New Seagate Barracuda 2TB or 3TB? (ST3000DM001)
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2012 3:40 pm
I've noticed the new barracudas are on sale at a store nearby. I can get the 2TB for 100CAD and the 3TB for 150. I'm short on space at the moment with my 1TB barracuda (it's an older one from ~2009).
This drive will be just a personal storage drive, it's not going to be used for windows boot, nor will it be used to load heavily used applications, I have SSDs for that. It will be for the most part used to store movies, images, and seldom used applications.
My first impression of the SPCR review was good - it's supposedly the quietest 7200RPM drive (which is essential), and it's fast (which is a secondary benefit to me, not that important).
I assume that the 2TB drive has 2 platters while the 3TB drive was 3.
I am a big fan of quiet drives. My system is built to be quiet (not necessarily absolute silence). The loudest part is my current 7200RPM older generation (7200.12, ST31000528AS) 1TB Barracuda. It's important to me that the new drive not be louder than the old one. I also value reliability, which is why I've avoided the Caviar Greens for the time being. (They are also more expensive)
I have 3 questions:
- When idle, is the 2TB version more quiet than the 3TB? Is it noticeable? has anyone compared them?
- I've read the other thread about these drives here on 'silent storage', and it seems these drives have a noise issue with head parking. Is this likely to happen in my case? My old Barracuda makes no noise other than the low but audible hum of being idle and and increased hum when active. What I would like from this drive is not to notice it when idle. I don't mind if it makes some noise, seeking or head parking or whatever when I'm using it, as those occasions are rare.
I'm not an expert when it comes to tweaking the drive's settings. I'd rather it worked as it was supposed to when first powered.
- Is this the right drive for me?
PS: I ran into a problem with the Barracuda Green 2TBs last fall (just before prices shot up), where I got 2 of them, but both made an annoying clicking noise when idle (not when active). I had to return both. I suspect it was just a bad batch, but I'm not eager to go back to that.
This drive will be just a personal storage drive, it's not going to be used for windows boot, nor will it be used to load heavily used applications, I have SSDs for that. It will be for the most part used to store movies, images, and seldom used applications.
My first impression of the SPCR review was good - it's supposedly the quietest 7200RPM drive (which is essential), and it's fast (which is a secondary benefit to me, not that important).
I assume that the 2TB drive has 2 platters while the 3TB drive was 3.
I am a big fan of quiet drives. My system is built to be quiet (not necessarily absolute silence). The loudest part is my current 7200RPM older generation (7200.12, ST31000528AS) 1TB Barracuda. It's important to me that the new drive not be louder than the old one. I also value reliability, which is why I've avoided the Caviar Greens for the time being. (They are also more expensive)
I have 3 questions:
- When idle, is the 2TB version more quiet than the 3TB? Is it noticeable? has anyone compared them?
- I've read the other thread about these drives here on 'silent storage', and it seems these drives have a noise issue with head parking. Is this likely to happen in my case? My old Barracuda makes no noise other than the low but audible hum of being idle and and increased hum when active. What I would like from this drive is not to notice it when idle. I don't mind if it makes some noise, seeking or head parking or whatever when I'm using it, as those occasions are rare.
I'm not an expert when it comes to tweaking the drive's settings. I'd rather it worked as it was supposed to when first powered.
- Is this the right drive for me?
PS: I ran into a problem with the Barracuda Green 2TBs last fall (just before prices shot up), where I got 2 of them, but both made an annoying clicking noise when idle (not when active). I had to return both. I suspect it was just a bad batch, but I'm not eager to go back to that.