Which 320-400GB?

-=PLuKE=-

-=PLuKE=-

-=PLuKE=-

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Defo need to upgrade my HD so was looking around and saw the Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 320GB ST3320620A ATA-100, Am looking at £80 tops :D but i want something thats pretty silent and all round good HD, I will just be used for data and i will run an 80GB what i have now for Windows.

Thanks in advance!!.

Luke
 
That's a Seagate 7200.10, probably the best all round desktop HDD going at the moment, the Samsung range are probably quieter but no where near as fast.

Can I ask why the PATA version though? If you have the option to use SATA then I would recommend that you do, PATA ports are becoming increasingly scarce on new motherboards so you could find yourself with a problem come your next upgrade.
 
I think that drive is probably your best bet, it seems very good value for money when compared to other drives, the 320GB version of the drive is ~£70 whereas the 400GB is ~£110 and the 5 year warranty from Seagate is good to have. I have the SATAII version and it's been running fine for a few months now.
 
Aren't small 80GB drives much slower than decent 500GB drives? Why run your OS on a slow drive - wouldn't it be better to use a partition on the fast drive?

ocuk_seagate_20Nov06.png


The 320GB is the sweet spot.
 
Am not all clued up on PC's TBH. I just thought sticking my OS and BF2 (only game i play) onto the 80GB which is a 7200rpm unit would be better as less info on there, than running everything on the 320GB?.

Luke
 
Ok, I have just looked and i have 2 SATA ports on my MB, So if i go down the route of SATA is there anything i need to do or is it just plug and play? I see some are SATA and SATA 2 will that work on mine?.

Also is there much diffrance in speed with ATA and SATA.

EDIT:

My MB is

RAID Support RAID 0 • RAID 1

Storage Controller Type(s) Serial ATA x 2, DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra) x 2


Luke
 
Last edited:
I've had some bad experiences with Maxtor disks so I avoid them these days.

The Seagate you mentioned in your original post is a technological generation ahead of all the competition at the moment due to it's use of Perpendicular Recording technology. This more data to be stored on each platter hence it can be read quicker, up to 15% faster than comparable disks.
 
Just been reading people reviews and some have been DOA not good!.

Think i will go for the 7200.10 in IDE, Only reason why is i have heard funny storys that SATA doesnt always work plus mine MB can only take SATA 133.

Luke
 
So what would be the best then? The the Hitachi T7K500 or the 7200.10?

Sorry for this but am no computer wizz, Just want something thats good be quick and pretty silent and not die on me.

Luke
 
What about the RE2 WD5000YS 500GB drive from Westen Digital? At ~£130 inc VAT = 26p / GB it's good value to.

Came out very well on the Storage Review 500GB test - better than the Seagate 7200.10.
 
So what would be the best then? The the Hitachi T7K500 or the 7200.10?

Sorry for this but am no computer wizz, Just want something thats good be quick and pretty silent and not die on me.

Luke
 
Personally, I would go with the Western Digital SE16 Drive. Reason being that it uses less power than the other drives and has lower temperatures. Also its pretty quiet. From what I've read, Seagate 7200.10 drives are one of the loudest drives on the market now. If you have a lot of fans in your PC though, the noise shouldnt bother you.

If out and out speed is all you want, go with the SATA version of either the Seagate or Hitachi drives - either of them are pretty much the quickest things out there right now.

Also your reluctance to embrace SATA is not warranted. SATA has been around for a few years now and is quite a mature technology. It is as reliable as IDE and potentially faster. Also, if you buy a SATA drive now, it will be usable with any future motherboard that you may buy in the next 3 yrs, say. The same cannot be said about IDE.
 
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