Which hard drive to get?

flexo786

flexo786

flexo786

Associate
Joined
9 May 2007
Posts
1,100
hi
looking to get a hard drive to store my videos on so looking for something reliable. now after reading up ive narrowed it down to 2 choices the Samsung Spinpoint F1 750 GB or Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640 GB both under £65
Out of the two which one tends to be more reliable and performance wise would the western digital be faster than the samsung or are they about the same?
 
The WD is somewhat faster as it uses 320GB platters (F1 750GB uses 250GB ones). Denser platters = more speed. The 640GB Samsung drive will be out soon and that will also use 320GB platters, nothing wrong with the WD though.
 
I've just got a WD6400AAKS and it's excellent. Compared to the raptor it replaced, it's virtually silent, and surprisingly quick.
 
flexo786 said:
how are the samsungs for reliability as ive never had one. had western digital and that still going strong at moment
Click to expand...

As good as any other manufacturer, and if things go wrong you'll have a brand new drive back 2-3 working days after you post the old one off. I have more than 70 Samsung drives at home and I'm going to buy another 50 or so.
 
I just had a good search round the net and here for benchmarks of the WD 640GB. The 750GB F1's I have beat or match every one I could find except in access times were are <1ms slower, and I was using a really, really old SATA controller. So I guess the WD's are completely overhyped. I know the larger platter Samsung F1's definitely outdo my 750GB ones however.
 
The 640GB WD:

wdc6400wn4.jpg


My windows drive and the machine's in use. [Vista, indexing enabled]

Seagate 500GB Jobby: (.10 Barracuda I think) [For the benefit of the below post.]

st3500eq1.jpg
 
Last edited:
can i ask when using hd tune what are you supposed to be looking for as before i just used to buy the harddrive that had the best GB to price and its only recently ive started reading up about harddrives
 
flexo786 said:
can i ask when using hd tune what are you supposed to be looking for as before i just used to buy the harddrive that had the best GB to price and its only recently ive started reading up about harddrives
Click to expand...

I've thrown a slower disk into the post above.

You should be able to see the huge differences in transfer speeds between to two drives.
 
so theoretically the harddrive with lower access time and highest transfer rate is faster and if the difference is small its best to get one thats more value for money
 
flexo786 said:
so theoretically the harddrive with lower access time and highest transfer rate is faster and if the difference is small its best to get one thats more value for money
Click to expand...

It depends how close they are.

In my two comparrisons the Seagate is sluggish and very VERY noticable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom