Do I really need a 5400rpm storage drive?

With moving to an SSD for O/S I also need to consider what hdd will be in the ultrabay for storage. I'm very happy with my Scorpio Black's performance, but it of course uses much more power when active. Thinking about usage though, I'd think the storage drive would be on stand-by/spun-down whenever on battery, so is there any reason to compromise the situations when high throughput is needed?

 

I only got my 640gb scorpio blue because it was on sale for $50 and I only use it to store steam games. If you move a lot of stuff often on the drive, keep your scorpio black. The power consumption is greater but it's not very big.

 

I don't see the point of using a 5400rpm especially you already has the black.

Just make sure windows don't touch it under normal usage(i.e. don't put page file or other things there) and disable indexing so it would be kept as spin down most of the time and power is not a concern.

 

I prefer slower drives as storage. If it truly is storage you don't need the fastest read/write speeds, you'll only be moving data there when you need to. And slower RPM drives mean less heat, which is the enemy of computer components. I use the Caviar Green drives for storage for my computers, perfectly acceptable speeds for storage drives.

 

Since you already have the drive, there's not much sense in going out and buying another as noted.

The equivalent 5400RPM drive (like WD's Scorpio Blue series) will run a bit quieter but not by much; the power consumption difference will be minimal. Stick with your current drive.

 

My current drive is a WD3200BEKT. It's running close to full capacity so time to sell it and get something larger anyway. I'm leaning toward another 7200rpm hdd since unlike most people I really like the white noise they produce, helps me concentrate. The extra speed will be nice as well when needed.

 

The WD5000BEKT might be your ticket -- it's not that quiet but not annoying, either. Also consider the Samsung HM640JJ -- 640GB 7200RPM, gets good reviews and has very respectable performance. It's not quite as fast as the WD5000BEKT but you wouldn't notice the difference between them in everyday use.
Seagate makes a 750GB 7200RPM notebook drive (ST9750420AS). For a 7200RPM drive its performance is not that great, but as a storage drive that hardly matters.

So, there's three choices.

BTW -- your current WD3200BEKT is still one of the very fastest 7200RPM drives available today.

I usually recommend a WD5000BEVT or WD6400BEVT for storage use -- 500GB and 640GB 5400RPM drives, respectively. Quiet + reliable.

 

I concur with Charles, I have a 500 and 640 GB Scorpio Blue, both run fairly cool and quiet, no problems so far. Both can be had ~55 to 70 USD respectively.

 

Careful with the Scorpio Blues because the one I have is the BPVT model which has the advanced format... I installed Linux as well on it and it seemed to misalign the drive and it had to be realigned.

 

I love my current drive. It's a 2nd gen 3200BEKT and blazing fast.

Just saw the WD6400BEVT is $49 on newegg right now(!). That might be too cheap to pass, but it looks like the reliability isn't as solid as most WD products. There's also the issue of the spin-down, but I think there are multiple ways to solve it. Did you guys experience it with yours?

Current drives in contention are:

WD6400BEVT- $49
WD5000BEKT- $70
HM640JJ- $80

500gb 5400rpm hdd's are only $10 cheaper than the 5000BEKT.

 

I had an HM640JJ for some time, used as backup then as a main os drive. Very quick. But as I've said elsewhere, when in my hdd caddy the 640JJ never seemed to enter into a lower power state. The blue led on the caddy as two brightness levels, the HM6400JJ was always on the highest level whereas all my 5400rpms and even the Seagate Momentus XT that I had in the caddy entered a lower power state.

Have to say the deal on the WD6400BEVT is a great buy for $49.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I just ordered the WD6400BEVT. It's on the slower side from all the reviews I've gone through, but at that price I can't not at least give it a try.

It'll just be handling storage duty. The main thing I'll be looking for is whether it's noticeably slower opening movies than the WD3200BEKT and whether it gives any problems with frequent spin-down.

Just waiting on a Corsair Nova price drop now.

 

You won't be disappointed with the 640 Scorpio Blue, I installed it in my D620. Benchmarks are okay, but it's a work laptop.

 

The WD6400BEVT is a good choice. I wouldn't recommend it for use as a primary drive since its performance is so-so, but as a secondary drive, definitely. It's one of the quietest drives available (though as with every mechanical drive, you'll still be able to hear it in a quiet room ).

Yes the WD3200BEKT is a great drive; I would have bought it over the WD5000BEKT if I didn't want the extra space.

Regarding the spin-down issue; my WD5000BEVT Blue is only used as a storage drive, so I have not noticed anything. My WD5000BEKT is quite responsive, but apparently nearly all WD drives spin down whether you tell them to or not in Windows; google for a fix (it involves using Western Digital's wdidle3.exe utility). I applied it to the 5000BEKT no problem. PM me if you need help with it.
Spin downs are very annoying; IMO a drive should never spin down for any reason, unless the computer is shut off.

 

My WD6400BPVT seem to spin down and makes periodic clicks. I fixed it by using QuietHDD

 

Afaik, wdidle3.exe is to prevent the head from being parked a few times a minute to prevent going through load cycles rapidly. This is different from the spin-down issue from what I've read.

My WD3200BEKT-60V5T never spins down. What it does is constantly vary the rotation speed with activity. If I remember correctly the first-gen WD3200BEKT behaved the same way. This current particular unit doesn't seem to have some power conserving features according hdtune. I don't know how much influence that has, but it's a got a burst speed of 156mb/s which is faster than any other drive I've come across including other WD3200BEKT's, WD5000BEKT and 7K500. Burst speed and small file IOPS (something WD3200BEKT's are very good at) are the two main criteria I usually look for in an OS drive.

What does this look like for your drives?

 

Here's what mine looks like; all those boxes are checked.