Could use some advice on finalising my storage plans

[meglamaniac]

Ok. I need a lot of storage space and I need it in my PC as it goes backward and forward to uni a lot.

I've already been sold on the idea of SATA Samsung Spinpoints so don't worry about that, it's just that I wish, i really wish they did a 200GB version.
As it stands I need three drives, there is no way around it. 3 x SP160 gives me 480GB - well more like 460 once you account for the conversion from the electronics industry's definition of gigabyte to the computing industry's definition of gigabyte. That is already a twofold increase over what I have now, but as I do a fair bit of digital video editing it won't take me too long to start eating into it.

So I was wondering, would it be such a crime to have one Seagate drive instead? It would be much more useful if I could have one drive that had a capacity of 200GB or more.
I am aware people think they're louder, but how much? Especially in terms of idle noise - seeks don't bother me that much, in fact sometimes I like to hear them to know things are working. I do have Acoustipak in the case so drive whine should be dampened a fair bit.

Also, can anyone give a comparison in terms of noise for the 7200.7 and 7200.8 series?

Thanks.

[lm]

Well at least I am quite happy with my 7200.7 160GB that is running 24/7 inside my server in my bedroom. It is lying in the bottom of the case, in a zalman hdd cooler. My another 7200.7 is a 80GB model in sonata, using the default mounts which are rubber damped, and that is also ok. I wouldn't recommend direct metal-metal mounts to the case at all.

The less drives the better. I would choose 2 seagates instead of 3 samsungs. Seagate has a 5 year warranty and their rma rate is sth like 2.2% (maxtor 4.5%, dunno about samsung).

[meglamaniac]

Well, i've always used Seagates up til now but it's the noise issue that worried me. I have E.A.R. isolator mounts for the harddrives so no they won't be hard mounted.
However, I do much prefer to have three physical drives. I've always had it that way - one for the windows install and installed programs/games, one for documents, music and finished video projects, and one for storing the huge amounts of raw digital video footage I need around at once to edit - so I while I admit 2 drives would be quieter I prefer to do it this way for my own peace of mind.

I found a site which said the 7200.8's were 8.5bels while the 7200.7's are 8bels, so I will probably get a 200gb 7200.7 if I decide to go down this route.

[edited for spelling]