Need replacement for older harddrive...
Hey there team.
My primary working station is in need of a replacement harddrive. The current one is a Samsung F1 250GB which I have been running for well over 3 years (with the format: C done once a year) I have a gut feeling that says itīs time to replace it.
Obviously my need for storage is not that big since the 250GB has been more than enough for 3 years!
Give me some headers please!
(please have in mind that I plan on migrating to Linux sometime in the future. (We only need web, word, homebank and such...No fancy games...) Also it would be great if the HD could be part of a future upgrade. Donīt wanna spend money now, just to buy another HD later on
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
Hey Beer,
First, are you sure your drive is going bad?
There are some good utilities for checking/monitoring the health of most SATA/ATA S.M.A.R.T. compliant HDDs. Speedfan has a detailed smart section that also allows you to compare your drive status with others of the same make & model via Speedfan's database.
For other utilities see this list (which is probably not a complete listing) ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...M.A.R.T._tools
For a new HDD Samsung and Hitachi have improved reliability over the last few years. Seagate of late has been getting worse from what I can see from user ratings on Newegg. Western digital still has a good reputation. I do not have any experience with the new SSD technology and personally I am holding out until I start seeing some long term reliability reports.
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
Be wary about buying any SSD that is using the Sandforce controller. People are having problems with these drives for every manufacturer. Lots of BSOD's and spontaneous reboots. Not to say all of the drives are bad it's a big problem.
I bought a Corsair Force GT 120 GB and I had issues. Check the drive manufacturers forum before you buy.
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
First off. I am pretty sure the HD is dying on me...My pc is getting in-responsive every other minute. Simple tasks takes longer than normal. I have tested all other HW. Works fine.
I am not in the market for a SSD. I donīt trust them just yet. And if I am to pay hard-earned dollars for a HD - you can be damn straight I want something that will last! :p I am thinking along the lines with maybe a server disk of some kind. You know...Those 24/7 disk with longer warranty?
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
Hi Beer, if it's for a future build, may as well make it a SATAIII just because. Then, consider something I learned from Slicker -- best speed will come from a HDD that is 50% full or less. This has to do with the way it uses the outside of the platter first, which is much faster than the inner part.
Also make sure it is at least 7200rpm. So...that leaves us with something like WD's black series, which has extended 5 year warranty. Here is a link to the 750GB0 @Newegg, which sounds about right for your needs, and would be fast, because you'd only be loading the outer 1/3 ohttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136794f the platter.
Of course, slightly cheaper for the 500GB version and then 1TB version is a bit more.
Hope that helps some!
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DrPop
Hi Beer, if it's for a future build, may as well make it a SATAIII just because. Then, consider something I learned from Slicker -- best speed will come from a HDD that is 50% full or less. This has to do with the way it uses the outside of the platter first, which is much faster than the inner part.
Also make sure it is at least 7200rpm. So...that leaves us with something like WD's black series, which has extended 5 year warranty. Here is a link to the 750GB0 @Newegg, which sounds about right for your needs, and would be fast, because you'd only be loading the outer 1/3 o
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136794f the platter.
Of course, slightly cheaper for the 500GB version and then 1TB version is a bit more.
Hope that helps some!
Thanks! That looks like something usefull! I take it that SATA III is backward compatible? (my board is SATA II I believe)
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
Yeah, Sata 3.0 Drives can easily work on 2.0 boards. They just run at 2.0 speeds.
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DrPop
Hi Beer, if it's for a future build, may as well make it a SATAIII just because. Then, consider something I learned from Slicker -- best speed will come from a HDD that is 50% full or less. This has to do with the way it uses the outside of the platter first, which is much faster than the inner part.
Also make sure it is at least 7200rpm. So...that leaves us with something like WD's black series, which has extended 5 year warranty. Here is a link to the 750GB0 @Newegg, which sounds about right for your needs, and would be fast, because you'd only be loading the outer 1/3 o
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136794f the platter.
Of course, slightly cheaper for the 500GB version and then 1TB version is a bit more.
Hope that helps some!
For DrPop's comment there is an easy way to implement that idea. It's called short stroking. In simple terms you format a portion of the hard drive. For best performance is at 50% or less. So if you want 500GB of storage buy a 1TB HDD and format only the first half.
The server HDDs come in several versions. I think they are classified in tiers but I could be mistaken. Anyhow the top level server drives are called "Mission Critical". The next level/tier drives are called "Near Line Storage" or something to that effect. I believe there is a third level but the classification escapes me.
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
I personally use Western Digital Caviar Black drives. From my research, they're the best there is (outside of server drives). And yes, no worries getting a SATAIII. It'll work just fine with SATA 2 or 1.
Re: Need replacement for older harddrive...
I just raid 5 my drives so when 1 dies, I just replace it. Then I don't have to worry about much else. I still backup in case 2 drives failed at one (very unlikely) or some other disaster strikes