What HDD to buy new?

[misterunknown]

hi all

i'm looking for a while for a new HDD in my pc but there are so many and there are soe many differences so i was wondering which is the best if you just are usgin them to store files on?

maxtor:
160 GB 7200 rpm 8 mb cache
or
160 GB 7200 rpm S-ATA

WD:
160 GB 7200 rpm
or
160 GB 7200 rpm 8MB

Seagate:
160 GB 7200 rpm


and whats the diff. between S-ata and the 8mb cache HDD's??

thx in advance

 

[hjo3]

Originally posted by: misterunknown
maxtor:
160 GB 7200 rpm 8 mb cache
or
160 GB 7200 rpm S-ATA
and whats the diff. between S-ata and the 8mb cache HDD's??

Is the SATA you're talking about the L01M160? If so, it also has an 8 MB cache... it'd give you the best performance out of all those that you've listed above.

 

[Algere]

S-ATA or Serial ATA is the newest drive interface generation after P-ATA aka Parallel ATA, Ultra ATA 100/133, etc. which has been out for years and 8MB of cache is just cache. Some drives these days come with 2MB cache so if 8MB was highlighted it was probably being compared to drives with 2MB of cache.

e.g. you can have both SATA w/ 8MB cache or PATA w/ 8MB cache.

 

[Cerb]

SATA gives slightly better performance in bursts right now, but not enough to really matter, and generally has higher CPU use.
PATA drives currently have the same overall performance as SATA ones, save the Raptor.

Cache is...cache. A 8MB cache drive will slightly snappier than a 2MB cache drive, but you have to sit them side by side to really tell a difference, and greater dennsity is better than more cache (120GB 8MB < 160GB 2MB).

Peformance:
WD, Hitachi (Hitachis make crazy noises, though 🙂)
Middle:
Maxtor
Quiet:
Seagate, Samsung (Samsung having a slight performance edge)

 

[EeyoreX]

I would buy the cheapest one.

\Dan

 

[Ionizer86]

Seagate is definitely the quietest of those drives, and it will still maintain very good performance. If you want quiet, you're best off either getting a Seagate or getting a WD/Maxtor then using a utility to make them quieter (but slower).

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: Ionizer86
Seagate is definitely the quietest of those drives, and it will still maintain very good performance. If you want quiet, you're best off either getting a Seagate or getting a WD/Maxtor then using a utility to make them quieter (but slower).

Samsung drives are as quiet, if not quieter than Seagates, and it's much faster as well. SPCR reviews has proven this.