ST3500320AS vs. WD6400AAKS

[jesterb84]

I am in the market for a fast and reliable SATA HD (still using a WD250GB IDE) and from my local computer store, I can get either for pretty cheap:

Seagate Barracuda (ST3500320AS) 7200.11 SATA NCQ 3.0Gb/s 500GB 32MB Cache (OEM)
Western Digital Caviar (WD6400AAKS) 640GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer (OEM)

I've been a long-time WD fan and I know their drives run very cool and reliably. Recently I was made aware that the Seagate 7200.11 is FAST and sure enough, it beat the WD6400AAKS on Tom's charts (usually always 2nd place in most tests outperforming even the WD Raptors - amazing).

I was pretty much set on the ST3500320AS until I went onto NewEgg for some user opinions and came across a slew of dead hard drive reports. I searched the WD6400AAKS and I barely found any reliability issues reported and there seemed a higher satisfaction rate amongst customers.

Therefore I wanted to consult here to see what you guys and girls think. Should I go the ultra performance route and get the ST3500320AS or should I stick with WD6400AAKS? The 500GB vs 640GB space is not an issue as any drive 500GB+ is fine with me. I'm more concerned with reliability and heat (last time I used Seagate was before year 2000).

 

[jesterb84]

Oops...just took a look again at Tom's charts while doing further analysis and the hard drive I was comparing the Seagate to was actually the WD 750GB (which also has the AAKS model extension). I'm guessing the 2x320GB platters would beat out the 3x250GB ones. I took another look around Google and found only one review which had an HD Tach readout of ST3500320AS and WD6400AAKS and it seems the WD6400AAKS wins over-all.

If someone has experience with ST3500320AS or better yet, both of these please don't hesitate to post your opinions here - I will probably be getting either one next week (leaning now towards the WD6400AAKS).

 

[EarthwormJim]

The WD drive is faster.

I have it in my main computer.

I'd also look at the Samsung F1 750gb though.

It's about as fast as the WD 640gb drive and similarly priced. It's been on sale for around $100, at that price point it's a better buy than the WD 640gb.


*edit*

Just noticed the WD6400AAKS is on sale for $88 bucks, that's a really good deal, I'd jump on it if I were you.

http://directron.com/wd6400aaks.html

 

[jesterb84]

Great, I'm going to get the WD6400AAKS tomorrow!