Samsung NC10: HD Upgrade, but which one?

To all the smart people out there.

This is my first post and I have been wandering if any of you can help me out.

I just purchased a Sasmung NC10 with 2GB RAM and would like to upgrade the stock HD into something more powerful and masculine.

Since this NC10 will be used primarily for on the road work (I am a sports photographer), I would like to know which new internal HD will suffice the following rigorous yet enjoyable tasks.

1. Booting into XP (I guess not as important as the rest of the criteria)
2. Reading and writing CF cards (via USB) onto HD
3. Editing photos (haven't decided on which app to use and I'm looking for a simple editor)
4. RAW conversion
5. Viewing photos via photo viewere (planning to use Photo Mechanic)

All the images shot at work will be transfered when I get home and therefore I really don't need a big HD. But if bigger HD will give me significant performance gain, I shall totally definitely consider it.

But I guess 160GB looks like a starting point. Therefore I have narrowed it down to couple of drives out there.

-WD Scorpio Black 160GB 7200 8MB or 16MB
-Seagate 7200.3 160GB with G-Force

I guess it's not really "couple" but just two.

Like I have mentioned before, if a 200GB or 250GB or 320GB drives can perform significantly better and the price is not going to be that much different from the aforementioned two, I will totally be up for it.

Any info/input/ideas/speculations/facts will be appreciated.

Toksuede

 

Oh come on now, no one?

 

Given those two choice, I would pick the Western Digital over the seagate.

Since you said you are a sports photographer, I assume you do a lot of photo retouching. I recommend getting the biggest 7200 rpm drive possible for better performance.

I would go for the 7200 rpm 320GB Western Digital or the new Seagate 7200 rpm 7200.4 500 GB, which we have a 48 page thread going on.

WD 320 GB 7200 rpm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136280

Seagate 7200.4 500 GB 7200 rpm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148374

 

Ch28kid,

Thanks for the reply.

The thing is, I don't really do that much retouching on the scene, rather I need to upload the photos from the CF card onto the computer and send them out quickly as possible.

Currently, I am doing all this with a MBP with a firewire CF Card reader. I'm not expecting things to be as fast as the MBP and as long as the NC10 can perform the tasks on the original post in adequate time, I will be happy.

And as for the "big" issue, I really don't need anything bigger than 160GB, but if you say that the WD 320GB is significantly faster than the 160GB version of WD or Seagate, I totally could be swayed.

 

The performance difference from 160 GB to 320 GB is not that big. If you don't do retouching and everything then 160 GB is fine.

The problem I have is the little price difference between the two model. For 20 dollar more you get twice the storage. So in terms of gigabite / dollar, the 320 GB model is better value for money.

I assume you are using Digital SLR and taking some RAW images. The 320 GB could come in handy.

I hope that helps.

 

Absolutely, of course it helps!

Thanks. I really appreciate your input.

Well, in this economic climate, every little helps and therefore 20 bucks saved (or 20 pounds here), I can invest it on the combo drive I will trying to be score on ebay.

If the difference is negligible, I will go for less.

By the way, even if I'm shooting raw, since I will be transferring my files after the match at home, I really don't need that much storage.

In your opinion, you would then go for the WD 160GB over the Seagate?

 

1. Any harddrive. But you'll get the best boot-up speeds with the 320/7200rpm.
2. Any harddrive as it's not really harddrive-dependant. Even the slowest ones, as CF will be the bottleneck with it's "slow" transferrates. Any harddrive is able to match the performance there, and any harddrive can recieve them if that's what you mean. Other than that it's the operating system that handles the reading/writing from whatever source you have connected.
3. Not harddrive-dependant
4. Not harddrive-dependant either, the CPU and RAM will mostly do the work when doing such things.
5. Same as #4.




I'd say get any 320GB/16MB 7200rpm harddrive. They have the best price per GB and performance. It's great performance and you get alot of storage for a "small" price. I'd also say it's unnesessary to even look at models under 320GB because the price difference isn't argueable imho

With a 320GB/7200rpm harddrive you'll notice better multitasking capabillites if you have a slow harddrive init now, as it can do more things(read/writes) at the same time and have better access times.

The one that has had the best reviews is the WD3200BEKT, as it has the best access times it can do more IOPS.

I don't know how old you are, but 20 bucks should be fairly easy to save up for, it's well spent i tell ya, more space is always good to have. You'll use it up some day.

 

Michel,

Thanks for the answers.
Phew, shows how much I know about computers.

I'll be turning 33 in couple of weeks (good god), but life as a freelance photographer is dependent on how much you can get out of the money you spend. With the economic crisis in full swing, the money saved can be used for cat food and wife's new bag.

That's why if the difference in performance between the 160 and 320 is negligible and seems that way according to your answers to my questions, I would rather go for the 160GB.

But, if the performance is significantly better, I will pony up the 20 quid and fly with it.

Honestly, I got 160GB on my mac, 500GB and 300GB for my external and I'm swimming in a see of gigabytes already...

 

No problem

And i feel ya with the money crisis, food + wife + dog goes before everything


Those 320 drives are the best buy for the money. The 160-drives becomes expensive compared to it!

But...
Honestly, a 160GB/7200rpm drive will do just fine for you if you already have the storage otherwise. I think you will be highly satisfied.
So it's up to you now, if you wanna spend those 20 bucks extra or not. I think you'll end up with a good harddrive either way!

Good luck!


EDIT: I forgot to say. I found out some info on the newer 160GB 7200rpm drives. They seem to be on par with the 320/7200. Like the WD1600BEKT. Seems like it's just a 320 with one platter. A 320GB harddrive has 2 platters with data, 160GB each. So the 160 version is just slimmed down to one platter with 160, making it as fast. So if you find a WD1600BEKT that is 20bucks cheaper go for that