m-SATA + Hybrid drive = does it make sense?

Hello everyone,

I'm about to buy new notebook (Dell L521x most probably) and I've been wondering about the most optimal drives configuration.

Single high capacity SSD drive is too expensive so I decided to buy 128GB m-SATA SSD Samsung PM830 (MZMPC128HBFU) for OS + regular hard drive for data. Now I have few concerns:

1. If OS will be installed on m-SATA is there any logical reason to pick up 7.200 instead of 5.400 HDD? 5.400 should be less loud and less hot. 7.200 will be of course faster when copying files.

2. Let's say I will decide for 7.200 anyway. Is it then worth to buy Seagate Momentus XT ST750LX003 750 GB second generation? Without m-SATA drive that would be the best choice, but with OS installed on m-SATA there is a question of the purpose of having additional 8GB of SSD space in Momentus XT.

Is it possible to have 128GB m-SATA for OS, 750 GB for data and 8GB SSD inside Momentus XT for caching?
Or maybe it's better to choose 1TB 5.400 RPM?

Any suggestions are very welcome!

 

Personally, I'd get 5400RPM drives since they typically have a higher capacity at a lower price point, if they are the same price, then go for the 7200RPM. Generally, the heat/noise/power consumption isn't significantly different, but always check out reviews of the drives you are considering in case there are. The difference in speed for storage is minimal, so by extension, I wouldn't get the hybrid drive for storage purposes either. I'd probably go for the 128GB mSATA + 1TB 5400RPM drive if the price is right.

 

If the drive is going to be used only for storage, i agree. If you're thinking of installing programs, i'd get a 7.2K RPM drive, but not necessarily an hybrid.

 

Thanks for the answers! So the root question to decide firstly between hybrid XT and some regular 7.200/5.400 is: Will 8GB SSD memory in XT give better results by storing cache then storing cache on m-SATA 128GB together with OS?

 

No. Your computer would perform better with cache/page file, etc placed on the mSATA drive, not the hybrid drive. If you're using an mSATA SSD + HDD combination, I would suggest going for a 5400 RPM power-efficient HDD with a large storage capacity.

 

So I guess Momentus XT is a perfect drive for a notebook without m-SATA and no founds for SSD.

Ok, then let's reject HDD with SSD space.

I'm a little bit afraid of taking 5.400 drive honestly. Is there 5.400 drive you can recommend? 1TB or 750GB.

 

WD, Hitachi, Samsung - doesn't make too much difference.

 

The only problem I noticed is that non of the 1TB 5.400 drives has anti-shock system included. Only Seagate Momentus 5400.7 750 GB has it.

 

And why do you want anti-shock? Do you plan on walking around with the laptop and using it? Are you using it outdoors? Are you clumsy?

 

But then again, you don't plan on dropping the notebook, do you? It's something nice to have, but in 7 years of using notebooks with HDDs, i never managed to kill one.

 

Anti-shock is not really protection from dropping notebook I think. I guess that once dropped form 1-1,5m high it will not be saved by Anti-shock system. Very often I move my notebook around the home and I also travel a lot with a bus. While traveling I hear very often when my current hdd's head (with anit-shock protection) is locked because of the shakes from the outside.

And even if there is no reasonable reason for that, I will feel just safier having it.

128GB m-sata + 750GB 5.400 is still more then my current 500GB 7.200 so I will gain speed and capacity anyway, 1TB drive is not a must.

 

I came across this article - How higher RPM hard drives rip you off | ZDNet

Very interesting!

 

Last question - I found WD Green series hdd drives. They have so called - IntelliPower "a fine-tuned balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both significant power savings and solid performance. For each WD Green drive model, WD may use a different, invariable RPM." How does this work in the practice? Is the Green series really that more power saving and quite?

 

Stay away from Green drives. They can be problematic and very slow, unless the tech has advanced significantly in the last couple of years, which I doubt. They are truly storage / archival drives not really to be used in any sense for daily consumer applications or even storage. I made the mistake of buying a bunch of desktop 2TB green drives for my home server and at times had trouble streaming movies. I worked out the issues, but transfers can still be really slow.

WD Green drives are 15mm anyhow which won't fit in most laptops. Standard height or thickness is 9.5mm

 

Thanks HTWingNut!

Ok, so the final decision will be between WD Scorpio Black 750 GB (7200) and WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB (5400). Both drives seems to be the best non-hybrid hdds on the market right now.

 

To be honest, games, videos, music, photos, general document storage, a 5400 is perfectly fine. You won't notice much difference in performance. If it were your OS drive I'd say definitely 7200RPM and better yet hybrid if you can't/don't want to use SSD. But for mass storage and larger apps like games it will be perfectly sufficient.

 

My main concern is still this:

I can accept that performance will be slightly lower - no problem with that. Especially that as a storage device it will be just copy/paste speed.

But I need to gain something as well - less heat and less noise. If 5400 hdd will produce the same level of heat and noise as 7200 drive then 7200 seems to be better choice.

 

The thing is, the difference in performance for storage is almost minimal. Similarly, the heat and noise are generally also minimally lower. In the end, I would get it based off of capacity and price. If the 7200RPM drives are the same price at the same capacity, go for those, else stick with the higher capacity/cheaper drive.

 

1TB 5400 (wd blue) ia the same price as 750gb 7200 (wd black). In general the performance of blue series is known to be very good so i will buy 1tb.

Sent from my HTC One X

 

You also mentioned you wanted quiet, the scorpio blacks are far from quiet drives. They aren't bad by any stretch, but when i was looking at a 750GB HDD a year ago, i settled for a 7K750 in part because of the noise of the WD Scorpio Black.

 

If you're using it for storage, go for the WB Scorpio Blue. More space, slightly quieter, and possibly a bit less power consumption as well.

 

If you're buying a new notebook aren't you going to end up with a drive anyway? My XPS L521x came with a 750GB 7200RPM Seagate Momentus (ST9750420AS). This is actually the smallest drive you can possibly order.

If I were you I would get a reasonable capacity msata SSD and match that with the stock drive. In fact that's what I did, I added an AData SX300 256GB. Samsung 830, Crucials m4 and any Sandforce drive with toggle ram are all reasonable options too.

 

I'm going to order L521x with 1TB drive and 128GB Samsung 830 m-SATA. If the included 1TB drive wont be WD Scorpio Blue then I will sell it and buy Blue.

 

There are only two 1TB HDDs available on the market right now, the WD Scorpio blue and the Samsung spinpoint M8. The M8 is an equally good drive so no need to swap it.

 

Then I have 50% chance to get Scorpio out of the box