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    Best 7200 RPM Drive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by falcon26, Jun 5, 2009.

  1. falcon26

    falcon26 Notebook Evangelist

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    Looking for a good low power but fast 7200 rpm drive. Something around 160gb to 320gb. Any ideas....

    Thanks
     
    falcon26, Jun 5, 2009
    #1
  2. qhn

    qhn Notebook User

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    SATA, IDE ....?

    cheers ...
     
    qhn, Jun 6, 2009
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  3. mullenbooger

    mullenbooger Former New York Giant

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    for sata, any of the 320gb 7200rpms made by hitachi, wd, or seagate. Theres a 7200rpm 500gb by seagate that is the fastest.
     
    mullenbooger, Jun 6, 2009
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  4. adesai

    adesai Notebook Consultant

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    Which is better WD Black or Seagate 7200.4(assuming you get the latest firmware).
     
    adesai, Jun 6, 2009
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  5. falcon26

    falcon26 Notebook Evangelist

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    I was wondering that too. I was either going to get the WD black 320gb or the seagate 7200.4 320gb drive...and this would be sata
     
    falcon26, Jun 6, 2009
    #5
  6. Han Bao Quan

    Han Bao Quan The Assassin

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    Avoid the 320Gb version. Go for the 500Gb or 250Gb 7200.4.
     
    Han Bao Quan, Jun 6, 2009
    #6
  7. falcon26

    falcon26 Notebook Evangelist

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    Any reason why to avoid the 320gb version?
     
    falcon26, Jun 6, 2009
    #7
  8. Kevin

    Kevin Egregious

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    Go with the 250GB Seagate 7200.4, or if you need more space, take the 500GB version.
     
    Kevin, Jun 6, 2009
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  9. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Phil, Jun 6, 2009
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  10. D3X

    D3X the robo know it all

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    The 320GB version uses 2x 160GB platters whereas the 500GB uses 2x250GB platters, 250GB version uses a single platter.

    250GB platters have a higher storage density than the 160GB, therefore increases transfer overall speed over the lesser.

    So therefore, the 250GB (1x250) with a single platter drive will be faster than the 320GB (2x160) drive.
     
    D3X, Jun 6, 2009
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  11. aidil

    aidil Notebook Evangelist

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    Which 250GB are you referring to? WD Black 250GB is a 2 platter according to their spec sheet:
    http://www.westerndigital.com/en/library/portable/2879-701275.pdf
     
    aidil, Jun 6, 2009
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  12. ZevoOptik

    ZevoOptik Notebook Consultant

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    He was referring to the Seagate 7200.4 series, uses a platter density of up to 250gb.

    As for what is faster:
    the WD Black is faster for random access/read/writes.
    the seagate is faster in overall sustained speed/read/writes.

    It all depends on what you are going to be using it for as to what is faster.
     
    ZevoOptik, Jun 6, 2009
    #12
  13. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    The reason to avoid the 320GB version of the Seagate 7200.4 is that people have been posting HDTune results showing it to be slower than the 250GB and 500GB version. This may have been caused by how Seagate uses the space on the second platter (not using the fastest area).

    Depending on which models you're looking at of course.

    For example: WD32000BEKT is slightly faster than Seagate 7200.4 250GB.

    WD Black is also faster in I/O, which is very important for real life speed.

    Even though Seagate is faster in synthetic benchmarks, WD3200BEKT is faster in every real world benchmark posted on Techreport.

    So in real life, I don't know in what situation the Seagate is faster. Maybe for video editing but it would be interesting to see some benchmarks to prove it.
     
    Phil, Jun 7, 2009
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  14. falcon26

    falcon26 Notebook Evangelist

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    I went with the WD3200BEKT for $79 at newegg....
     
    falcon26, Jun 7, 2009
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  15. aidil

    aidil Notebook Evangelist

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    Great. But is it noisy?

    There are complaints about WD3200BEKT being noisy, while WD3200BJKT (suppose to be same with WD3200BEKT but with free fall sensor) that I have is truly silent.
     
    aidil, Jun 7, 2009
    #15