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    SATAII 500GB to be used as storage drive

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by kevindd992002, Nov 26, 2011.

  1. kevindd992002

    kevindd992002 Notebook Virtuoso

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    What is the best SATAII 500GB (in terms of sequential speed and access times) HDD to be used as a storage drive?
     
    kevindd992002, Nov 26, 2011
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  2. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    Hitachi 7K500 (and the most silent too).

    (assuming that you are asking for 2.5" drives.)


    --
     
    ramgen, Nov 26, 2011
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  3. kevindd992002

    kevindd992002 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Oh ok. That's actually the drive that I have with my external USB 3.0 enclosure and it is good. Yes I'm referring to a 2.5" drive. Now, are the prices of these drives also high as of the moment?

    How about the Samsung Spinpoint M8?
     
    kevindd992002, Nov 26, 2011
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  4. ramgen

    ramgen -- Morgan Stanley --

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    Yes, due to the flood in Taiwan it is not expected to go down for another year or so.

    Have never used it...


    --
     
    ramgen, Nov 26, 2011
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  5. gull_s_777

    gull_s_777 Notebook Consultant

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    me using M8
    working fine......
     
    gull_s_777, Nov 26, 2011
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  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Samsung M8 500GB for lowest power consumption.
     
    Phil, Nov 26, 2011
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  7. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Buy on price. One drive's about as good as the next in my experience. Noise levels can be hit or miss too.
     
    ZaZ, Nov 26, 2011
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  8. kevindd992002

    kevindd992002 Notebook Virtuoso

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    What do you exactly mean?
     
    kevindd992002, Nov 26, 2011
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  9. James D

    James D Notebook Prophet

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    I would wait till April when price fall back
     
    James D, Nov 26, 2011
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  10. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    People here love to debate about which drive is better based on the benchmarks, but it's been my experience in real world usage, they all perform about the same. Throughput is often the benchmark used to justify better performance, but unless you're putting a heavy load on the controller, which typical notebook use does not do, it won't make much of a difference in real world usage. It's the seek times, not the throughput, that make a drive seem more or less fast. Most drives of the same rotational speed perform so close, you'd be hard pressed to tell them apart.

    Noise levels might be a better reason to pick one drive over another, but that's hit or miss too. I've seen two drives of the same model, one noisy, the other not. It's luck of the Irish on that one in my experience.
     
    ZaZ, Nov 26, 2011
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  11. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    I agree with Zaz mostly.

    On the other hand, when you're able to pick the drive with the best performance or lowest power consumption why not do it. Even though the difference are sometimes small.

    NBRs latest review showed a 28 minute difference between WD and Samsung on similar drives. Not bad in my opinion.

    [​IMG]
     
    Phil, Nov 26, 2011
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  12. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    Power consumption might be a good reason, but an extra six minutes is a little over 1%. There are any number of legitimate reasons that could have skewed the numbers one way or another.
     
    ZaZ, Nov 26, 2011
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  13. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Between the two 1TB drives there was 28 minutes difference while browsing the web. With energy efficient notebooks with long battery life I've often noticed similar differences.
     
    Phil, Nov 26, 2011
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  14. kevindd992002

    kevindd992002 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Oh ok. It's just that sequential speed is more important than seek times when one uses the drive as a storage drive :)
     
    kevindd992002, Nov 26, 2011
    #14