Buying new HDD for OS

[HuppiHarri]

Hi, I am planning on buying a new HDD for my Desktop to have my OS on. I am considering installing Vista, but have not yet decided.

So what would be a good choice for a hard drive?

I have been thinking about a hybrid drive, like this: Samsung's Hybrid Hard Drive Exposed - TFOT but it seems like it's only for laptops..

Something else I have been thinking of is a WD Raptor: WD Raptor 150 GB SATA Hard Drives ( WD1500ADFD )

or then a Seagate Barracuda with something called Perpendicular recording: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB - Review - Very quiet, fast HDD, Perpendicular recording

Don't know enough about these technologies, so I was hoping I could get tips here. :nerd:

Or is it just as good with a normal SATA drive?

Thanks in advance!

-Harri

 

[Trotter]

Seagate is a forum favorite here, and for good reason. Rock solid performance.

Raptors are fast, but the price/GB is way too high. You can RAID two 7200.10 HDs for almost the same performance for less... and have WAY more storage.

The SSDDs are a wild card. I have heard a mixed bag on performance, and the price point basically means you get it for bragging rights.

If it were me, I would go with the Seagate if money was a concern, the Raptor if I could afford it, or two Seagates if I could swing it with no difficulty.

 

[Vaanish]

Samsung 500GB, WD 750/1TB, Maxtor 500GB, all Seagate 7200.10 and Hitachi 1TB all superb drives.

Seagate aren't really ahead of its competitors as much as people think.

 

[HuppiHarri]

Thanks,

More questions: What is the difference between SATA 150 and SATA 300?

My motherboard has SATA 300. Can I run a SATA 150 drive on that?

I would guess that SATA 300 is faster than 150. The Raptor is SATA 150 and the the Seagate is 300. Can the Raptor still be faster?

 

[Trotter]

More questions: What is the difference between SATA 150 and SATA 300?

Theoretical throughput.

My motherboard has SATA 300. Can I run a SATA 150 drive on that?

Yep, it is backward compatible.

I would guess that SATA 300 is faster than 150. The Raptor is SATA 150 and the the Seagate is 300. Can the Raptor still be faster?

Spin rotation and seek times. The Raptor will come closer to filling the bandwidth on a regular basis, but the Seagate can hit higher bursts due to having more available bandwidth.

That's why two 7200.10 drives in RAID can compare to a Raptor.

 

[HuppiHarri]

Ok, thanks a lot!

Now if someone could explain the term RAID to me? Is it something I can do with my pc? THis is my Motherboard MSI Computer Corp. - Product

 

[saltynay]

Redundant array of independent disks = RAID. Link in my sig for all the different types . most people use either Raid0 for speed or Raid1 for security the rest are a bit complicated

 

[Trotter]

RAID - Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Drives.

RAID0 is tying two drives together so they act as one. The data is split between the drives, or "striped". The drawback is if one fails, you're screwed. The pro is that it is much faster than a single drive.

RAID1 is "mirroring" drives. One drive is used, and the other is maintained as an exact duplicate. If one fails, the other is there. The con is that it degrades performance.

Your motherboard supports it. If you decide to go with it, there is a lot of information on setting it up here on the forums.

 

[HuppiHarri]

OK, Thanks guys!