Upgrading from Samsung Spinpoint 400GB - Crucial m4 + ?

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borisg
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Upgrading from Samsung Spinpoint 400GB - Crucial m4 + ?

Post by borisg » Sun Dec 18, 2011 3:47 pm

Hello everybody,

I'm finally upgrading my near-silent build from 2007 (it's not keeping up with things, especially HD video), and wanted to ask for some advice as to a good large HDD to accompany a crucial m4 SSD (I'm trying to go for the 128GB version). My old build had a Samsung Spinpoint 400GB, which I was happy with, noise-wise - though I could definitely hear it from time to time (large reads/writes, I guess?).

I've read some reviews on SPCR but didn't really understand whether there's a clear leader at this time at the 1.5-2TB size point. WD Caviar Green had a glorious review, but on Newegg there are numerous complaints about failures after 6-12 months, which got me worried a bit - I'd prefer something reliable even if a bit noisier (as you can see, my upgrade cycles are about 4-5 years, and I'd like the drive to last that long).

And another question - I will obviously be using the large HDD for storage only (the usual suspects - music [FLACs/APEs], videos, photos). And still, will there be a noticeable difference going from a 7200RPM drive to a 5400/5900RPM one? (Assuming that the actual programmes will all be on the SSD). Sorry if this is a stupid question - I've never dealt with SSDs before, so not sure how this all works.

Thanks in advance - any suggestions/thoughts/ideas will be much appreciated.

MikeC
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Re: Upgrading from Samsung Spinpoint 400GB - Crucial m4 + ?

Post by MikeC » Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:10 pm

You are probably referring to the item listed at Newegg as Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s. It has a 3-star avg user rating, with 1500+ reviews. This is a surprise, as SPCR staffers have many of these in use, day in day out -- for quite some time. No failures, afaik. It is pretty much the noise champ.

The only other 2 TB 5400rpm drive with anywhere near that number of user ratings on Newegg is the SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s rated 4-star avg w/ 1300+ reviews. This is a quiet drive too, tho our sample was not in the same league as the WD Green. You might feel more comfortable going with one of these Samsungs.

We also reviewed a HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3020ALA632 (0F12117) 2TB 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s fairly recently and found it to be pretty quiet, probably a touch better than our Samsung F4 sample, but not quite at the WD Green. Newegg's 500+ reviews give it only a 3-star avg tho.

borisg
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Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 3:28 pm

Re: Upgrading from Samsung Spinpoint 400GB - Crucial m4 + ?

Post by borisg » Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:31 am

Thanks for the reply, Mike. Yes, I was referring to the WD20EARS. I've just read your review of the Samsung F4 as well as this, and it seems to fit the bill perfectly (also based on my previous good experience with Samsung).

The prices though.... :-\ how long would those remain so high, do you think? A few months?

kuzzia
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Re: Upgrading from Samsung Spinpoint 400GB - Crucial m4 + ?

Post by kuzzia » Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:57 am

According to Seagates own statement, they'll be back at pre-flooding levels in one year:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Seagat ... 14039.html

True or not is difficult to say. Western Digital was hit much harder.

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