Which 1.5tb drives?

[LazyG]

Hi folks,

My 2x750gb samsung spinpoints that I used for media storage are now full, so i need 2 new ones. The question is, which drives to get?

I want something affordable and reliability is more important than speed in the end, though I would prefer not to have superslow drives

Some options - should be not more than £100 (unless there is a compelling reason) and 1.5tb min (i don't expect I can afford more)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-168-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-080-SA&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=12799
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-325-WD&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279

I look at reviews but both the WD and Seagate have quite a lots of gripes about reliability. Especially the WD EARS which soem say drop performance as they get over 75% capacity and fail a lot more, apparently the EADS drives are better but i don't see them around on ocuk and anyway have their own gripes.

These will be fitted as internal drives in my case, I have a 640w PSU and as i will remove the 2 Samsung 750s they will replace power should not be a massive issue.

All advice appreciated!

 

[jbloggs]

I like the 1.5TB Samsung EcoGreen F2s, have 3 (three) in a WHS box...cool, quite, decent performance and lowest price...

 

[LazyG]

Thanks jbloggs!

Yeah, my Spinpoint F1s (HD753LJ) have been excellent, run much of the time with no errors so far and the F2s sound decent, so I am leaning in that direction but I have been out of the hardware game a while so wanted some opinions from you folks.

Also the seagate is on special this week so is priced close to the Samsung, so I wondered if it was worth the extra.

 

[jbloggs]

The 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (ST31500341AS) is not a "green" HDD as such, ie., it runs @ 7200rpm and not 5xxxrpm like the EcoGreen F2s and WD Greens, so it will have slightly better performance than the 2 green HDDs, but it will produce more heat and use more power...if I was going to boot from one of these (3) HDDs, I certainly would go for the Seagate as it is the fastest of the 3, but since they are going to be used for storage, the bit of extra performance is not really needed, so (I think) the EcoGreen F2 is still the good option...

 

[LazyG]

Thanks! I asked some friends elsewhere too and they also recommended the Samsungs, so I shall order them!

Great (and quick) help round here!

 

[JeffyB]

Can easily recommend the samsung 1.5tb eco green, fantastic drive, whisper quiet and runs very cool. old benchmark of mine from last year.