Suggestions for new 2TB internal HDD?

Okay, as you can see from my system specs, I currently have a 1TB 3.5" Western Digital Caviar Black in my main computer.
I currently have 11GB free space , the main issue being my extensive media collection ("huh, you think yours is big, you should..." "yes, it is. It isn't only on that HDD, it is spread across several, this is just my main internal one and all external ones are now full and I want a new internal HDD rather than a new external HDD") (mostly TV and films taking up the majority of the space, I'm sure those of you that use iTunes will understand just how ridiculously large those files can be... ). So, I plan on buying a 2TB internal HDD to shift all my media across to and then give Steam and other software a lot more breathing space on the 1TB internal one (which would also stay as the boot drive).
I have had my eyes set on a 2TB WD Caviar Black, as it would 'match' and I would (touch-wood) trust it. However, the price tag of around £200 does rather put me off.... So, here is a list of my opinions on some major and not-so-major/defunct/bought-out hard drive manufacturers:

• Seagate - I do like Seagate, after all, the 2x500GB external drives are still going strong (again, touch-wood ). Would a Barracuda be a suitable compliment for a Caviar Black?
• Hitachi - Been a mixed bag. Had one ages back that was really quiet and still works today, but many others that broke very soon.
• Matsushita - please don't get me started. Thankfully they're kinda gone now :)
• Maxtor - bad, bad memories.

So, with those opinions in mind, any suggestion for a hard drive that is:

• good
• reliable
• 2TB
• 3.5"
• 7200RPM
• SATA
• Cheaper than £200

(I want the HDD to be as silent running as humanly possible, but not an SSD as I want space, not speed (and no, please no SSD devotees going "oh, but you can get 512GB SSDs now for only $1,000,000, and they're super speedy! And when you say 'fast', do you mean you don't want it to be 7200RPM, it could be lower?" No, I want a mechanical 'classic' HDD at 7200RPM)

I do like Samsung myself. Have you considered the EcoGreen F4:

Internal | SAMSUNG Hard Disk Drive

Regards,
Golden

Golden said:

I do like Samsung myself. Have you considered the EcoGreen F4:

Internal | SAMSUNG Hard Disk Drive

Regards,
Golden

I've never had a Samsung and never considered them, but that HDD does look rather tempting, thanks for the suggestion :)

carwiz said:

The choices are getting pretty slim these days. Seagate bought Maxtor years ago and Western Digital just bought Hitachi. I just hope WD doesn't continue the "DeathStar" tradition but rather uses the acquisition to expand their own products.

This is bad time to be in need of a HDD. The inventory is way down and prices are way up.

Thanks for reminding me about the HDD supply issues - they had slipped my mind and I had been rather alarmed with a lot of the HDD prices across the board, being certain they didn't used to be that much

ignatzatsonic said:

I'd go with either WD or Samsung---whichever is cheapest from your suppliers. I think someone just bought Samsung's HD business--may have been WD?

The Samsung 103SJ 1TB drive is very fast, comparable to a WD Caviar Black, but I have not kept up with reviews and speeds on 2 TB models.

The "Green" series of drives might save you a couple of bucks a year on electricity, but as far as I know, none of them are 7200 RPM.

In my experience, Samsungs are quieter than most and run a tad cooler than most.

I'd deliberately avoid Seagate.

You need a little bit of luck with any HDD purchase--as you say, "touch-wood".

If you delay as long as possible, you may see prices drop a bit as production moves back up after the flooding in Thailand.

Another thumbs up for Samsung... okay, I've decided I'll go down the Samsung path, as a bit of a change from WD and to try something new

All the 2TB green drives seem to be around 1/2 the price of the likes of the Caviar Blacks; is that because of the speed?

Unfortunately, I have two issues:
1) sadly, Golden's suggestion seems to be a 5400RPM HDD. The majority of my HDDs in the past have been 7200RPM, however, given that my primary and probably sole use of this HDD will be media (such as videos), do I need it to be 7200RPM? I mean, I guess that probably sounds like a dumb question "you're wondering if you need a HDD to be fast when your main use will be accessing files... DUH!" but surely something like a single avi file wouldn't need as high an RPM for the HDD as, say, running a game off the HDD which has lots and lots of files that are constantly in demand. If my primary function for the HDD doesn't in fact need to be 7200RPM, that would be great for a) my wallet in the short-run with a green HDD price, and b) my wallet in the long-run with energy bills (I say green as that's what most high-capacity but lower RPM HDDs seem to be).

2) SATA. When perusing many online stores, I came across most HDDs mentioning "SATA II". Now, I'm more of an IDE expert as until this current computer and the PS3, all I used were IDE HDDs in everything. a) what is SATA II? (probably the obvious "it's the next step up from original SATA") and b) will my computer/motherboard support it? My computer is an HP tower from 2010, with this motherboard inside it. As you can see from the 'Internal Connectors' subheading, it just mentions "-- 4 SATA connectors". I would assume that surely it must support SATA II, given how many HDDs are SATA II and the computer is fairly new. (the current 1TB HDD in the PC seems to be a Western Digital WD1001FAES-60Z2A0, claiming to be "Serial ATA 3Gb/s")


thanks all for the help, info, and suggestions

I use 3 of those 2TB Samsung F4 drives as well as 3 2TB WD Green drives in my system to store my media.
The other 2 drives in the machine are WD 1TB Black drives, 1 for the OS/Programs and 1 for Steam and my other games.

The Samsungs are plenty fast, just as fast if not faster than the my WD 1TB Black drives. I was surprised and pleased at the same time.
I recently bought a pair of WD 2TB Green drives since Best Buy still had them on sale for $80 after the price increase, $220 at other vendors.
Used one in my HTPC and the other was a spare that I had to use the same day I bought them when one of the 3 WD drives died in my main machine.

Sata 2 is Sata 6Gb/s, just a faster interface but you won't get anywhere near SATA 1 speeds with single spinning disks anyways.
SATA 1 and 2 drives work on either interface, so you are fine for connections.

Zepher said:

I use 3 of those 2TB Samsung F4 drives as well as 3 2TB WD Green drives in my system to store my media.
The other 2 drives in the machine are WD 1TB Black drives, 1 for the OS/Programs and 1 for Steam and my other games.

The Samsungs are plenty fast, just as fast if not faster than the my WD 1TB Black drives. I was surprised and pleased at the same time.
I recently bought a pair of WD 2TB Green drives since Best Buy still had them on sale for $80 after the price increase, $220 at other vendors.
Used one in my HTPC and the other was a spare that I had to use the same day I bought them when one of the 3 WD drives died in my main machine.

Sata 2 is Sata 6Gb/s, just a faster interface but you won't get anywhere near SATA 1 speeds with single spinning disks anyways.
SATA 1 and 2 drives work on either interface, so you are fine for connections.

thanks for clearing up the different version issue I was nervous about, and thanks for the example of your uses... looks like I'll be going for the 2TB Samsung EcoGreen F4 @ 5400RPM then
thank you all for your input :)

I've currently got 4 of the Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB drives and they are great. Not a single problem with any of them.

Of course, a few months ago they were $79 and are now $199.

so nothing but praise for the EcoGreen F4 and several examples of them functioning fine, definitely the one to go for then
I hope the HDD demand drops down soon-ish, but I guess everyone is hoping for that I suppose I'll hold out as long as possible in anticipation of prices going back to normal