Hard Drive Advice

[johnwillyums]

Hi Folks.

With prices being so low at the moment I was thinking of getting another hard drive and would like some advice.
At the moment I have 2xSamsung HD501LJ drives.
One is half full of my Vistax64/Windows7 7127 dual boot plus a growing collection of games.
The other has all my music, photos and movies on it and is over half full and growing rapidly.

So I'll need more space eventually. Also I notice that my HDDs let me down in WEI.
So would a faster and/or larger drive see any speed improvements?
I have been looking at a Samsung 1TB Ecogreen F1 HD103UI which is a great price.
I could use that for my OSs and as my primary drive and use the other two for storage and backup.
What do people think or recommend?
Would a faster drive for the OSs show any speed improvements in reality?

Thanks, John

PS I have an AsusP5Q pro

 

[nate42nd]

Running your OS on one drive and programs and storage on another is noce from what I hear. I am going to try that when I build my machine this winter.

I have always gone with Western Digital or Seagate higher end drives. They are good choices but I'm sure Samsung has fine drives. Think about an SSD (solid state drive) for one of the system drives. You will wish you had. Do some homework first though. I will be getting an SSD for one of mine on my next system for sure.

I'm not a HD expert but like talking about them. haha

 

[Captain Zero]

Get a relatively small (even 32GB is ample for most people) SSD drive and only use it to store your OS. It will be the single-most effective boost you can give your machine. And yes, you can be sure that your scrores will improve.

 

[johnwillyums]

Thanks for your replies people.

It certainly looks like a solid state drive would be the way to go but the pricing structure is chaotic and very expensive.
I can pay £300+for a 30GB SSD. I can pay £300+ for a 80GB SSD or even a 120GB SSD.
Also the read/write times vary widely and don't seem to be price related.

I can get the Samsung traditional HDD I mentioned in my op for £70+

Do you not think I'd see any difference if I went for a traditional type of HDD? I think SSds are out of my price range at the moment.

Thanks again, John

 

[Captain Zero]

Keep in mind, the WEI is not the best benchmarking tool, by a long shot. But your score will nary improve, unless you get a SSD. You can expect 5.9, minimum. And better than 6.5 on a 2x drive RAID0. With 4x small SSD's with matching stripes, you can hit 7.9 on the disk portion of the test.

But... The drives you listed seem exceedingly expensive. Don't you guys have newegg in UK? :shock:

 

[swarfega]

Depends what you use your machine for. If you play games on it then dont go for the ecogreen. But I do recommend the samsung 1Tb drives, I have 3 and they're fast. My supplier recently knocked the price down still further to under £60. Incridible value considering what such a drive would cost 10 years ago.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

The Samsung spinpoint are quick drives, but heavy on the juice.
They are also good value per gb.

PCPRO June issue recommended the Seagate 7200.11 640gb as the best for a combination of performance and power consumption - but they are pricey for the size. 6 watts at idle.

WD Caviar Green is noticeably slower - but not too bad for a drive with green credentials - 4watts at idle. Also good value per gb.

Not sure about the Samsung Ecogreen 1tb - there will certainly be a performance penalty.

They did test the Samsung Ecogreen 500gb, it is a little quicker than the WD Green 500gb , but much slower than the larger Seagate 7200.11 640gb and only 1 watt saved.

 

[johnwillyums]

Thanks Guys, much food for thought.

It looks like SSDs are the only way of making a real improvement in performance.
Although I noticed that Swarfega has a couple of Raptor drives in some kind of RAID array. Do they make a lot of difference?
I'm not familiar with raid but I suppose I could learn. Also I've seen a Velociraptor drive that is supposedly very fast indeed.
My usual retailer (Scan) has a 74GB Raptor for £73 and a 150GB Velociraptor for £122.
What about one of these as my system drive. Would that be worth doing?

My storage issue is not that pressing, I still have plenty of room on my two Samsungs and I suppose I could just wait or get the newer, faster, F1 1TB drive.
I'm tempted to do this soon as I feel that prices are bottoming out now and will go up as the economy picks up.
On the other hand SSDs will certainly drop as the technology becomes more commonplace.

Oh, Captain, I can access Newegg online here but with the exchange rate plus VAT tax I don't think I'd see much difference. I attach a couple of screen snips from Scans website. As you can see the prices are very high and I can't understand why they differ drastically for what looks to be similar components.

Thanks to you all for your input, john

 

[Captain Zero]

A SSD will mop the floor with a Velociraptor. Even a small one, 32GB is ample for use as a system drive. You can get a decent 32GB MLC drive for $100 or roughly £50 + your silly VAT. Take my word for it, a single SSD is, by far, the best improvement you can add to your system. After all, what's the point of all those cycles and FSB speed if you're waiting for a platter to spin up?

The more I learn about SSDs and the more I use mine, the more I love it.

And yes, all those links should be relevant and useful. Sit back for some good reading.

 

[johnwillyums]

Thanks for your time and trouble Captain Zero.
I shall spend some time studying those links and get back to you.
I suppose I'd better check whether Newegg will ship to the UK first off although I can't see why they wouldn't.

Much obliged, John

Just checked. Newegg only ship to US and Puerto Rico. S##t. I'll scour the UK retail sites and see if I can find a good price for this drive. J

 

[johnwillyums]

ah. found a 32GB SSD at £76 but the info says to get an SLC rather than MLC if using it run an operating system (bottom left) also this Patriot drive at £86 but I can't tell whether this is MLC or SLC. Found some other MLC drives on the same site and they carry the same warning about not using them for an os.

Think I have a lot to learn, J

 

[Tweek]

Depends what you use your machine for. If you play games on it then dont go for the ecogreen. But I do recommend the samsung 1Tb drives, I have 3 and they're fast. My supplier recently knocked the price down still further to under £60. Incridible value considering what such a drive would cost 10 years ago.

I'm in love with the F3 drives...

 

[essenbe]

SLC's are usually more expensive, I think they are just trying to sell you something. Most SSD's used for OS's are MLC. I have a Vertex2 and an Intel X-25M. Both are OS drives and both are MLC's.

 

[Tweek]

SLC's are usually more expensive, I think they are just trying to sell you something. Most SSD's used for OS's are MLC. I have a Vertex2 and an Intel X-25M. Both are OS drives and both are MLC's.

I Can't decide whether to agree or argue..
When I first started looking at SSDs, There was a noticeable Difference, So i Wanna say no to your sales theory, But looking now at the speeds of the MLC Drives, The difference has narrowed to such a slim margin, you gotta wonder...

in all..
Damn dude, good point...

Kinda makes me wonder why SLC technology hasn't skyrocketed forward like the MLC Drives did...
Were we all being had all along?

Interesting thoughts, man...

 

[Tweek]

ah. found a 32GB SSD at £76 but the info says to get an SLC rather than MLC if using it run an operating system (bottom left) also this Patriot drive at £86 but I can't tell whether this is MLC or SLC. Found some other MLC drives on the same site and they carry the same warning about not using them for an os.

Think I have a lot to learn, J

Honestly, I've never heard anyone tell me "Don't use an MLC SSD for an OS..."
I'm using MLCs now, nary the slightest issue....

 

[essenbe]

Tweek, it just made me wonder why they would say not to use MLC for the OS, when we both know that 90% of the people in the world do.

 

[Tweek]

Tweek, it just made me wonder why they would say not to use MLC for the OS, when we both know that 90% of the people in the world do.

I honestly have never heard that before... I mean, Logically, it doesn't even hold water... Am I missing some odd piece of misunderstood or mistranslated piece of incorrect advice someone tried to just run with?
I'm trying to think of a reason that someone would say that.. and the only reasons that argument would be valid, are retarded..

someone enlighten me/us?

 

[whs]

I would not buy any of those SSDs you listed above. Essenbe is right, get a Vertex2 from OCZ or an Intel x25. Else you are saving at the wrong end.

To get you started, download the SSD guide I have made for "SSD beginners" like you. It will help you understand what you are up to for the installation and transferring the OS. Download from here: Install an SSD and transfer the Operating System.zip - Windows Live

 

[essenbe]

The only reason I can come up with is because a 32GB Intel slc is about $375.00 on Newegg; an 80 GB X25M is about $170.00. That was the only reason I could come up with.

 

[Tweek]

The only reason I can come up with is because a 32GB Intel slc is about $375.00 on Newegg; an 80 GB X25M is about $170.00. That was the only reason I could come up with.

I got my OCZ Vertex2 60Gb SSDs on sale on Newegg, I couldn't be Happier...