One simple question... what u think

[atifsh]

for data storage, movies mp3's pictures. will not be used for OS

500 gb sata II seagate 16 mb cache
500 gb sata I WD 32 mb cache

[katzdvd]

I guess it would depend on how much video you plan on keeping on the pc; I used to think that 500 was ample for mp3's but the more space you have, it seems the more you fill it up!

For me these days, I would maybe look at 1 TB for video, especially if I planned on keeping that vid. on the hard dr. 500 mb. is still good for me for mp3, I guess...

[doctorhardware]

Me personally I would stay away from Seagate, their drives just get way too hot. The prices on 1TB drives are coming down I agree with katz.

[MilesAhead]

atifish I just got a 750 GB WD Caviar Black at SuperMediaStore for $92. Fedex shipping was included and the packaging was thick foam packing, not bubble pack. I think they just raised the price by $7 though. First time I pulled it out of the USB docking station I forgot to hit the Off Button and pulled it out hot. The drive was blood warm, definitely not hot.

It runs very quiet. No complaints so far.

[katzdvd]

Me personally I would stay away from Seagate, their drives just get way too hot.

Dr., I can't say I have really experienced this; I have pretty much used Seagate in all my pc's exclusively for years, not had one failure. I have run temp. monitoring software over the years & have not noticed excessive temps.

I do have my pc's set up to run pretty cool, though - plenty of ventillation, good airflow/fans/ etc.

Have you had this ioverheating issue with more than one Seagate drive over the years?

[doctorhardware]

My acer had a seagate drive in it and the drive would be almost too hot to touch. So I got a WD and installed it in the laptop and it warm to hot. But it was not as hot as the seagate would get. I did the same video work that I was doing when the seagate was in the laptop. I have not had any problems with seagate but with the temps that it generates in a laptop, I just think that the added temp is not good for the laptop.

[katzdvd]

Ok, I understand. I agree, higher temps are not good; Still don't know if it is an issue w/ Seagate drives or not, maybe only their laptop drives?

[MilesAhead]

Most of my drives have been Seagates, but lately I've been hearing stuff about bad firmware and also heat issues. In any case the WD caviar black write-ups sound really cool. Don't know if that dual processor and other stuff makes that much difference in real life. Certainly not for stuck in a dock as I'm using, but I figured there might come a day when I put the thing in a PC. Plus I hate getting read errors because a drive is not spun up. I set my Seagate externals to never spin down. I shut the machines off overnight anyway so it's not like they're running 24/7.

[dr_ml422]

Hi atifsh. I just about finishing converting some videos from vts to .iso's w/Imgburn using my docking station. I would strongly recommend a docking station especially if the hdd's for storage. Also from my personal experience so far, WD's way cooler than Seagates and faster. No matter what machine I use. Miles' WD Caviar Black is WD's High performance hdd for desktops/laptops. At that price 4 that model you can't go wrong. Even the Caviar Blue or Green Series are great. I have a Caviar Blue 80mb in my Dell. Beautiful. I have a 320GB in my new Build. 16 mb cache. My 1tb WD is a Caviar Green n you don't even know it's on. Really cool also. Hitachi would be my second pick along prolly w/samsung. Although I haven't experienced Samsung heard great things. I have a 1TB Hitachi I got from Tiger at a great price. I know it was around 80 or so bucks. Retail too.

I just took my 2 Seagates and used them for storage. They get way too hot. Then again they can take that heat. I've spoken w/Seagate about this. So 140 or 150 degrees is nothing w/them. I still don't know how they stay in business though apart from their usual 5yr. warranty.

Another suggestion would be to keep your music and videos in separate hdd's. That's my preference. I was going a lil nutty going to my 500gb seagate and having all kinds of files on there. Sata I or II I wouldn't worry too much if WD. chances are it'll be faster n cooler anyway. Jump from 8 to 16mb was big difference, but from 16 to 32 not so much and this you cangoogle all day.

P.S. 7 working like a charm.

[katzdvd]

Chewy weigh in on this? I know you like Seagates- I feel like the odd man out here!

[MilesAhead]

Hmmmmm, speaking of WD 750GB Caviar Black! Just saw this special:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

Even after Fedex shipping added on(for those who want it) the price tag is < $80!!
I had to go for it at that price!!

[atifsh]

guys missing the point here..........

already have 2 harddrives, 160 gig sata2 seagate for OS, 250 gig sata2 seagate, now my third wanted seagate but instead got green WD but sata 1. [local store near my place]

so would sata 2 sata 1 makes much difference in real world.

[dr_ml422]

atifsh you're going to be just fine. there isn't much difference except 4 burst speed vs. sustained speed. Like I said ime WD's are faster anyway.
so the answer I would give is no really in real world. Especially for storage. if os i think maybe even that not much. Chewy has weighed in on this in one of my threads or another one. There have been many tests done and you wouldn't usually see the hdd reach the sata 2 which is 300mbs. Now if you were looking at the WD raptor that's a different story. If Chewy comes in he'll prolly explain it much simpler.

Check this out> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/24...ata-difference

There's so many threads on this subject w/virtually same answer. hope this clarifies better.

[admin]

SATA II would be faster, not a whole lot than SATA I in real world tests just based on the changes in SATA technology itself. The more substantial differences are because SATA I drives are older, and SATA II drivers are newer, there are other areas that have improved which should mean further performance improvements.

The cache is often not a deciding factor in performance results I've seen (in that a good drive with 16 MB will still be faster than a cheap drive with 32 MB).

If you're just using the drive for data storage, then transfer speed shouldn't be a huge issue other than doing the occasional backup.

[dr_ml422]

thnx for joining us admin. That's what i was trying to get at. for storage it wouldn't really matter or be that of a big deal. also 4 os there are all kinds of varying factors no? Mobo, mem, etc... I would surmise all kinds of goodies would contribute to performance.