Hard Drive Recommendations

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masterp

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Apr 19, 2009
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I am wanting to replace my curent hard drive with one that is faster and has more space. Here is the one that I currently have installed.

Seagate
Barracuda 7200.11
750gb
model: st3750630as

Here is my other computer info; if it will help

Intel Q9400 @2.66 ghz
NVDIA Ge Force GTX 460
4gb Corsair memory
Killer XENO Pro
mother board unkonown
 
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DragonD said:
Budget?
Click to expand...

Faster and more space = competing variables that do not work well with each other making the budget question a very appropriate statement. Also, which aspects of your computer do you want to make faster (loading games / turning on the computer etc)?

Solid state drives are the fastest things on the market but are currently expensive.

Assuming a 500 dollar budget:
1 x Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
1 x $275 = $275
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148348

3 x Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
1 x $70 = $210
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218

Total:
$485

SSD drive: programs only - if you turn on/off your computer often, put windows on here as well (if not it's not worth it).

Non SSD drives: Put it into raid 5 (for redundancy - if one drive fails, your data is still recovery). Raid 5 means total drives - 1 = your space. In this case, if you bought 3 drives, you'd have 1280GB of space. Even though you'll have a "redundant" system, you will want to keep backups of your files, if your computer were ever to completely fry, raid won't help you.

[edit]
For an explanation of raid5:
http://www.acnc.com/04_01_05.html
 
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My budget for this would be around $200. I not concerned with how fast the computer starts, it would be for loading games.
 
Two of these guys: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Raid 0 (for 2 terabytes of total space) or Raid 1 (For 1 terabyte of redundant data protection should one drive fail).

5 Year warranty

64MB cache

7200RPM

Sata 6.0GB/s (should your motherboard support it, if not, always will perform better on a newer motherboard that supports the transfer speeds or if you get a sata 6.0GB/s controller card like this)
 
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masterp said:
My budget for this would be around $200. I not concerned with how fast the computer starts, it would be for loading games.
Click to expand...

If you want to increase game loading times, then the only substantially faster option out of all of these is a solid state drive and even then you get to pick your choice between the fastest SSD to a larger SSD (still fast).

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX90G 3.5" 90GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $185
285mb/sec read - 275mb/sec write
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227601

SAMSUNG 470 Series MZ-5PA064/US 2.5" 64GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $140
250mb/sec read - 170mb/sec write
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147062

Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $144
265mb/sec read - 75mb/sec write
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148357

OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGTE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $134
285mb/sec read - 275mb/sec write
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227542

In comparison, a standard hard drive has 75mb/sec read - 75mb/sec write
 
My personal Opinion, any Western Digital Hard drive.. i have never had a problem with 'em and will keep buying them as i need them.
 
Honestly, keep your current 750.

Buy a SSD, doesn't need to be too big (you just need it for games if what I've interpreted form your posts are correct).

Dropping 200 on an SSD for your OS/games would be the best bet, but I will defer to other people on which ssd as I can't afford them and haven't really kept up to date on them.
 
above have some pretty good recommendations, I would go with a SSD drive as primary (OS most played games) and std drive as slave for files (movies, pics ect.)
 
Thank you all for the help. I think I'm going to go with a WD even though they're not my favorite. They seem right now to have the best bang for the buck. Lets hope they last ALOT longer then the last ones i've had.
 
masterp said:
Thank you all for the help. I think I'm going to go with a WD even though they're not my favorite. They seem right now to have the best bang for the buck. Lets hope they last ALOT longer then the last ones i've had.
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Glad we could be of help! WD may not be your favorite, but their warranty is pretty hard to beat! :thumbup:
 
That's why i'm not a fan of thiers hard drives, is because of the warranty. I had a very bad experience with them and the warranty.
 
masterp said:
That's why i'm not a fan of thiers hard drives, is because of the warranty. I had a very bad experience with them and the warranty.
Click to expand...

Sad to hear. In my work I've had to deal with 7 warranty claims (out of a couple hundred drives, mind you) and it was always super easy to have it taken care of... :(
 
I bought a WD hard drive for a desk top computer put it in and after about 2 weeks it went bad. I called the WD tech support they basically told me to go fly a kite, that they wouldn't warranty it. After that I never bought another WD hard drive again. That's why i'm still a little iffy on them.
 
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