Hard Disk Drive Suggestions

[over0066]

Would like to get a HDD to rip my music collection on. Will be building a media system and need a drive that is large(200 GB) and quiet. I know of the WD200jb and the diamondmax plus 9, but I just don't know how loud they are. Any other suggestions? Also, are there any 5400rpm drives that would fit my needs?

Thanks

 

[Dre]

May I suggest StorageReview. They have noise comparisons between several harddrives.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Ditto on StorageReview...I have always found their reviews very handy...

Will the 200gb HD be used soley for media and MP3 storage? In that case, a 5400rpm drive would be adequate, IMHO. However, you never know how that drive will be used later on down the road. I really don't think any today's 7200rpm drives are that loud, and wouldn't buy anything less than a 7200rpm drive....

 

[HaroldW]

If you are going for a 200gig drive, make sure you get something with a controller that includes 48-bit LBA support (required to break the 137gig barrier.) Western Digital's retail drives include a free Promise Technology TX2 controller. The ATA133 specification includes 48-bit LBA support, ATA100 does not (optional.)

 

[LexPliant]

48 bit LBA support is different from ATA-133, 48 bit LBA support is dependent on the motherboard and OS, while ATA-133 is just a marketing number, same as ATA100, but it does improve performance for Maxtor DM +9 though, it does nothing for WD, Hitachi, Samsung, hard drives, in my friend's new Intel 2.4 GHz machine, ATA100 hard drive (WD800JB) on ATA133 Controller(Fastrek) actually prevent him from increasing front side bus speed by more than 3 MHz, probably just one instance, could be some other reason that cause that. Questionable generalization.