gig4ls

Hi,
I'm thinking about replacing my OS harddrive on my HTPC. It's really better used as a storage harddrive as it is 750gb WD caviar green. What would be a better storage device to replace it with? Here are my requirements:

Must:
-Be energy efficient.
-Have a low error/malfunction rate.
-Function well in a machine that is always running (24 hours a day/7 days a week).
-Be fine for Windows 7 RTM x64 (I don't know if this really affects anything, just throwing it out there).

Should:
-Be reasonably fast. As fast as a regular SATA drive.
-Be physically no larger than a standard 3.5" drive. Smaller would be a bonus, but 3.5" is definitely workable.

Should not:
-Be large capacity. 150gb is plenty, half that would probably do.
-Be crazy expensive
-Require RAID. I hate RAID (outside of enterprise use)
-Be IDE. There is simply no space for large cables in my case, it will restrict airflow.
-Produce crazy heat or noise. My current standard is the WD Caviar green: anything as cool or cooler and as silent or more so is good.

Harddrives and SSDs are on the table. I have also heard of people using a PCI card that basically saves to RAM sticks on the card, although that's a little too hardcore for me. Budget is undetermined at this point. Any specific suggestions would be very much appreciated. General info and links to articles are great too, it might just take me longer to read through it and give you props

DuckieHo

SSDs are not on the table as they are too expensive.

Get 2.5" WD Scorpio Blue 5400RPM or a Seagate 5400.6.

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EvilGenius007

If you can catch a good sale on an SSD they might not be "too expensive", depending on what you mean by that. Be sure to stick to drives known to preform well in a desktop OS environment. You'll want something with an Intel, Samsung or Indilinx controller. That includes any drive by Intel, the OCZ Summit series (Samsung), OCZ Vertex series(Indilinx), or a SuperTalent UltraDrive ME (Indilinx).

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Manyak

Check out this deal. If you can afford the $160, that's the way to go. Those drives use the same Indilinx controller the Vertex does, and even the same firmware I think. They won't stutter or lose performance over time, and their 4KB random throughput is just about the same as the Vertex's.

If you can't afford it, then just pick up a nice 2.5" drive.

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