Replacement HDD

[Johan]

I need to replace my DOA SATA HDD on my desktop PC. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations here. It will be a general purpose rig, for gaming (not high-end, blazing-speed gaming), and all the other work people do on their home PCs.

I'm currently looking at two very different options:

WD Caviar SE 16 at $74.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136131)

OR

WD VelociRaptor at $229.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260)

I'm open to an "in-between" option. I really would like something that has decent speeds for gaming/surfing/media files, but I don't like paying through the nose for the VelociRaptor with such a hit in storage space, as it's a small drive for the money.

Any suggestions? Help?! Thanks in advance! :)

[Disgustipated]

640 GB Caviar

Still the best bang for the buck.

[JRR1285]

I personally would recommend the 750 over the Raptor. I would say go for one with a 32mb cache if you don't mind spending a little more. I was also displeased with the amount of noise my friends Raptor makes, it has kept me from purchasing one.

[JRR1285]

640 GB Caviar

Still the best bang for the buck.

As he said http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

[Alkanos]

Hmm, I've been thinking about grabbing a new hard drive. I have less than 500GB of space on my computer, and it's starting to squeeze just a bit. Maybe I'll wait til prices go down a bit more though, especially since my wallet's a bit lighter after buying presents... :D

As a side note, I'm starting to get sick of manufacturers advertising 640GB! and only actually giving you 600. It wasn't bad back when it was just MB, a 640MB drive would only be short about 12MB. But with Gigabytes (and I shudder to think how bad it'll be with Terabytes...) you lose over 3 times as much space!

And the "People understand 1000 better than 1024" excuse is starting to wear quite thin, since the only people who would be confused don't care about anything besides the GB value. So they'd better stop it before someone goes into Nerd Rage and sues for false advertising! :p

[Johan]

Thank you to all for the help. Following the above advice, I think I've decided on on this drive. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283) 32MB cache. 7200 RPM drive speed. 750 GB storage. $90.00.

Thank you again!

As a side note, I'm starting to get sick of manufacturers advertising 640GB! and only actually giving you 600. It wasn't bad back when it was just MB, a 640MB drive would only be short about 12MB. But with Gigabytes (and I shudder to think how bad it'll be with Terabytes...) you lose over 3 times as much space!

I spent quite a few hours late last night reading up about the drives, and this was an interesting back-and-forth issue. On the one hand, many people indicated disappointment in their reviews of hard drives that the available storage is quite a bit lower than stated/advertised. On the other hand, PC enthusiasts and rig-building pros seemed to find it a silly complaint.

I don't understand the technical reasons for it, but I'd love to just know what I'm actually getting, not what they say I'm getting! :)

Thanks again to all. I do appreciate it. Now, to order my new drive! I'm getting to the point where I should just build an entire PC. I've put in a video card, a power supply, and now a hard drive. The list of remaining components is shrinking fast. :)

[LiquidRain]

And the "People understand 1000 better than 1024" excuse is starting to wear quite thin, since the only people who would be confused don't care about anything besides the GB value. So they'd better stop it before someone goes into Nerd Rage and sues for false advertising! :p
That's because you are getting exactly what you're supposed to be getting. (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html)

HDD manufacturers are using the correct terminology. Want to blame someone? Blame operating system makers. They should be listing the binary (powers of 2) sizes as MiB and GiB, not MB and GB.

Also, Johan, we recommended the 640GB because it outperforms all other desktop drives by a fair margin. It comes close to the Raptor in performance in a lot of areas.

[Johan]

Also, Johan, we recommended the 640GB because it outperforms all other desktop drives by a fair margin. It comes close to the Raptor in performance in a lot of areas.

That has me pretty curious. Is there some difference between the 750 GB model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283) and the 640 GB model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319) that I'm missing? :confused: The information I can view at Newegg seems to indicate the only difference between the two is a small price differential and the difference in storage capacity. They're both Caviar Black, 7200 RPM, 32 MB cache, 3.0 Gb/s.

:confused: I don't know a lot about it, really. I'm certainly no expert at building a rig!

[Disgustipated]

That has me pretty curious. Is there some difference between the 750 GB model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283) and the 640 GB model (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319) that I'm missing? :confused: The information I can view at Newegg seems to indicate the only difference between the two is a small price differential and the difference in storage capacity. They're both Caviar Black, 7200 RPM, 32 MB cache, 3.0 Gb/s.

:confused: I don't know a lot about it, really. I'm certainly no expert at building a rig!

Yes. The 750 GB has 3x 250 GB platters, while the 640 GB has 2x 320 GB platters. Higher data density on those platters = better performance.

[Johan]

That certainly makes sense. Thank you!

[biosc1]

If it's any help, I replaced all the WD Raptors that we had at work because they were acting up...replaced them with WD 640GB's (because I had one in my home pc)...so 10 computers crunching code 5 days a week for months...and not one hiccup :)

[Spectre-7]

That's because you are getting exactly what you're supposed to be getting. (http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html)

HDD manufacturers are using the correct terminology. Want to blame someone? Blame operating system makers. They should be listing the binary (powers of 2) sizes as MiB and GiB, not MB and GB.

Or, we could just do as we always did prior to 2007, and understand that HD manufacturers use decimal prefixes rather than binary.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I call 2^30 a gibibyte. Perhaps the IEC would've gained more traction with their new standard if the words didn't sound completely retarded.

[LiquidRain]

Or, we could just do as we always did prior to 2007, and understand that HD manufacturers use decimal prefixes rather than binary.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I call 2^30 a gibibyte. Perhaps the IEC would've gained more traction with their new standard if the words didn't sound completely retarded.
Not gonna argue that. :)

[Johan]

Well, I went with the 750 GB HDD. I hope it will be adequate. I'm not exactly building a gaming rig., per se. My formerly stock Compaq now has numerous new parts in it, and I think next time, I'm going to just build my own damn PC to my own specifications, rather than buying a stock piece of underpowered crap that needs to be operated on every several months with replacement parts. :)

BTW: Reinstalling all my shit is a PAIN IN THE ASS! Ugh! I've been at it for hours and probably have a half a day or more to get it all decked out like I want (software and the like). Argh. I need a better backup method.

[ShivaX]

Well, I went with the 750 GB HDD. I hope it will be adequate.

Unless you're stealing entire libraries of HD movies and every album ever made it will be more than you'll ever use. Hell even if you're doing those things, odds are you'll be fine (though HD movies can get fairly insanely huge by most accounts, so you might have space issues after you've downloaded 50 or so).

I've got like 640GB with like 380+ free atm and I don't think I've deleted a damn thing since I made the system. The only big thing not installed is WoW, but pretty much everything else I own is on here as well as bunch of stupid crap thats just taking up space and I should probably delete.

[Libuke]

Unless you're stealing entire libraries of HD movies and every album ever made it will be more than you'll ever use. Hell even if you're doing those things, odds are you'll be fine (though HD movies can get fairly insanely huge by most accounts, so you might have space issues after you've downloaded 50 or so).

I've got like 640GB with like 380+ free atm and I don't think I've deleted a damn thing since I made the system. The only big thing not installed is WoW, but pretty much everything else I own is on here as well as bunch of stupid crap thats just taking up space and I should probably delete.

My neighbour said the same thing when he got his new 40GB drive, when they came out and where the biggest thing available.

[Johan]

Unless you're stealing entire libraries of HD movies and every album ever made it will be more than you'll ever use.

I'll fill it with homemade porn with my wife. :D Actually, I've loaded everything but the games on it, and have 633 gigs free. You're right; I'll never fill it, personally.

I may, however, break it. I have that kind of luck.