HD choices...

[dingobiatch]

so im stuck between harddrive choices.
ive been told that the good hd's are:
wd raptor 74gb (obviously)
maxtor diamondmax 16mb cache 200gb
hitachi sataII hd's

now, this is the thing. i dont really need more than 74gb, which is why the raptor would work (plus ive got a 120gb external).
but, raptors are expensive. are they that much better than the other hd's?
which is better, maxtor or hitachi? still better to get a raptor?

[l337zax]

Whats it going to be used for?

[Scroatdog]

If you decide on a Raptor, I'll bet you can pick one up pretty cheap in the For Sale/Trade forums. I did. Got mine for $150.00 Cheap? No. But cheaper? Yes. If you get into video editing, DVD authoring and the like, it wouldn't hurt to have alot of storage.

Once SATA II drives some out with 16meg cahce and are a little cheaper, I'll probably get a 400 or 500 gig drive for all my storage, and have the Raptor for the OS and games.
Alot of people have that setup. Until then, Im' just using two 80's in RAID 0 and another 160.

[TSS Modder]

i prefer seagates because they have 5 year warrenties, are extremely quiet, and are also very speedy. overall, its a very wellrounded drive.

[dingobiatch]

are raptors loud? and are they that much faster than other hd's?
im looking for an hd that is quite fast, and relatively quiet.

[TSS Modder]

then dont look at a raptor. :p

look at a drive w/ a 16mb cache and SATA (preferably SATAII or at least w/ NCQ). thatll provide speed at a much lower noise level than a raptor.

[dingobiatch]

Well, is it extremely loud or just a bit louder than normal hd's?
What would you guys recommend more than, Maxtor Diamondmax (16mb cache), Hitachi (SATAII), or Seagate (dunno why its good?)?

[DougLite]

Thanks to fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) motors, the Raptor's idle noise level is pretty low. I doubt you'll be able to hear it over your fans. However, the seeks are a pretty deep SCSI-like rumble rather than the chirp or chatter more characteristic of 7200RPM ATA drives. Seeks will be quite audible if you get a Raptor. For me, that deep rumble is quite satisfying, but I'm crazy like that :) If noise is a concern in your application, I'd stay away from the Raptor. WD's Caviar drives are pretty quiet now, Seagate has slipped a little but is still good to great in the noise department, and Samsung makes the quietest drives that are still manufactured.

[xdkimx]

heres something i dont get with the seagates http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2396&p=13 they did mediocre in all the tests but in game loading speeds they came out on top over the raptors?? ._.'