Recommend me a HD. 100-150GB FAST

Technex

Technex

New member
Hey guys,

My old trusty Samsung 75GB HD is now getting full to the brim, I've already had to un-install games and compress my documents :(.

Got 20GB free now but I don't think that's enough and it can't defrag properly and it runs slower than it used to.

My dad got a 10K Raptor 140GB, very nice and fast but they seem rather unreliable, he had two break down brand new in a row! :o After installing Windows :(. Still this is a option, no way am I putting it down it's most likely fixed in the newer ones.

Will be used for CS:S/HL2 all the source games only if that helps.

Specs, if it helps at all :)

Abit IP35 Pro

Intel quad core Q6600

4GB DDR2 RAM

8880 GTS 640MB BFG OC'ed

Please ask if you need any more info.

Absolute max budget £150, that's pushing it even :).

Thank you very much :).
 
For £150?

Raid two smaller drives (say 160GBs) for OS/Apps and a 1TB drive for storage.

While not so much un-reliable, raptors just don't cut it on the price:performance front.
 
Is £150 not enough? I can go a little higher but surely you can get a good one for that?

1TB is silly I would never use that, compelete waste. 150GB would be more than plenty enough :).

I was looking about that Raid stuff, looks intersting, but the reliabilty is a no-no I would rather just have one fast HD. This Samsung's had a lot of life, must be due a replacment anyhow.
 
£150 is more than enough mate. What I laid out above was three drives coming in at 1320GB total space.

If 150GB is all you need save yourself a lot of money and just get a 160GB drive. It'd cost you about £30.

As I said, raptors ain't worth it and Solid state drives are, despite large price drops recently, still too pricey per GB.
 
name='Ham' said:
£150 is more than enough mate. What I laid out above was three drives coming in at 1320GB total space.

If 150GB is all you need save yourself a lot of money and just get a 160GB drive. It'd cost you about £30.

As I said, raptors ain't worth it and Solid state drives are, despite large price drops recently, still too pricey per GB.
Click to expand...

Ah, okay that's good :). I laid that out as the absolute max :).

30 quid for 160GB, best for gaming?!? :yumyum: 120GB is around the size I'm looking for, but willing to go to 100-150GB range.

SSD would be great, but the lifetime and write times I think would be a problem? Then again no moving parts would be nice!

I'm thinking Seagate, heard they're very reliable and fast.

Anyway, open to all suggestions. Thanks for your help Ham!
 
120gb is nothing nowadays.. seriously.. ide look at 500GB+ will come in handy someday, games and programs are getting bigger and bigger.
 
If we`re looking for speed, don`t the 750g+ drives have an edge cos of the way they`re made ? Perhaps look for 32m cache too.. not entirely sure cos I haven`t been in the market for drives for a while.
 
name='Pat123' said:
120gb is nothing nowadays.. seriously.. ide look at 500GB+ will come in handy someday, games and programs are getting bigger and bigger.
Click to expand...

I seriously doubt that. Source (Valve) games are never very large, and I would only have about 8 installed at the max :).

Honestly I'm more of a one or two games player, just interested in speed and reliability.

So Raptors are still the one to go for then? I've heard the new ones are pretty reliable anyhow.

Thanks for all your help everyone! :wavey:
 
I'll warn you.

120GB isn't enough IMO. I bought my computer about 2 months ago with a 500GB Seagate drive, filled up the whole thing with downloads and installs already.

Looking into getting another 1TB for Raid0 with my Seagate 500. Would definitely reccomend more than 120GB though.
 
Not a bad idea but I would rather stay away from RAID. Thank you though.

My dad got the 150GB 10000rpm 16MB raptor, around 120 pounds. Anything else out there around this level that's better?

Might get one if no problems.
 
Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB

:) Any problems with this one, I noticed the actual HD is a lot smaller than the 150GB raptors, little worrying all the wasted space but I suppose the heatsink will help.

It's also faster than all the others. Reviews said the CPU is used a lot more? I honestly didn't know the HD had any effect on that. I guess it wouldn't matter as I have a Q6600?

I am starting to think, once I get a new 150GB one I'm going to install the rest of my steam games and take up another few GBs etc so might as well make the jump for the extra money and not using it all will give speed benefits.

Thanks guys! 6GB left on this one :O.
 
I haven't heard anything about high CPU use, not seen anything of the sort myself, unless your mobo is really awful I wouldn't have thought the disk controller should trouble the CPU apart from the data actually going from the CPU.

The Velociraptors are very good, very fast but quite expensive (~£170 for 300GB). They are louder than regular drives, but it still sounds healthy. If you have a loud old drive, they are that sort of noise. The good thing is they are blisteringly fast and should be reliable (1.5million hours MTBF). They are encased in a huge heatsink, but they are 2.5" size. Mine runs at ambient temp. I suppose it would be possible (I don't know whether advisable) to take it out of the heat sink, it is only screwed in.

If you have the money then velociraptors are very good, on the other hand, if you don't need the best performance, consider a 750GB or 1TB Samsung F1 drive, they are very fast.
 
Hello, I am not sure whether this has been answered yet so I will put in my point of view.

I currently own two Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB with 32MB cache each and I have to say, they're stunningly quick.

I have mine in RAID0 but even in a single drive, they perform like no other and the price is very good. I paid £52.88 for mine each which is around 11p per gig, not the cheapest but it is Seagate which are the most reliable hard drives to date that I have ever used, my old ATA one in my brothers system lasted four and a half year, and it has had Windows reinstalled SOOO many times, it is unbelievable. It was still in warranty but I am not going to go back to the shop for that, that is also were Seagate gains my money, I love their 5 year warranty policy.

If you're in the market for a new drive, I would STRONGLY recommend that you go for one :)
 
I started writing this last night as I was so shocked by the responses you had received from some but I was so angry I managed to backtrack a page and lose the several paragraphs explaining everything. So here goes again.

In speed order:

Any chip based drive. SSD is most common, with RAM drives coming next and USB Raid box thingys after that. They are all ridiculously expensive and so are out of the question (Unless you think 32GB for £100 is value for money or enough to fit your system stuff on).

SCSI 15k RPM drives from WD. Again WD have the best but the made the very first platter based hard drives many years ago when I first started and they were calle Wincester (not WD). These beat every platter based hard drive but 300Gb cost £500 at best and then you need a SCSI controller too.

WD Velociraptor is next on the list. It has 300Gb on 3 platters in a 2.5" drive inside a 3.5" drive caddy for heat and dampening. Because of the increase platter density bringing it to just under par of the 1TB drives and then the 10kRPM speed then whoops the 1TBs measly 7.2kRPM speed.

Samsung F1 750Gb and 1Tb drive have sufficient platter density to beat a normal Raptor in reading times (even though it is by ~2-3ms). The increased storage and cost of these drives make the Raptor only an idiot choice as seek time is completely inconsequential. Its like saying to drive from my house to Paris (1000miles or so) then part that really helps my journeys overall time is me running to my car.

WD Raptor and Raptor X both 150Gb they have the 10kRPM but average platter density and so offer minimal performance boost over a standard 7.2kRPM HDD. These are only to be bought if you are RAIDing them as the cost is simply stupid in a setup unless you can get the benefit of the 10kRPM.

Any other 7.2kRPM HDD

The new large storage HDDs will probably be fast but how fast it remains to be seen. I've never had any realy problems with HDDs from Maxtor, WD, Hitachi or Samsung so can highly recommend them. I have computers that are older than me (26yo) and their drives are WD (under Wincester) and are still going strong.

Your if your after the ultimate speed SSD is the way to go but it has been beaten in some areas by the Velociraptor (cheaper Gb/£) so why not RAID0 2 Velociraptors. If you just want fast and cheap get a Samsung 1Tb drive. I have 3 and wouldn't look back. The are fast, reliable and at £64 delivered why the hell would I buy a Velociraptor.

If any terms are confusing I'm sorry but these are the details you needed to know.
 
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