Hard Drive Replacement for PC

You would be better off getting one HDD to put in your computer and an external one for your backups (actually two external HDDs for backups would be much better since even a backup HDD can fail without warning but only one is better than none). The external HDDs should be connected to your computer only when updating the backups; they should not be permanently connected.

Using an internal HDD for backups is a bad idea because the same thing that can cause data to be lost on the main drive can also take out the data on an internal backup drive.

If you can swing it, I prefer using the Western Digital (WD) Blacks for internal drives. WD has a better reputation than Seagate for drive reliability and customer service. I've had only six Seagates; two died within a year and a third, a SSHD, was a disappointment performancewise. Of the 23 WD drives I've had, only two have failed; one other one arrived DOA (which could have been caused by rough handling in shipment), which the vendor promptly replaced and now is humming away in my machine happy as a kitten under a leaky cow.

If you are going to run your OS and programs on a HDD, I wouldn't get a third one; you can just put them on a partition on your one internal HDD separate from a data partition. The only way I would recommend a separate drive for the OS and programs is if you were going to upgrade to an SSD. An SSD will give you lightning fast boot times and program access and is an upgrade that will give you more bang for your buck than any other upgrade you can do.

If you decide to go with a WD Black for the internal drive, a good 1TB would be the WD1003FZEX. For 2TB, the WD2003FZEX.

If the price of a WD Black is a bit too steep for you, the 1TB Blue—WD10EZEX—is a good substitute. Unfortunately, WD doesn't make a 2TB Blue.

There are a variety of external drives available but they tend to be lower quality than internal drives. I like to use the WD Greens for my backup drives, plugging them into a dock built into the front of my computer. You can either use an external dock to plug them into or put each one into its own enclosure. I personally would prefer the dock, especially because of the large number of backup drives I have (12) but enclosures would make handling the drives easier.

Good numbers for 1TB Greens would be WD10EZRX and for 2TB, WD20EZRX.

If you would prefer to get one or two external drives, the 1TB WDBZFP0010BBK-NESN and the 2 TB WDBMWV0020BBK-NESN are fairly good ones. If you go with one of these, I especially recommend getting two since they are not as good quality.

You should have plenty of RAM unless you do a lot of photo and video editing (and I mean on a large scale professional level).

SSDs used to be outrageously expensive but they have come down quite a bit in price. I used to recommend the Samsungs but they have been having some problems lately. Even though, if I were in the market for another one right now, I would still buy one, I don't recommend them right now for people who are new to them. The Crucial MX100 series have an excellent reputation so those would probably be a good choice for you. For your use, the 128GB version would be large enough for your needs. NewEgg lists one here for $70.

Since you broke your HDD, you will need to do a clean install of your OS and programs. If you are not familiar with how to do that, I suggest that you start a new thread asking for help with that. We have plenty of people here who will be better able to help you with that than I am.

The WD Blues are good drives. The big difference between them and the Blacks are they have only a two year warranty. The reason the one in the fleabay listing is so low is to attract more opening bidders, then hope they get "auction fever" just before the bid closes. I've seen drives listed as dead, being sold for parts only, go for nearly new prices by the time the bidding dust settles.

I do not recommend buying drives from eBay (or, as it is also known, evil bay or, my favorite, flea bay). While the drives you linked seem like good prices, just before the bids close, a bidding war will ensue and the prices will skyrocket. Also, some eBay vendors have been known to pretty dodgy. and can create a mess you do not want to deal with. I suggest getting your drives from NewEgg or Amazon. NewEgg has better extended warranties (if you want to shell out for one) for drives with less than a five year warranty (such as the Greens or the Blues) and now does a better job of packaging drives for shipping but you have to pay for return shipping if one arrives DOA (dead on arrival). Amazon will pay for return shipping but has a nasty habit of getting stock from one of its Marketplace vendors if their own stocks run out and some of those vendors are dodgy. Whoever you order from, be sure the drive you order is filled and shipped directly from Amazon or NewEgg, not a Marketplace vendor.

[QUOTE=Lady Fitzgerald;3014939]You should have plenty of RAM unless you do a lot of photo and video editing (and I mean on a large scale professional level).

The Crucial MX100 series have an excellent reputation so those would probably be a good choice for you. For your use, the 128GB version would be large enough for your needs.

I am a bit confused. Are you saying that I should purchase either the WD BLACK SERIES WD2003FZEX 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive or the WD BLACK SERIES WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive and the Crucial MX100 CT128MX100SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) in order to run Windows 7 and edit photos?

DOES THIS REQUIRE A BRACKET IN ORDER TO INSTALL?
Crucial MX100 CT128MX100SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Someone on another forum suggested that I purchase these:

Crucial M550 128GB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT128M550SSD1 & use it only for Windows so that not only does my computer boot up faster but also so that Windows is protected from data corruption.

WD - Blue 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive for Desktops (OEM/Bare Drive) - Blue to back up important data to.

1TB SATA HARD DRIVE (Any brand) to save data to.

I think the person misunderstood my post and thought I could still use the Seagate Hard Drive that I broke.

Do you suggest I purchase the following:

Crucial MX100 128GB for Windows

&

Two (2) of the WD BLACK SERIES WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives for data?

I had no idea that Windows 7 will install on a 128GB drive, but maybe I will have to install it differently than I ever have previously (?). Also, when purchasing the SSD, I will need to purchase a bracket for it to fit into my desktop, correct?

I recommend getting a Samsung SSD.

SSD 850 EVO 2.5" SATA III 120GB | Samsung Solid State Drives

SSD 850 EVO 2.5" SATA III 250GB | Samsung Solid State Drives

samsung 850 EVO 120 GB - Best Buy

Samsung 850 EVO 250GB Internal Serial ATA Solid State Drive for Laptops Black MZ-75E250B - Best Buy

You don`t necessarily need a Black series Western Digital, blues are fine. Get the largest you can afford. Just make sure it`s 6 Gbps.

Just to clarify: You install windows and your programs on the ssd and you use the WD for storage.


"I don't see how a clean installation on Windows 7 will find all the items in my device manager....can't see how this works with a new install."

Don`t get too hung up on this, windows has 99% if not 100% of the drivers you need 99% of the time, worry about other drivers after you install windows.

Clean Install Windows 7

WD Mainstream 2TB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive for Desktops Multi WDBH2D0020HNC-NRSN - Best Buy

WD Blue 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive for Desktops OEMBare Drive Blue WD10EZEX - Best Buy