[TekWarfare]

I currently have a 250GB drive which only has 3.11GB of space left, so I need a new HDD.

There are 320GB and 500GB drives, but which to get?

So far I have found:

Samsung HD322HJ F1 - 320GB SATA 7200rpm 16MB Cache

Samsung HD502HJ F3 - 500GB SATA II 7200rpm 16MB Cache

Both of which are around £35, which would you guys recommend?

 

[kimosabi]

The F3.

Comparison. 1TB drives though but I'd guess it's quite relevant to the 500GB drives too.

 

[TekWarfare]

Thanks for the comparison, the F3 looks a lot faster in comparison.

Are there any other drives you would recommend instead, or does the F3 have the best Price

erformance ratio?

 

[oliverw92]

WD Caviar 640s are on sale at the moment, making them on par with the F3s in terms of price/performance. I would personally get the 1tb F3.

 

[Cyberbot]

F3 for sure

 

[kimosabi]

I wouldn't recommend any HDD instead of the Samsung F3's no. You always have the WD Velociraptors etc. but they cost quite a bit more. Stay away from Hitachi Deskstar, they are nicknamed "DeathStar" now and there's a reason to that... SSDs are beginning to drop in price so in 6 months or so that should be your next upgrade anyway.

If you're running it as Master you could "Short Stroke" it for slightly better performance. Just make a small partition for your OS.

 

[TekWarfare]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimosabi I wouldn't recommend any HDD instead of the Samsung F3's no. You always have the WD Velociraptors etc. but they cost quite a bit more. Stay away from Hitachi Deskstar, they are nicknamed "DeathStar" now and there's a reason to that... SSDs are beginning to drop in price so in 6 months or so that should be your next upgrade anyway. If you're running it as Master you could "Short Stroke" it for slightly better performance. Just make a small partition for your OS.

I've got my SSD for the OS.

I don't want to spend an inordinate ammount of money on a HDD's, as I'm getting it for Christmas along with a few games and maybe even a new graphics card... So should I get the Samsung F3 500GB drive then?

 

[kimosabi]

In my honest opinion? Yes.

 

[TekWarfare]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimosabi In my honest opinion? Yes.

I'll add it to my Christmas list then.

BTW what's Short Stroke?

 

[Dar_T]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TekWarfare I currently have a 250GB drive which only has 3.11GB of space left, so I need a new HDD. There are 320GB and 500GB drives, but which to get? So far I have found: Samsung HD322HJ F1 - 320GB SATA 7200rpm 16MB Cache Samsung HD502HJ F3 - 500GB SATA II 7200rpm 16MB Cache Both of which are around £35, which would you guys recommend?

For just two more dollars (pounds?) why not get that extra 180Gb size?

 

[kimosabi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TekWarfare BTW what's Short Stroke?

It's basically just a term for making a small partition on your HDD so that you can dedicate that partition to your OS.

The first partition on a HDD always begins on the outer edge of the disc and "Short Stroke" basically means that the pick-up arm don't have to move that much to collect data from your HDD since it's positioned outside the disc. It works in Shorter Strokes. Shorter read/write times are the results but we're talking milliseconds here. The difference is noticeable nonetheless.

A better explanation.

 

[TekWarfare]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimosabi It's basically just a term for making a small partition on your HDD so that you can dedicate that partition to your OS. The first partition on a HDD always begins on the outer edge of the disc and "Short Stroke" basically means that the pick-up arm don't have to move that much to collect data from your HDD since it's positioned outside the disc. It works in Shorter Strokes. Shorter read/write times are the results but we're talking milliseconds here. The difference is noticeable nonetheless. A better explanation.

Yeah, I read that, but your explanation is much better, thanks.

So basically, the smaller the partition, the quicker the I/O performance as the arm moves very slightly?

 

[kimosabi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TekWarfare So basically, the smaller the partition, the quicker the I/O performance as the arm moves very slightly?

You are correct.