I need a storage drive

[Dessert Tears]

I need a storage drive, probably 1-3TB. I have a 2TB external that I'm considering opening, so it might be an external backup instead. I'm dissatisfied with USB 2.0 slowness and heat buildup in a plastic enclosure. I'm looking at the Rosewill RX-358-U3S, USB 3.0 and 80mm fan.

1. Crucial M4 128GB (New OS drive)
2. Hitachi Deskstar 160GB (Old OS drive)
3. Samsung SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB
4. Iomega Select USB 2.0 external (Samsung EcoGreen F4 HD204UI) 2TB

I currently have about 500 GB of data, but a good portion can be moved to a slower storage drive. I sort of want to keep the old 160GB as a scratch drive, but I'm out of 3.5" bays and SATA connections (4 total, optical uses 1) and I'm running low on power.

Is the Samsung F4 fast enough for my intended use? I read a review that benchmarked it as pretty fast for a Green drive, but it was slower in actual use. If it's acceptable, I can get a new Green drive to put in the enclosure. If it's too slow, I could get a new drive like a WD Blue or Black.

 

[philipma1957]

rosewill had a sata version of this usb3 it was pretty good.


can't speak for this one.

 

[Dessert Tears]

rosewill had a sata version of this usb3 it was pretty good.

The RX-358 series has solid 4-egg averages, and the formal reviews I've found are pretty positive. Unfortunately, I hesitated, and it sold out, possibly for good (the black one's listing was already deactivated). It has probably been superseded by the USB 3.0 + eSATA variant.

[thread=2260148]This new thread[/thread] has requirements similar to mine.

I checked my records for the external drive, and my purchase date is before the Seagate/Samsung announcement. The warranty has expired.