Hybrid drive vs WD scorpio black.

For an OS drive this is a no brainer Hybrid all the way. But since these are data drives Im coming up short on reviews with proper data, but at this point the WD scorpio black (despite its 16mb cache and no NAND) is coming out on top of even the sata 6.0GB 8GB NAND seagate. Essentially I have my m4600 sitting docked at work so data to the secondary HDD isnt as important as the alienware 14 as it goes everywhere with me.

So at this point Im going to keep the hybrid in the precision and the scorpio in the alienware, but if yall have any other data that points me in the other direction Im all ears as Id love to not have to transfer over 600GB worth of data to the WD scorpio and just do a clean swap. Thanks!

 

As secondary drive for data it really doesn't matter which you choose since you already own both of them, they're both really close in performance.

The Scorpio Black might be a bit faster for non cache operations but it'll hardly be noticeable to the average user and taking into consideration of battery life the WD might be better for travel.

If this was a question on a new purchase between the Scorpio Black and Momentus XT as a secondary drive, I would have said go with the WD since it's much cheaper and slightly faster when served as a secondary hard drive with non cache operations.

The 750GB Scorpio Black is still the fastest 7200 RPM non Hybrid notebook hard drive on the market today and also most loudest one too...:thumbsup:

 

Yeah I own several WD scorpio blacks from the venerable 320GB, 500GB and 750GB now. All reliable as can be and fast, but trying to min max I wanted to have the fastest parts for my on the go laptop. From what Ive seen the scorpio black is indeed faster in data storage. Now if I was choosing an OS drive the hybrid is hands down the better of the two.

As for what the scenario is, my Alienware 14 comes with a 750GB WD Scorpio black while my precision m4600 houses a Seagate 750GB hybrid. Both laptops have a 2400GB+ msata ssd for OS/software. So for now Ill probably keep the scorpio in the alienware.

 

I think when it comes to reliability for 7200 RPM non Hybrid notebook hard drives the latest Travelstar 7K1000 (same one as my signature) takes the crown, since it's offers the best Shock tolerance of all consumer based notebook hard drives on the market and comes with an Enterprise feature called TrueTrack Technology (which absorbs external vibrations without disrupting the disk heads which further increases the Shock tolerance drive and increases reliability) but the Scorpio Black is still faster, smaller and louder...:thumbsup::

 

I thought the MomentusXT was basically useless as a data storage drive, no performance difference over a normal 7200 rpm drive, at least that's the experience I had with a 500 and 750 GB Hybrid as a data drive.

 

Even for non SSD cache operations the Momentus XT is still slightly faster than it's non Hybrid 7200 RPM notebook counterparts (Momentus 750GB and TravelStar 7K750) due to the higher buffer cache and better on board SATA controller (SATA-600 speeds for RAID configurations) and components used but it's still slightly slower than a Scoprio Black 750GB in most situations (data types) even as a secondary drive.

I'd highly doubt any user would notice the performance difference between the five biggest 7200 RPM notebook hard drives (XT and 7K1000 included) served as a secondary hard drive for data, the only differences any user would notice between the five notebook hard drives mentioned is the capacity (7K1000 being 1TB), noise and how much money they have left in their wallet (XT being more expensive).

 

Too bad the Momentus XT has been replaced by the new Seagate SSHD's. OP is lucky he still has one. Pretty hard to find the XT's now in anything but refurb, especially the top-end 750GB/8GB one. Shame because these are faster than the new SSHD's since they are 7200 RPM as opposed to 5400 RPM, not to mention SLC instead of MLC NAND. For non-cache operations the Momentus XT and Scorpio Black are pretty neck-and-neck based on the old benchmarks I've seen. The Black obviously poops all over the new 5400 RPM hybrid drives.

 

Yeah my 750GB hybrid drive is running great! (knocks on wood). I read that the scorpio black I have in the alienware was sitting at 130MB+ sequential vs the hybrid 111MB+ which makes the WD better for data. I was looking at the 1TB hybrid but I just cannot go to 5400RPm despite density making up for the speed decrease. Sadly I will be forced one of these days to move to a 1TB drive as my 750GB drives are full, but Im thinking there might be some data I can do away with tat should free some space.

Yeah Tsunade_Hime the only advantage to the hybrid drives are for OS drives as they have almost identical boots times as SSDs. So for those who cannot afford a SSD boot + cyclical Data its the perfect compromise. Fortunately for me work bought me an msata so I didnt get too into hybrid OS drive performance.

 

Go with the Scorpio Black. I've got two of them in my Alienware. Never had a moments trouble with them. There's no sense in spending that much on hybrid drives when they'll only be used for data storage anyway. If you were gonna move your user and programs folders over to free up SSD space, then I could see the justification in using a hybrid drive. But not for file storage.

 

I already own both drives. From the synthetic benchmarks I've seen the scorpio is faster so I'm keeping it in the alienware.

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Performance of your storage drive is completely irrelevant.

When you say "data drive", I assume you mean cheap bulk storage for media content (video, music, photos, pr0n, etc). An MP3 or BluRay rip will play back equally well regardless of the speed of the underlying storage device. In fact, it's actually advantageous to use a 5400rpm drive for these purposes, because they are generally cheaper, quieter, cooler, and more power-effiicent; all while maintaining equivalent sequential write speeds of a 7200rpm or Momentus XT Hybrid drive.

If you already own a 7200rpm / hybrid drive, then just flip a coin. Since you've already made the switch to SSDs for OS / apps / games storage, the only purpose that a mechanical HDD will ever serve for you (for any machine you own today or in the future) will be as inexpensive bulk storage, where performance is irrelevant.

 

Ditto that's what I said but in my case I use my secondary drive for games too so went with a HGST 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive since it's faster than all 5400 RPM hard drives on the market with the exception of the WD Blue Slim 1TB 5400 RPM which is the same speed (from reviews, benchmarks) and the quietest and lowest power consumption 7200 RPM hard drive on the market.

The WD Blue Slim 1TB was too expensive for my liking at the time of purchase although if it were just a bit cheaper and priced closer to my HGST 7K1000 1TB I'd take the WD Blue Slim 1TB over a HGST 7K1000 1TB any day for the quietness, speed and lower temps (too late now though).