Upgrading dv8t-quad HDD

Well... I am planning on upgrading my dv8`s HDD(320GB is damn small). Do you guys think I should buy the hard drive caddy from NewmodesUS or direct from the HP Parts and Store? It costs around $40 + $5 for shipping from Newmodes and costs around $50 + $10 for shipping from the HP parts store. Is Newmodes a reliable and trustworthy store?
As well... I am not sure which hard drive I want to get. I have two choices:
-WD Black Scorpio 320GB 7200rpm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280
-WD Blue Scorpio 640GB 5400rpm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136459
Which hard drive caddy should I purchase and which hard drive do you think is better? Is the 640GB 5400rpm HDD much slower than the 320GB 7200rpm HDD?

 

#1 - many hp owners have gotten caddys from newmode.us - they are a great source and very trustworthy/reliable. i got my dv7t caddy from there without an issue.

#2 - for the price vs storage, right now, the 500gb western digital 5400rpm drives are at a good price point. i picked up 2 500gb drives for $69.99 each during amazon's cyber monday. you can find them for around $80-$90 now.

if you want fast drives, look around in this sub forum for the long thread on hitachi drives - it should be on this page or the next one. those drives have gotten rave reviews.

if you are a regular home user, then the speeds wont matter. if you want speed then go for the 7200rpm drives. im a power user but wanted more storage and didnt care about performance. for me, the most important criteria was that the drives had to be cheap and 500 gigs. performance was the last thing on my mind. your tastes may vary.

 

okay thanks timesquare, I think I`ll go with the quantity rather than quality =D. I am planning on using this drive as a secondary drive with my 320GB 7200rpm drive as my primary drive. But I am wondering, do you think I should go with 500GB or 640GB?

 

depends on how much you want to spend.

according to amazon, the 500gb western digital drive is $87.99 and the 640gb drive is $132.... both are 5400rpm

to me, an additional 140gb of storage (it's less actually) is not worth the extra ~$40.... but again, maybe to you it's worth it.

the 500gb drives are the good compromise right now between capacity and price. but it all depends on how much you want to spend and if you really think that you're going to be using ALL of the space. if the 500 seems too small, go for the 640. it's your choice.

 

and thank you for the rep i have returned the favor.

 

if i were u , i'd get the Hitachi 7K500... its on newmegg and costs about $100.. its 500GB but offers half the performance of an SSD so its worth it... otherwise get the Western Digital 640GB hard drive... try to stay away from seagate ones... they're prone to failure most of the time..

 

^ I second the recommendation for WD drives. I have had friends with stacks of dead seagate PC drives. I have not had experience with other brands (hitachi, fujitsu, etc)