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    WD 320 GB vs Seagate 500 GB?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Xtt, Aug 5, 2009.

  1. Xtt

    Xtt Notebook Consultant

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    So this is a sort of follow up thread to my other one:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=402542

    I've bought the external enclosure and it works, I was just wondering what hard drive to put in, the two I've been looking at are:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374
    and
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

    I'm really not fond of Seagate as I've had two (and a half) of their hard drives die on me in the past few years, however it looks like they're the only manufacturer of 500 GB 7200 RPM hard drives out there. I was just hoping for some advice and if you have any other choices, please tell me! :)
     
  2. ntheo

    ntheo Notebook Consultant

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    I'd stick with the WD only b/c I got a WD 750GB Green Drive in an enclosure and it performs flawlessly.

    I do have an older Seagate PATA 120GB for my aging desktop and so far no problems but it seems QC for Seagate has gone down.

    Do you want performance or space?
    I've never noticed any difference between a 5400 and 7200 drives.
     
  3. Xtt

    Xtt Notebook Consultant

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    Well, I have a eSata enclosure and according to the thread I put above, it seems that the hard drive speed DOES make a difference with eSata.

    Would the WD perform any better? I'm just preferential to it since the WD I currently own is amazing.
     
  4. Laptopz

    Laptopz Notebook Consultant

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  5. Xtt

    Xtt Notebook Consultant

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    Uh, could you point to the the exact post? It's kinda hard to wade through 120+ pages :X
     
  6. BeefyBeefo

    BeefyBeefo Notebook Consultant

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    I'm a big WD fan, so my choice would be obvious. :D

    I will be buying another one when I have the cash for a TB.
     
  7. Laptopz

    Laptopz Notebook Consultant

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  8. gengerald

    gengerald Technofile Extraordinaire

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    I am by all means a WD fanboy. They have taken care of me with their warranties and when you test your drives correctly, you do not see the common issues. I love WD and their warranty, but you do loose out on the space if you go with their 320. If you wait for WD's 7.2k500, it may not fit in either your laptop or enclosure. You may want to go with a 5.4k500 by WD. They are quick due to their density but still save power. Plus, you get 2 years of extra coverage on the warranty. On a side note, if you are not dedicated to 2.5", you can always snag a 3.5" that will be significantly quicker and cheaper for its size.

    I suggest you swap out your notebook's internal drive with a new drive and put your internal into the case. I have a 5.4k500 inside and a 7.2k200 in an Esata case...couldn't be better for my needs.

    By the way, if you are looking for awesome hard drive comparisons, we have a couple here, but Tom's Hardware is great. You can look at standardized tests for most of the newest '09 drives, which may make this decision a bit easier. Good luck!
     
  9. Xtt

    Xtt Notebook Consultant

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    Wow! Very useful! :D

    Yep, I'm a big fan of Tom's Hardware as well, although I go more for the graphics benchmarks :)


    Currently I have a Seagate Momentus.3 in here which seems to beast every other hard drive in terms of read and write speeds :D

    I think I might just grab the 5400 WD 500 GB hard drive since it seems to perform quite well too, however there's no info on how the Momentus 7200.4 performs :(
     
  10. comrade_commissar7

    comrade_commissar7 Notebook Evangelist

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    In your case, I guess SEAGATE is not a viable option to buy anymore. As for WD, WD gets easily damaged due to its vulnerability to bumps and low shock-proof resistance. A damaged WD can cause slowness and lagging to the notebook as what my Aunt recently experienced. She just had some few tolerable bumps which really did damage to her 160GB WD external HD. Hence, as I've read from other reviews, purchasing WD for your notebook is very risky if you are the mobile-type which means you don't station your laptop in one solitary place like desktop, but you usually bring it in school, office, etc. I guess if there is a shock-proof or shock resistant WD then there wouldn't be a problem regarding that. However, with this, I recommend BUFFALO (offers external HDs from 160GB to 1TB ).

    I recently bought a crystal black piano finish Buffalo HD-PEU2 250GB external hard drive and it was really worth the try, time, and money. Aside from the affordable price, sleek and robust design, light weight, and lucrative variety of colours, the package came with interesting features which you wouldn't find in WD or in SEAGATE. Such rare and unique features include:

    • memeo auto-back system (can be personalised)
    • Secure Lock Mobile (customisable)
    • TurboUSB which increases USB file transfer speed at an amazing rate up to 20%!!! (VERY TRUE which I myself experienced when I was transferring large video files and games like DOTA, NBA, RED ALERT 3 and HITMAN)
    • EconoManager which allows you to save time and energy consumption which you can personalise at your own discretion
    • Easy Set-up Guide and Reference
    • 3-Year warranty

    Try checking Buffalo's main site:
    http://www.buffalo-technology.com/products/external-drives/ministation/

    _____________________
    Hope this helped :)
     
  11. Xtt

    Xtt Notebook Consultant

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    Heh, I already have an enclosure :) I'm just looking for an internal hard drive to stick in there ;)

    Does Buffalo actually make their own hard drives?

    Well Dell.com has the 500 7200 for $85 right now which is quite a bit down from newegg's $120, not sure if I should get it
     
  12. gengerald

    gengerald Technofile Extraordinaire

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    Go for it. You won't be able to beat it. You can always bench it against your current one and see which is best for your conditions. Newegg's prices are generally fair market price, so at $85 on a Dell special, you cannot go wrong. Hard drives rarely go on huge savings (usually $10). I look for weeks and finally got on the whole HP mistake train for my 5.4k500, but that was a lucky fluke. GL