The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Which Hard Drive should I get.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by H3FTW, Oct 6, 2008.

  1. H3FTW

    H3FTW Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    7,197
    Messages:
    28,842
    Likes Received:
    2,173
    Trophy Points:
    581
    See the Tom's Hardware 2.5" HDD charts. the Seagate 7200.3 looks to be the best choice, particularly for power consumption.

    John
     
  3. H3FTW

    H3FTW Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    The Seagate has the lowest latency - 4.17ms vs 4.2ms vs 5.5ms (the seek time is not listed, but I assume it's 12ms, just like the other two) - does that make it much faster? Newegg says that the Wester Digital HD is low comsumption, but that may not me true and the Seagate may in fact be lower power. Also do any of them have a free-fall sensor?
     
  4. nox_uk

    nox_uk Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    115
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    grrr, you're not the only one in this quandry... though throw in a 500gb 5400 rpm into the mix for me, not sure i'd actually see much speed difference, but I would notice capacity, well, eventually.
     
  5. joeyrb

    joeyrb Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    10
    Messages:
    366
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    From what I have read, Hitachi would be the most reliable, (but may be a bit noisier than the others), but that's nit picking, it's not going to sound like a vacuum cleaner no matter how loud a drive may be.
     
  6. vuong05

    vuong05 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    302
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    from the list above, the seagate would be my choice. Had nothing but great experience with them in the past.
     
  7. H3FTW

    H3FTW Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Do any of them have free-fall sensors, Newegg doesn't list it, but I know that at least the Western Digital HD can have that option.
     
  8. nomoredell

    nomoredell Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    49
    Messages:
    1,269
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    hard drives are generic, brands dont matter.
    all three are 7200 rpm, 16mb cache.
     
  9. Michel.K

    Michel.K 167WAISIQ

    Reputations:
    353
    Messages:
    1,216
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I'm satisfied with my WD3200BEKT, i've noticed ~5mins lower battery capacity compared to my old 4200rpm hitachi, but i can't blame, i can get much more done quicker with this drive than before so it could be because of increased activity overall, before i had huge hdd-lag when opening apps or doing things.
    The noise isn't anything to complain about either, mostly it's totally quiet, no sqeeking sound or so, i only noticed some noise the first week of usage, then it's gone quiet, i don't know why, never experienced a hdd like this before when it comes to noise.

    Overall i'm very satisfied with the HDD, great performance (compared to my 25MB/s hitachi, hehe) it's doing about ~65-70MB/s. My C: @ 50GB does 85MB/s.

    I've always bought seagate HDD's since the first time i bought a computer back in -98. And i've only had good experience with seagate, but i wanted to test a new make.
    What i'm saying, is that i think you'll be satisfied with any of the makes, seagate, hitachi or WD.
     
  10. H3FTW

    H3FTW Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Do you know if you HD has a free-fall sensor?
     
  11. mystery905

    mystery905 Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    224
    Messages:
    1,287
    Likes Received:
    17
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Google is your friend....
     
  12. Michel.K

    Michel.K 167WAISIQ

    Reputations:
    353
    Messages:
    1,216
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I have the WD3200B EKT without, the one with free-fall sensor is the B JKT :)
     
  13. H3FTW

    H3FTW Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    7
    Messages:
    79
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    That helps a lot, thanks