Which 160GB drive will suit my needs?

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:00 am

I'm currently loaded with two 80GB Maxtor PATA drives, but since I will be switching to AM2 soon I'm in need of a new SATA HDD.

I was thinking of a single quiet but performing non-expensive 160GB SATA HDD. I have room to suspend it in the case and am willing to do so.
I've been looking at various places for reviews and user comments but I just can't decide which drive to get.

Help is appreciated!

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 4:40 am

Storage Review is the place to go to find news on the best drives. It concludes (as do many people on these forums) that the Samsung SpinPoint series is the best bet. Good value, *generally* very quiet (with a Nidec motor, rather than a JVC one), and they do a 160GB model (~Â£45).

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:59 am

I can get the P80 HD160JJ at a fairly low price. But I haven't read any really positive comments about it..

How are the Maxtors doing noise wise?

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:34 pm

Take a look at this review. Its pretty comprehensive. Obviously you don't need to bother with the SCSI drives, but its got performance and noise levels for a number of the best SATA drives. Bear in mind that softmounting and/or enclosing the hard drive can quieten (though maybe not make completely silent) almost any drive.

Hope this helps.

PS I've had no personal experience with Maxtor drives as I know a number of people who say they very unrelaible, but that was a long time ago (before they were bought by Seagate). Something you might want to consider though.

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:57 pm

TomMe wrote:I can get the P80 HD160JJ at a fairly low price. But I haven't read any really positive comments about it..

If you haven't read any positive comments about Samsung P80 I suggest that you read the SPCR reviews and have a look at the recommended 3.5" hard drives.

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 1:20 am

whoatethepies wrote:PS I've had no personal experience with Maxtor drives as I know a number of people who say they very unrelaible, but that was a long time ago (before they were bought by Seagate). Something you might want to consider though.

I have 7 Maxtor drives of which one has died and one has spin-up problems (but works).

Drives dying or behaving oddly is never good, but I suspect this to be the same with all brands..

As for the WD Raptor..coming at a price of â‚¬300, I could just as well buy 5 other 160GB drives and do a roundup of them myself.

It's "a bit" over my budget..

Tephras wrote:If you haven't read any positive comments about Samsung P80 I suggest that you read the SPCR reviews and have a look at the recommended 3.5" hard drives.

I meant the HD160JJ model in particular.

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:23 am

TomMe wrote:As for the WD Raptor..coming at a price of â‚¬300, I could just as well buy 5 other 160GB drives and do a roundup of them myself. It's "a bit" over my budget..

Sorry, didn't explain that too well..

The roundup is focused on the Raptor, but it also has benchmanrks for a number of other drives as comparison. This should give you an idea of how well they perform against each other, ignoring the Raptor. For example, the SpinPoint comes in at the bottom for performance in some of the tests. However, its also very quiet. Gotta trade one for the other I guess..

As for reliability, I've had 4 Seagate Barracuda IV's for 4 years and not a single problem. I know another guy with 7(!! - over a TB of storage, don't ask why), mostly RAID'ed, and no problems there either. Very good drives, though there are threads around here about the noise made by the newer ones...

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:02 am

Hm, I should correct myself. I have 6 Maxtors, the other is a Seagate.

Isn't there a drive that's somewhere in the middle of performance/noise?

whoatethepies · Post by **whoatethepies** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 3:45 pm

Western Digital Caviar series are very fast and *apparently* aren't too loud, though I'm not compleately certain about that. Have a look around, see what you think. Shouldn't cost much more than the SpinPoint.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:56 pm

Hitachi 7K160 PATA now shows up on ebay using google and froogle. I'm not a fan of ebay and paypal, but some are. The current price is $82 including shipping for the retail box version. No SATA that I can see.

This indicates the unit will be showing up real soon at Newegg etc. This is a one-platter 2-head 160GB drive, and Hitachi is beginning to take some care of the acoustics of their drives.

Unless you're in a great big hurry, you might want to see what the early reviews say about this drive.