Looking for a new HD

**washe** · October 31st, 2003, 12:28 PM

Hi Im looking for a new hardrive, Im thinking a 80 Gig drive will do it perfectly form me..

Im have seen some in newegg with a 2MB and 8MB cache, is worth having the extra cache?

Have seen some ATA133 and SATA? its worth having the SATA? whats the gain or difference?

And also I want it not to be very loud...

Brand suggestion is appreciated...

Thanks in advance...

**iNeb** · October 31st, 2003, 12:31 PM

WD is a good brand, only get 8mb cache if you move alot of big files around alot, if not it's just to make you feel good

Do you have a SATA motherboard? If not, don't get SATA or it won't work.

I think a 80GB WD 2MB cache will be great for you

**phrozen_dreamz** · October 31st, 2003, 12:34 PM

Brg... Any gaming being done? Or perhaps any DV editing? If so...GET THE 8MB CACHE! Well, I would get it anyways...A little performance never hurt anyone!

**rpertusio** · October 31st, 2003, 12:38 PM

I would recommend the 8MB cache, as you will find general disk performance increase, especially in heavy disk usage situations (such as booting, copying large files, or most games.) Obviously if those things don't really matter that much to you, then a 2MB cache would be fine.

You will only be able to use SATA on a motherboard that supports SATA (Serial ATA). Only newer models support it. It has substantial performance and features than the standard ATA133/ATA100 that most motherboards use.

Brands? My personal preference is Maxtor. I own a number of their 8MB cache drives (including the 80GB model). I haven't had any problems with any of my (maxtor) drives, and they aren't noisy when accessing data on the drive. Other people swear by Western Digital.

- rp

Edit: I guess iNeb and phrozen_dreamz beat me to it..

**DanGrease** · October 31st, 2003, 12:40 PM

Great brands for hard drives in my opinion: Western Digital, Seagate, Maxtor. I would go for the 8mb cache if I were you, you will just gain performance. Do you care about the RPM in a hard drive or not? Most of the hard drives today arent that loud so thats not a problem. As iNeb said if your motherboard doesnt support SATA then you cant go for a SATA hard drive. Most people use ATA hard drives anyways. HTH's

dan

**phrozen_dreamz** · October 31st, 2003, 12:41 PM

[/B]

Originally posted by rpertusio
You will only be able to use SATA on a motherboard that supports SATA (Serial ATA). Only newer models support it. It has substantial performance and features than the standard ATA133/ATA100 that most motherboards use.
[/B]

Not entirely true. Like there are RAID cards there are SATA cards. So if he really felt like it then he could get the SATA drives but he would need to get the controller card.

**washe** · October 31st, 2003, 12:42 PM

Yep I have a SATA compatible board, forgot to mention it, its an Asus A7N8X, And I do some seriuos gaming... so looks like the 8MB cache will be a must....

Tought choice only about the SATA?

what are the performance and features were SATA its better than ATA133?

**phrozen_dreamz** · October 31st, 2003, 12:46 PM

It performs better but in most apps the SATA has a minimal performance upgrade. It'd be nice but if you were to get any 7200rpm, 8mb cahce, ATA133 harddrive you would be plenty happy.

Heck my 30gb ATA100 HD is pretty dang speedy! Oh, check some prices on the 120gb HD. I've seen some with the 8mb cache with for around $100 after rebates! WOOOOLOOOLOOO!

**DanGrease** · October 31st, 2003, 12:47 PM

Instead of thinking about which one to choose from between SATA and ATA since you are a gamer the cache and RPM's of the hard drives are more important in my opinion. As far as I know most people use ATA hard drives and they seem to be standard nowadays. I havent really tried any SATA hard drives but I think its a small improvement in performance compared to ATA hard drives. I would be more concerned about the cahce and RPM's of the hard drive, and of course the brand too.

dan

**phrozen_dreamz** · October 31st, 2003, 12:49 PM

I agree. RPM and Cache would be the most important things. Western Digital has a 10,000RPM SATA HD out now. Moog...Spendy though!

**washe** · October 31st, 2003, 12:52 PM

well looks like the ATA133 will be the choice.... just one last thing its possible to have SATA Drives with 4 IDE devices, I have a CD-RW, DVD, 2 HD (I want to replace the oldest one).

**DanGrease** · October 31st, 2003, 12:53 PM

Originally posted by phrozen_dreamz
I agree. RPM and Cache would be the most important things. Western Digital has a 10,000RPM SATA HD out now. Moog...Spendy though!

Thats the advantage of SATA hard drives, there are even SATA Maxtor hard drives out now that have 15,000 RPM! Now thats speed, but as this is pretty new in the hard drive world (10,000 and 15,000 RPM) the hard drives supporting this get really hot and that can affect performance to the bad part. I think today a 7,200 RPM hard drive is more than enough.

dan

**iNeb** · October 31st, 2003, 12:53 PM

Well, to be honest to you, i see no difference in performance between my Maxtor 5400 2MB 40GB hard drive and my 100GB 8MB cache 7200RPM hard drive

**phrozen_dreamz** · October 31st, 2003, 12:57 PM

Totally Dan, the 7200rpm is fine. I guarantee satisfaction or your ...something...uhh...Never mind...

Hey Ineb...My friends 120gb WD HD whooooops my 40gb HD like you wouldnt believe. When he does any DV editing....Oooh the performance in SO noticable! So in my case there is definately a difference.

**DanGrease** · October 31st, 2003, 01:00 PM

Originally posted by iNeb
Well, to be honest to you, i see no difference in performance between my Maxtor 5400 2MB 40GB hard drive and my 100GB 8MB cache 7200RPM hard drive

Yeah I agree the performance difference are small. But it also depends on what you do and what you use. For example most recommend running Windows XP in at least a hard drive that supports 7,200 RPM's when Windows 98 you can run with a 4,200 RPM's hard drive without no problems at all. The cahce is even less important regarding performance differences but as I stated above it all depends on what you will do with the hard drive and what you will use it for.

dan