Is this a decent choice HDD for a gaming system?

[Craig234]

I've been wanting to get a multi-TB HDD for a new gaming build.

I see this one on sale for what looks like a good price, $119.99, 4TB, but it says it's for 'NAS', which I'm not familiar with - this is not for RAID or array etc.

Is it a reasonable pick?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16822178393&cm_sp=

 

[Mushkins]

The difference is in the firmware that governs how the drive operates. Seagate has designed the drive to operate optimally in a 24x7 always on NAS environment.

Which means it's probably more reliable if it's always spinning, but is not as durable as a standard desktop drive when it comes to frequent stops and starts.

That being said, I doubt you'll notice a difference between that and any other spinning disk HDD. The differences are all very high level storage management stuff.

 

[hectorsm]

That drive is probably a 5400 or 5900rpm drive. If you are planing to use it as your main boot drive it will be slow.

If you are looking for something economical then you could get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA5AD3KU1804

The White Label (WL) drives are basically Western Digital Enterprise drives that are meant to be sold to data centers (none retail). I purchased a 3TB WL drive from GoHardDrive about a month ago and I am happy with it. GohardDrive delivered the drive to me very fast. I ordered it through Ebay but it looks like they are also selling their drives through Newegg as you can see in the above link.

Here is their Ebay store: http://stores.ebay.com/goharddrivewholesaleandretail/

Using the NAS drive as just a main drive will not be a problem. NAS It just means that is compatible to Network Attached Storage devices or enclosures.

 

[Craig234]

Thanks for the reminder to check the rotation speed, which Newegg doesn't list - I think I'll pass on that one and look at the one you linked.

Slickdeals had a 6TB, but it was still over $200.

It will be for games, the boot drive will be an SSD.

 

[Anteaus]

You are better off investing in a 250GB or 500GB SSD to install your games on. For the price of a 4TB HDD you can easily afford a good SSD. If money is the reason you are choosing to host your games on a HDD, I still wouldn't buy a HDD that large. Go with a 500-1000GB WD 7200 Black.

Game loading time differences between HDD and SSD is quite dramatic in most titles. If you are a serious gamer this is not an area in which I would compromise.

My .02

 

[Elixer]

The difference is in the firmware that governs how the drive operates. Seagate has designed the drive to operate optimally in a 24x7 always on NAS environment.

Which means it's probably more reliable if it's always spinning, but is not as durable as a standard desktop drive when it comes to frequent stops and starts.

What is your source of information for this?
AFAIK, the only difference is firmware, nothing else, the internals are all the same. (Besides having lower RPM that is, than a 7200RPM desktop drive)

 

[Cerb]

If you have an SSD for the OS and programs, anything that isn't "green" will usually be just fine. I'm using a 3TB Purple .

If TLER were to become an issue, that would only be the case long after you get stuck up the creek without a paddle. Backup anything important, instead of trusting that any HDD will give you time to get your data off, because they very often won't.

If you're not getting an SSD, go 7200 RPM (or better yet, go SSD, but that looks taken care of).

 

[Craig234]

You are better off investing in a 250GB or 500GB SSD to install your games on. For the price of a 4TB HDD you can easily afford a good SSD. If money is the reason you are choosing to host your games on a HDD, I still wouldn't buy a HDD that large. Go with a 500-1000GB WD 7200 Black.

Game loading time differences between HDD and SSD is quite dramatic in most titles. If you are a serious gamer this is not an area in which I would compromise.

My .02

I'm actually planning a 500GB SSD for OS/MMO's/main games and the HDD for other games.