Which HDD?

[TW]Fox · 27 Jan 2008 at 11:28

I've run out of space.

I'm going to replace my 300Gb drive with a new 500GB drive and put the 300Gb drive into an external caddy.

I've also got a 320Gb WD AAKS which I'm very happy with. Now, I'm about to order a 500Gb AAKS but before I do, is it still the top drive for performance? I dont want anything noisy.

Cheers!

[TW]Fox · 27 Jan 2008 at 11:44

Whats the new AACS series drive? Same spec as the AAKS but appears more pricey?

rpstewart · 27 Jan 2008 at 12:22

The AACS is the "Green Power" version, it consumes about half the power of the AAKS (like 6W is noticeable) but at the cost of performance. There's not much hard evidence around but the anecdotal stuff points to the spindle speed being lower - WD rate it as 5400-7200rpm.

For a 500Gb at the moment I'd probably stick with the AAKS, the Seagate 7200.11 is quicker but a bit more expensive.

[TW]Fox · 27 Jan 2008 at 14:51

Cool. Just found another - ABYS. Whats this?

rpstewart · 27 Jan 2008 at 14:56

[TW]Fox;10980661 said:
ABYS. Whats this?

RAID edition of the AAKS, same platters but uprated bearings etc. It's designed for 24/7 use but it's unlikely that in real life you'd see any better reliability than from a normal AAKS.

Slackworth · 27 Jan 2008 at 17:13

For performance I'd say the list would be as follows:

1) ST3500320AS
2) WD5001ABYS
3) WD5000AAKS
4) HD501LJ
5) Hitachi T7K500
6) WD5000AACS

The GreenPower drives use a variable spin speed up to 7200 RPM. When not required they will slow down to save energy. As you can probably guess, not many overclockers like them.

[TW]Fox · 27 Jan 2008 at 18:40

Hang on, you are saying the ABYS is a faster drive than the AAKS?

RichL · 27 Jan 2008 at 20:03

Have a look here for the details: http://techreport.com/articles.x/10516

RE2 is slightly faster but probably not worth the price premium. Whichever you get make sure AAM (acoustic management which slows the drive) is disabled using Hitachi Feature Tool.

milkinc13 · 27 Jan 2008 at 20:09

rpstewart said:
RAID edition of the AAKS, same platters but uprated bearings etc. It's designed for 24/7 use but it's unlikely that in real life you'd see any better reliability than from a normal AAKS.

also more expensive than the AAKS

rpstewart · 27 Jan 2008 at 20:57

RichL said:
Have a look here for the details: http://techreport.com/articles.x/10516

RE2 is slightly faster but probably not worth the price premium. Whichever you get make sure AAM (acoustic management which slows the drive) is disabled using Hitachi Feature Tool.

Just be aware that the article compares the old KS & YS drives rather than the AAKS & ABYS ones.

clv101 · 27 Jan 2008 at 21:01

Slackworth said:
The GreenPower drives use a variable spin speed up to 7200 RPM. When not required they will slow down to save energy. As you can probably guess, not many overclockers like them.

No? But less power = less heat, something many overclockers do like. For many applications speed isn't important (MP3/photo/video store etc...)