What HDD?

Xplo · 24 Mar 2006 at 14:12

Hi all im after a new harddrive.

Got an IBM deathstar atm

It makes a high pitched noise and i want a new drive anyway.

I want to go sata as it is faster than ata? Anyway can anybody recommend me a fast and silent sata drive? I know about the raptors and cant decide whether to spend that much, will a 40gb 8mb cache hdd be as fast as a 120gb one? Providing all is identical apart from size?

I think my mobo only supports sata1, not sure, but will sata2 drivers work on it even if its sata1?

Is sata2 faster than sata1?

Thanks

lumocolor · 24 Mar 2006 at 15:27

The best value Hd's at the moment are in the 160-250Gb range.
I would recommend an IBM/Hiytachi 7k250 SATA hd if your not going to get a Raptor.

Xplo · 24 Mar 2006 at 16:12

Ok are they really fast then? Whats reliability like and are they quiet?

Dan G · 24 Mar 2006 at 16:48

I can put my two peneth in for Wester Digital Caviar, I own both SATA and IDE drives and they are very quiet (More so than my fans anyway) and neither have had a single problem!

My Vote Goes There,

Daniel

richard smith · 24 Mar 2006 at 17:35

WD for me too. Top drives... Quiet, fast and reliable.

trojan698 · 24 Mar 2006 at 18:00

samsung spinpoint drives are supposed to be fairly quiet, haven't had any experience with them though.

Monstermunch · 24 Mar 2006 at 23:47

The Samsung Spinpoint are the quietest but the Hitachi Deskstars are the best drives available atm. I'm guessing your budget would be around the £70 mark if so 2 choices really:

1. 1 x 250gb Hitachi Deskstar

2. 2 x 80gb Deskstars running in raid0. This setup is reportedly quicker than a raptor + cheaper and more space.

Or better still, if you can stretch your budget is 4 x 80gb Deskstars 2 in rad0 and 2 in raid0+1 = Much quicker than raptors + a mirrored setup that means you're less likely to lose your data.

Xplo · 25 Mar 2006 at 09:51

Im going to go for the 2x80's, read about this somewhere seems great. Thanks for all your help.