Data transfer speeds not that much less than the 7,200RPM drives (read speed around 115MB/s) and less than half the price.

And as stevearm says remove the links top competitor sites.

stevearm · 3 Oct 2011 at 12:42

(Oops sorry will edit now, should have read the rules)

I'd rather go for 7,200 to be honest? I don't mind the extra cost and would rather it were as quick as possible.

I heard that Green drives are much slower than regular ones though? Don't think they take a second or two to 'wake' when they've been inactive for a while? Is it noticeable?

Thanks for tips so far guys

Surveyor · 3 Oct 2011 at 12:49

stevearm said:
(I heard that Green drives are much slower than regular ones though? Don't think they take a second or two to 'wake' when they've been inactive for a while? Is it noticeable?

All drives drives do that and it can take several seconds for them spin up.

I doubt a 7,200RPM drive is noticably quicker at waking up than the green drives.

Average read speed of the WD Caviar Black 2TB 114.7MB/s. See here.

Not much different than my Samsung 2TB F4 EcoGreen:

stevearm · 3 Oct 2011 at 13:09

I'm surprised 5,400RPM drives are still sold, I would have thought 7,200RPM would be the norm these days. It's not about wanting the latter because it's quicker to wake up, but quicker read and write speed generally.

So there's no negative to getting a 'Green' drive?

From the advice on this thread I'll go for the Samsung, but the 5400 is still slightly concerning, mostly because since it's a system drive, slower read/write/trasnfer might hinder my computer's performance, but reviews seem to be good

tigerstyle · 3 Oct 2011 at 13:55

Still around as 90% of the time raw speed doesn't matter, and the green/energy angle is huge.

You can still buy puny 1litre fiestas for example, they just get the job done!

iostream · 3 Oct 2011 at 15:15

stevearm said:
I heard that Green drives are much slower than regular ones though? Don't think they take a second or two to 'wake' when they've been inactive for a while? Is it noticeable?

Thanks for tips so far guys

My drives used to do this (both 7200rpm and 5400rpm), it drove me a little crazy. Turns out Windows powers them down after a set period of time (eg 20 mins) if they are not being used. I changed that to 2 hours, and it's all good now

As for speed differences, I think platter density is more important than rpm ratings, I'm sure Surveyor can confirm/deny..

Surveyor · 3 Oct 2011 at 22:14

Platter density and the spin speed of the drive work together in the performance stakes.

Perhaps slighly simplistic but:

Slow spin speed and low density platters = the worst perfprmance.

High spin speed and high density platters = the best performance.

The Samsung F4 2TB is a fantastic drive. It's snapping on the tail of the WD Black and at half the price.

The F4 is so good I bought 4 and there are 2 more in media players at my parents' house.

iostream · 4 Oct 2011 at 09:23

Surveyor said:
The Samsung F4 2TB is a fantastic drive. It's snapping on the tail of the WD Black and at half the price.

I picked up two of these as per your recommendation a couple months back and couldn't be happier. Fast, quiet, and cheap; not much more one can ask.