I would like to get an external HDD for backup purposes. I am considering getting the 500GB Seagate FreeAgent or a 500GB Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 with an external enclosure. The Seagate has mixed reviews, but it has a 5 year warranty, so I am leaning strongly towards it. The Hitachi has excellent reviews and is pretty fast. I would need to get an external enclosure for it and wonder if it would overheat. Btw, I would like to format these drives in FAT32 so that I can use it with radios. Thanks for any help.
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Seagate FreeAgent 500GB or Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 500GB with enclosure?
- Thread starter TazExprez
- Start date
If you're intending to use them with USB or FW400 connections, then raw drive performance won't make much difference as almost any recent HDD can keep up with those interfaces. So go with longest warranty. However, if eSATA is in the picture then performance could be considered. Unless the drive in the seagate package is the PMR 7200.10 model, then the Hitachi (being their latest generation) will walk away from the Seagate.
.bh.
.bh.
Thanks a lot for your help.
I am now leaning towards the Hitachi drive and this enclosure. This enclosure has USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors. What do you think?
I am now leaning towards the Hitachi drive and this enclosure. This enclosure has USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors. What do you think?
Btw, I also like this other enclosure, but it has SATA, instead of eSATA. It also has USB 2.0. Should I get eSATA over SATA? Any advantages of one over the other?
eSATA is the true external connection - it is better shielded and can provide more signal current for more reliable data transmission over longer cables. But you will have to have a true eSATA connection (the tongue inside the connector is straight and has a different number of contacts + shield) on the other end to use it, or an adapter. While most of the external SATA connectors supplied with mobos, some cases, etc. are still normal SATA (the tongue inside the connector has a hook on the end) and no special shielding. I would get whichever one can be used more widely - if you can get an eSATA to normal SATA adapter or vice versa more cheaply, that is the one I'd go with.
You should also be aware that the T7K500 comes defaulted to SATA-300 and to lock it to SATA-150 requires that it be connected to a true SATA-300 controller and set via the Feature Tool utility (DL disk images and docs from the HGST.com site) from a bootable diskette or CD created from the image files. It will "play dead" when connected to a SATA-150 controller that can't autonegotiate (such as the Via 8237 south bridge on my mobo) unless it is locked to SATA-150 with Feature Tool. There is also a clever Catch-22 in the software. If you connect it to a SATA-150 controller that can negotiate (which I wasted my money on), it will run at 150 but you can't lock it to 150 because the software sees that it's already running at 150. Clever, eh?
. This was a stupid move by Hitachi - it should default to 150 and negotiate upwards if necessary, then it would work well for everyone as all SATA 300 controllers have auto-neg. - actually they should have used a jumper like everyone else. That would have made life much easier for me (my new 7K160 works the same way as the T7K500 so I RMAd a perfectly good drive as I'd never seen an IDE drive (both SATA and PATA are IDE) that wouldn't spin up with power applied before). Nowhere in Hitachi's normal documentation will you find this info. Only if you dig into their thick full specs document for the drive will you find a hint of it.
Bill Hill
You should also be aware that the T7K500 comes defaulted to SATA-300 and to lock it to SATA-150 requires that it be connected to a true SATA-300 controller and set via the Feature Tool utility (DL disk images and docs from the HGST.com site) from a bootable diskette or CD created from the image files. It will "play dead" when connected to a SATA-150 controller that can't autonegotiate (such as the Via 8237 south bridge on my mobo) unless it is locked to SATA-150 with Feature Tool. There is also a clever Catch-22 in the software. If you connect it to a SATA-150 controller that can negotiate (which I wasted my money on), it will run at 150 but you can't lock it to 150 because the software sees that it's already running at 150. Clever, eh?
. This was a stupid move by Hitachi - it should default to 150 and negotiate upwards if necessary, then it would work well for everyone as all SATA 300 controllers have auto-neg. - actually they should have used a jumper like everyone else. That would have made life much easier for me (my new 7K160 works the same way as the T7K500 so I RMAd a perfectly good drive as I'd never seen an IDE drive (both SATA and PATA are IDE) that wouldn't spin up with power applied before). Nowhere in Hitachi's normal documentation will you find this info. Only if you dig into their thick full specs document for the drive will you find a hint of it.
Bill Hill
Thanks for telling me these Hitachi quirks. I want to get a HDD with jumpers, or one that defaults to SATA-150. What would be a good 500GB choice? I am leaning towards the non-ES version of the 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10. Does this one have the SATA-300 quirk, or is it easy to set to SATA-150?
It will play dead too if it is not connected to a compatible controller as will all of the 7200.10 SATA drives. But they also have an interface speed jumper so it is easy to fix. All other drive makers but Hitachi use a jumper on their SATA 300 drives - however, they aren't often well-documented and the docs don't tell you that they will play dead if jumpered improperly for your controller (only non-negotiating). If you have either a 150 or 300 controller that is negotiating, then you won't notice any problem. It will just sync withe the controller and go. Some of the earlier 150 controller chips are all that have that problem. I don't think any 300 drive will spin up with just power applied. That behavior right there might prevent some from even connecting them to their controller. Drive won't spin, RMA it... Old dogs have to learn new tricks. 😉 Look at this old dog out here with the arrow in his arse.
If I was buying a large drive right now, I'd buy the 7200.10 if the price wasn't too far out of line with others as they are the top performance 7200 rpm drives available until the others bring out their mainstream PMR drives. You don't need the 16MB buffer version as there is little diff in performance. If you can find 16MB at little or no extra cost, then that's fine.
.bh.
If I was buying a large drive right now, I'd buy the 7200.10 if the price wasn't too far out of line with others as they are the top performance 7200 rpm drives available until the others bring out their mainstream PMR drives. You don't need the 16MB buffer version as there is little diff in performance. If you can find 16MB at little or no extra cost, then that's fine.
.bh.