Which Hard-Drive Is Best Out Of These?

Ambro

Ambro

Ambro

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(1) Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM

(2) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 80GB ST380815AS SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM

(3) Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM

(4) Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 NCQ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32727)

I am looking for a really quiet one, and speed is also important. I was also thinking of getting two, does this give much of a performance increase or is it better to get just one and save money.
 
What about the raptor hard-drives. I heard they are noisy but is it worth it for the performance increase, plus I know that for about £30 they do silencers to cut the noise. Also is the 74GB quieter than the 36GB?
 
Raptors are good cos the spindle spins at 10,000 rpm. That is why it is so noisy. very difficult to reduce the noise produced.

So, you should only get them if you have the money or you are a computer hardware enthusiast like some of us here. If you're not, its not worthwhile to buy Raptors.
 
I can afford them but I would not want to waste money on getting a small performance increase. I have heard though that it makes a lot of difference, especially when browsing through vista/windows.
 
If you're contemplating getting two 80GB drives, then you're looking at £60 +delivery, and for that money you could get a 250GB or 320GB drive with 16MB cache.
These are the newer drives with perpendicular technology, and this gives them a higher data density, which in turn makes them faster.

Look for
'Samsung Spinpoint T' - These are the quietest of the three.
'Western Digital AAKS' - These are the fastest of the three.
'Seagate 7200.10' - These are on a par with the Western Digital AAKS drives, but you risk getting one with a noisy motor.

I recently bought a 320GB Samsung Spinpoint T series for less than £60 delivered. :)
It's sat on my desk waiting to be taken home and tried out.
 
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The maximum amount of GB I would need is 160, my main priority is speed and noise. At the moment I am thinking about getting a raptor 74GB and getting a silencer for it. Although you say the perpendicular ones are quite fast and quiet which sounds good, do you know how they match up to the raptors? I can't understand all those benchmarks?? :confused: :D
 
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In terms of bandwidth they're very close to the raptors, especially the 7200.10 and the AAKS drives (The Spinpoint T are a touch slower) but the raptors will always have faster access times dues to the higher rotation speeds.

There are quite a few threads on these forums, from people who have commented on the raptors v everything else, and opinion on real world performance appears mixed from what I've read. Some say the raptors are a lot quicker and others say there's nothing in it. For noise though, they all seem to agree that they are louder than most other drives.

Other than that I can't really say as I've not seen/heard one in action, but there should be plenty of comments around here :)
 
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Why do people seem to be ignoring the Hitachis? They are quiet and fast - just not the fastest (although close) and not the quietest. (although close too!)
 
I didn't realise the new 7k1000 series Hitachis were out yet, other than in the 1TB variety.
If they'd had a 200GB or 400GB version out this week, I'd have gone for one of those, but unfortunately they didn't so I couldn't.

The reviews look very promising though. :)
 
The $6m Dan said:
I didn't realise the new 7k1000 series Hitachis were out yet, other than in the 1TB variety.
If they'd had a 200GB or 400GB version out this week, I'd have gone for one of those, but unfortunately they didn't so I couldn't.

The reviews look very promising though. :)
Click to expand...
I don't think they've made it to the retail channel in any size yet.
 
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