Hello people,

My current "storage" HDD is getting old, full and flaky (bad blocks reported in Windows logs even after chkdsk /R) so I am looking for a replacement. Unfortunately, the guide at SPCR was last updated in 2010 and I'd like more current advice.

I need something that is:
- Reliable (statistically...)
- Reasonably fast (lots of files coming in and out, I run applications read and process lots of 0.5-10MB sized files and GB sized archives)
- Reasonably quiet (on 24/7, located in bedroom)

What are my options? What are the recommendations?

Thank you!

What you describe is not a storage drive imo.

My general recommendation is an SSD for data that's accessed often and a large "green" drive for storage, like the WD GP. If an SSD is too small or too expensive and a large "green" HDD is to slow, then perhaps a WD Blue?

It's definitely not a system drive.
What will you call it?


SSDs in 1TB sizes are not affordable.
The WD Green seems to have "parking" issues, as per other threads in this forum.

Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000 2TB 5940RPM Hard Drive or Samsung EcoGreen F4

I would call it the data drive for the application you are using. If a slow spinning drive is fast enough for your needs, but you don't like the WD GP head park feature there are other "green" drives out there. I like the Samsung F4 for example but it's not as quiet as the WD GP.

Are the 7200RPM drives significantly louder than the 5900RPM ones?

The head park issue does not occur with Microsoft Windows. If you use Linux, I would advise using the program available to fix the problem.

I find the WD Green drive speed to be more than acceptable, probably because of file system caching at the OS level. I use SSD for my system drive, but the WD Green Drive for all data files. My suspicion is that the WD Green drives may be more reliable due to lower rotational speed. If you are worried about speed and transfer rate of large files, there are some SATA 6.0 Gb/s Green Drives available.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't believe that a "Green" drive can come close to saturating a 3GB/s connection so having a faster interface shouldn't improve the speed much.

Isn't the AV-GP pretty much the same as Green, but with no head parking?

Quick Q as I'm in the market for a couple of drives. . . I did manage to get a few Samsung HD204UIs before they disappeared. I see they are now back but under the guise of the Seagate ST2000DL004. Has Seagate incorporated the tech or simply rebranded? I liked the Samsungs but Seagate makes me nervous, especially with only a 1 year warranty.

Seagate bought Samsung's HDD production, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-samsung-seagate-idUSTRE73I1CG20110419. No idea if the tech has changed underneath, but I doubt it would - at worst they'll be using different part vendors or binning quality.

Yeah I knew Seagate bought their division and were taking some time to incorporate them (the floods may have slowed that process). It was why I was happy to still buy the old Samsung drives produced in the fall of last year early this year, even at relatively high prices. Especially so as they retained Samsung's three year warranty as opposed to Seagate's now measly one.

I was wondering if under EU law Seagate could be forced to offer a two year in a similar way to what's happened with Apple.

Are you talking about this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152245

I've bought a few of them recently, and they've always been in stock at Newegg every time I check.

Yes, in the UK it went in and out of stock until units with a dual SKU# of HD204UI/ST2000DL004 started appearing. It's those units that only have the one year warranty.