Author Topic: What HDD should I buy? (Read 1873 times)

Sakura90 · « **on:** October 29, 2009, 05:03:39 PM »

I'm looking for a new HDD for anime storing and I have three main options:

Iomega Prestige Professional 1TB (the version with esata) - $140
WD Black 1TB (WD1001FALS) - $129
WD Green 1.5TB (WD15EADS) - $175

Those are the ones I have in mind. The Iomega is external and comes with esata but I have doubts on its reliability. I never used HDDs from Iomega (or any external ones for the case). Is it good? Or I better go with one of the WDs? Keep in mind that in the country I live hardware is more expensive than in the US. Those prices are the best I could find. There's also a WD My Book Essential 1TB for $150. But it's more expensive than the Iomega and it doesn't have esata.

I like the idea of an external HDD but if an internal one is more reliable I rather buy the one where my anime is safer

. What should I do?

Talapus · « **Reply #1 on:** October 29, 2009, 05:12:54 PM »

I have an external Iomega drive that I've had running continuously for five years (of which two years I was torrenting from it). I have yet to experience any problems with the drive. I think WD generally has a better reputation, but perhaps some others will chime in with a more complete opinion.

sdedalus83 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 29, 2009, 05:21:20 PM »

A WD Black is overkill for storage. Can you get a Samsung, WD Green, or Seagate 1TB drive for less than $115? One of those would be just as good, and more cost effective, than the 1.5TB drive.

I feel for you though. It's not all that hard to find a 1TB drive in the states for about $70.

Oh, and Iomega is just the enclosure manufacturer, and a decent one at that. The drives are standard models from big manufacturers like Seagate or Hitachi. The big problem with prefabricated externals is that the entire product is one unit, and is warrantied as such. Hard drives are generally far more reliable than enclosures, and the warranties for most external drives reflect that by being only 1 year. Most bare drives have a 3 or 5 year warranty. It's a better idea to buy the enclosure and drive separately so that it's easy to deal with an enclosure failure without losing access to your data.

BuriaL · « **Reply #3 on:** October 29, 2009, 05:25:35 PM »

Theres some treads on this subject allready, prolly worth the read.

kureshii · « **Reply #4 on:** October 29, 2009, 05:28:18 PM »

Personally, I'd go with the WD Green. It's not as fast as the Black, but if you're just going to be storing anime on it and watching anime off it, it performs better than you'll need it to.

I don't know about Iomega externals, I don't use externals much myself and don't know anyone who uses Iomega externals. But I always prefer not having to pay the extra premium to put it in an enclosure that will never cool it as well as a well-ventilated hard drive cage in a computer case. If you have a computer case to keep it in, and fans to ventilate it with, of course (many of us run off laptops only).

Talapus · « **Reply #5 on:** October 29, 2009, 05:37:51 PM »

Quote from: kureshii on October 29, 2009, 05:28:18 PM

...an enclosure that will never cool it as well as a well-ventilated hard drive cage in a computer case.

It's true that externals generally have bad ventilation. The old Iomega I have though has 4.5" of vents on each side, AND a 1" fan. All the other externals I have ever seen don't even come close (some don't even seem to have vents

.

Bought it for cheap when I was running on a laptop (with 40 GB internal). It currently serves as my music drive (my anime no longer comes close to fitting in it).

Sakura90 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 29, 2009, 06:06:46 PM »

Well, scrap the Iomega, they have the usb-only version (the url was wrong). The others externals are also usb and they are more expensive. Also, here is pretty hot in summer, so an internal would be best for ventilation. Here are the HDDs I can buy:

WD Green 1TB - $129
WD Green 1.5TB - $175
WD Black 1TB - $129 (there's no stock now, other place has it for $149)
Seagate 7200.12 1TB - $130
Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB - $165
Samsung HD103UJ 1TB - $122
Hitachi 0A38016 1TB - $100 (it has a buffer of 16MB, all the others are 32)

It's for storing and watching anime, so I don't need a lot of speed, reliability is the top priority (if I lose ~1TB of anime I would... well better not to talk about that xD). Would the WD Green be the best choice? Or the 7200.12? I don't know Hitachi much for HDDs. I think that WD and Seagate are better. I have $140 to spend, but I could go for a 1.5TB one if it's worth the while.

Thanks for the comments

Tatsujin · « **Reply #7 on:** October 29, 2009, 07:05:47 PM »

Quote from: Sakura90 on October 29, 2009, 05:03:39 PM

I'm looking for a new HDD for anime storing and I have three main options:

Iomega Prestige Professional 1TB (the version with esata) - $140
WD Black 1TB (WD1001FALS) - $129
WD Green 1.5TB (WD15EADS) - $175

Those are the ones I have in mind. The Iomega is external and comes with esata but I have doubts on its reliability. I never used HDDs from Iomega (or any external ones for the case). Is it good? Or I better go with one of the WDs? Keep in mind that in the country I live hardware is more expensive than in the US. Those prices are the best I could find. There's also a WD My Book Essential 1TB for $150. But it's more expensive than the Iomega and it doesn't have esata.

I like the idea of an external HDD but if an internal one is more reliable I rather buy the one where my anime is safer . What should I do?

Get what I got:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136450

WD Elements 1.5TB for 130 dollars. Works like a charm. Cheap and lots of storage. Only bad thing is it's USB, and make sure you put it in a cool dry place, don't conseal it in a cabinet or a closed space or a warm or hot area.

As for internal (don't recommend at all, since your storing anime):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014%2050001306%20103530090&name=Western%20Digital

1TB -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136317
1.5TB (what I'm getting in couple of months) -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136351

Another 1TB, a bit expensive tho -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Natheria · « **Reply #8 on:** October 29, 2009, 08:33:25 PM »

I don't believe Newegg ships outside the US (or Canada).

Drew · « **Reply #9 on:** October 29, 2009, 08:54:02 PM »

If you're looking for reliability get a Western Digital. I'd recommend waiting for the Black to get back in stock if it's the same price as the Green.

fohfoh · « **Reply #10 on:** October 29, 2009, 11:08:40 PM »

I think the WD black is just slightly faster than the green, but all other specs are similar. The green however uses less power and would be beneficial in the long run. But since its technology is a little newer than the black.. not as easy to prove reliability. But I'd assume decent quality due to the fact that it's based on the black.

Personally, I'd give the Green a try.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #11 on:** October 29, 2009, 11:53:04 PM »

Quote from: fohfoh on October 29, 2009, 11:08:40 PM

I think the WD black is just slightly faster than the green, but all other specs are similar. The green however uses less power and would be beneficial in the long run. But since its technology is a little newer than the black.. not as easy to prove reliability. But I'd assume decent quality due to the fact that it's based on the black.

Personally, I'd give the Green a try.

Same, I think Green is in around 5000 RPM, if you look over the specifications they never stated it. But the black is 7200 RPM. I could be wrong, but you know ... they always remove the stuff people don't want to see/hear.

Green is slow, Black is faster. But, they're both SATA. Green for storage and playback videos (anime), as for BLACK I'd say more for video editing and fast tasking.

morrefule · « **Reply #12 on:** October 30, 2009, 01:03:30 AM »

I have been running my WD drive for nearly a year without stop torrenting from it. My Standard HDD that has been in this relic of a desktop from the get go is a WD also and an IDE at bat, and it is still running like the day i bought it.

I think the WD Green will be fine, for storing and torrenting. Unless you are doing something where drive speed is a must, there is no reason to go to the blue or black WD drives.

fohfoh · « **Reply #13 on:** October 30, 2009, 01:29:11 AM »

I'd say the Green for background stuff. The black if you need it as a main drive.

psyren · « **Reply #14 on:** October 30, 2009, 02:53:23 AM »

Just buy the Green and short stroke it.

sdedalus83 · « **Reply #15 on:** October 30, 2009, 03:04:09 AM »

Quote from: psyren on October 30, 2009, 02:53:23 AM

Just buy the Green and short stroke it.

Short stroke a storage drive? Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!

Seriously, short stroking is appropriate only for situations which require high, consistent sustained transfer rates. It doesn't do much for access times and it severely reduces the drive's capacity. It would be great if you need a cheap scratch disc and damn near pointless for anything else.

If you really do need the speed and feel that short stroking a big cheap drive is the best option, partition it instead and use the inner partition as a backup drive, only mounting it when needed. You'll gain all of the advantages of short stroking, and won't be wasting two thirds or more of the drive's capacity.

psyren · « **Reply #16 on:** October 30, 2009, 03:08:35 AM »

Instead of buying a black/raptor drive, you could do what I suggested. Short stroking is for performance at the expense of storage.

sdedalus83 · « **Reply #17 on:** October 30, 2009, 03:12:17 AM »

Quote from: psyren on October 30, 2009, 03:08:35 AM

Instead of buying a black/raptor drive, you could do what I suggested. Short stroking is for performance at the expense of storage.

Partitioning accomplishes the same goal without losing most of the drive's capacity. When you need to ensure the best possible performance, just unmount the larger, interior partition.

kureshii · « **Reply #18 on:** October 30, 2009, 03:46:42 AM »

Some guys on some forum somewhere did some acoustical tests on the Green, and it turned out to be spinning at 5400RPM. Too lazy to google links now, but I'm sure you can easily find it. Its performance numbers look decent enough, so I see no reason to knock it just for that. You'll be fine with it as long as you use it for its intended purpose; anyone who tries to use a Green drive for gaming or workstation operation and then complains that it's slow is stating the obvious (and is obviously an idiot).

If it's just for storage, go for lowest price/GB from a drive manufacturer you trust. typically this means either Western Digital, Seagate, Samsung and/or Hitachi (for internal drives only; I have no idea what the hierarchy is like for externals). YMMV with drives from either manufacturer, so from this point on it's just a matter of who you listen to and who you trust.

If you buy the Black, do make sure to get plenty of airflow over it — it runs hot when under load!

Sakura90 · « **Reply #19 on:** October 30, 2009, 03:53:16 AM »

What is "short stroke"?

I found a WD Green 1.5TB at $160 (1TB at $110). I'll buy the 1.5 this Saturday. The greens run at 5400 RPM, that's enough for storing things. I think this is the best choice