Choosing decent INTERNAL HDD

Hi there

Just a note to people choosing large HDD's these days -- (OK I know SSD's are IN - but I'm thinking HDD for Media / shared files etc etc).

Apart from the capacity (and I'm considering > 2TB HDD's - things like 3,4,5 or even 6 TB).

The CHEAPEST one's are NOT the best value -- generally they have a small Cache and a low speed (5900 RPM seems usual on these HDD's).

Go for SATA III, at least a 64 MB Cache and AT LEAST 7200 RPM (10,000 RPM is better but these are probably out of budget).

If you buy cheaper slower HDD's with small cache sizes YOU WILL REGRET IT !!!! I'm still amazed at how many people haven't realized yet that slow HDD's can KILL a system stone dead.

Running things like servers (multi-media stuff), or VM's need DECENT HDD's unless you are a lottery winner and can afford Banks of SSD's !!!!.

Anyway just a timely warning to people who might be looking to upgrade their HDD's for larger models.

Cheers
jimbo

Don't see advantage in faster spindle speeds for media or file storage. You will struggle to find any 10k high RPM drives in the 2tb or greater capacity.

If you are running lots of Vms, I would follow your recommendation though, they need as the IO you can give them, I do mine almost all on SSD these days.

For the OS, go faster spindle speeds and more cache. But I don't bother for data storage. I use quite a few Samsung 5400 rpm spinpoint3s and they are fantastic.

(10,000 RPM is better but these are probably out of budget).

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I don't agree with that either - especially if used for your stated purpose of media streaming and filesharing. 10K drives consume more power, they tend to be noisier, they generate more heat, and the increased rotation speeds increase wear on the drive.

Many HTPC (home theater PC) and home media streaming PC builders actually choose 5400RPM drives because they are quieter and they generate less heat. With a sufficient amount of RAM and a properly setup Page File, the slower speeds present no problems - there is still plenty of bandwidth to ensure no buffering.

For my own systems, I look for and buy "Enterprise class" drives. These typically cost just a bit more, but also typically have longer warranties and are a bit more robust. Most drive makers make several models.

Even fastest mechanical HDDs are not fast enough to saturate even SATA2 interface so insisting on SATA3 is not going to help anyway. I'm not aware of anybody producing new SATA2 drives so it may be moot point anyway.
To make compromise between speed capacity and price, Hybrid drives should be a good choice. SSD part on them makes a huge (relatively) cache and so speed up operations a lot.