Need a new HDD - which is the best of these?

zero-one · 23 Dec 2009 at 08:26

Hiya

My old HDD recently died so i'm looking for a replacement. I've narrowed it down to:

Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache

Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache

Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache

I'm looking for the best combination of performance, noise and reliability. I'm quite tempted by the WD Green. Is it any good?

Fred · 23 Dec 2009 at 08:50

I'd go F3 or the WD black.

Some say the F3's can be noisy though, don't know about the WD black.

WD Green will be slower, but presumably use less power.

jbloggs · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:34

If you're looking for a bit of performance, I would forget about the WD Green (more about less power/heat than good performance), of the ones you list either F3 or WD Black...and if I wanted less power/heat, I would buy (and did) an F2 EcoGreen.

jms198 · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:43

F3 for speed

Simon42 · 23 Dec 2009 at 13:57

I also think the F3 or WD Black.

I personally favour the WD Black despite the apparently slightly slower performance due to its warranty, good reliability with all the ones I've bought and the performance in real world use seems closer than benchmarks indicate.

jamjar · 24 Dec 2009 at 01:22

I have an F3 and its great ! very quiet unlike some say and quicker than my old seagate

tankskun · 24 Dec 2009 at 10:20

The old F1 was superb. I'l go with the newer F3 drive out of those.

scotty365 · 24 Dec 2009 at 10:31

F3 for the speed. Power savings on WD Green are minimal anyway and its slower.