320GB Hard Drives

I am looking into buying one of those new 320GB hard drives for my laptop.

Seems like there two currently on the market, the WD 3200BEVT and the Hitachi 5K320. Both seem to be similar, but I was wondering which one would be the cooler/quieter alternative?

Performance at this point probably would be a wash, from what I can understand these 320GB hard drives are very fast, but the heat emitted is a concern for me as my left palm rest on my HP DV2500 gets hot very quickly. So any idea which one would be cooler AND quieter?

I have not seen any head to head battles and reviews for the 5K320 are not exactly abundant.

Would appreciate if someone could give their opinion on the matter. Thank you.

 

Hitachi edges on speed, WD wins on quietness and power consumption so less heat would be a likely conclusion. I am doubtful if heat difference would be significant enough to be perceptible!

 

I'm using the new WD 320GBHDD in my external CoolMax aluminum enclosure. It's a superb drive. It's cool/warm all the time and run so quiet you have to place it against your ear to hear it spins. I recommend it.

 

There's also a Samsung HM320JI and the Fujitsu HMZ2320BG (which I am currently using). The Fujitsu is cooler than the WD2500BEVS which it replaced and it or the Samsung may be a good choice if you are worried about heat.. Toshiba and Seagate are also making 320GB 2.5" while 7200rpm 2.5" 320GB have just arrived but will invariably (forget the claims) use a bit more power and therefore run hotter than the 5400rpm HDDs.

This site has a good list of the 320GB HDDs except the Samsung.

John

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

I can't seem to find the Fujitsu anywhere online. :S
To be honest, not comfortable with Samsung drives, don't know why since they are a very respected company, I just can't seem to trust their drives.

I am very interested in a Seagate 320gb, as I think they tend to make the coolest hard drives, just don't think it's hit the market yet.

Seems like there is no conclusive answer..... guess I will just have to pick one and go with it.

Thanks guys.

If there are any more comments/opinions, I would be glad to hear them.

 

Although the 320GB drives are fast, I've also seen some people believing that they equal Hitachi 7K200 200GB performance.

From what I've read at Storage review they don't. In many areas the 7K200 is a lot faster.
http://www.storagereview.com/Hitachi250WD320.sr?page=0,3

PS. I own a 320GB Fujitsu. I did not buy if for speed, just because of the size.