Good HDD upgrade that will work on this machine?

Y

Yoma44

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 3, 2008
Messages
132
I just need a space upgrade for my machine, and it's been so long, I don't know the limitations based on my specs. Would you guys give me a sanity check here and help me pick out a good Hard drive upgrade?

Currently I have a:
HDD Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

I'll have to reinstall windows 7, of course.
I'm looking for anything that is good bang for the buck under $200.


Edit: (Sorry I thought my specs were in my sig)

CPU Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz,
MBO Gigabyte GA EP45-DS3LATX Motherboard,
VID EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked 1024MB
PSU OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W PSU.
RAM 8GB G.SKILL (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800,
HDD Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s,
CAS Lian Li PC-A05B Mid Tower, (OS Win7 64 bit)
 
Unless you go with a SSD you won't be limited by the SATA-2 connection on your motherboard, so you can use whatever you like. If you still like Western Digital I would recommend a Black Series drive.

A cheap SSD would also work wonders on speeding up an older system, like it did mine. I have the same motherboard as you do in your sig, in my HTPC. The SATA-2 connection limits the performance of my SSD, but isn't a big deal to me. I could always get a SATA-3 upgrade card, but why bother.

WD Black 2TB $175 5-Year Warranty
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136792
 
Last edited:
Quiet honestly, I would go with a 256GB SSD to install your OS and applications. Throw the 640 in there and store your documents, pictures, movies, etc on it. You can even redirect your user folders to folders on that drive, so the entire process of saving is seamless to you. I do that with all my folders, including my desktop, and I don't even notice. Saves a ton of room on my SSD for apps and OS.

In the end your performance is going to be a lot better than just getting a larger HDD. The HDD is the slowest component on your computer and your OS is constantly accessing it. Switching to an SSD is a huge boost for even normal task.
 
Go for an SSD as the boot drive, even if it's a 128GB. Everyone who has a pc and has used mechanical hard drives, owes it to themselves to try out an SSD if they have not already. SSD makes a night and day difference in pretty much any Windows task.
 
Thanks. Going with and SSD sounds like a really awesome idea. My problem is that I'm out of space for installing all the Steam games I want to install. I'm always running out of room. I suppose.

Right now I have a 640 Gig HDD and probably close to 256 Gigs are taken up by games, adobe apps and Maya. I have to uninstall Battlefield if I want to play Skyrim, and so on.
 
You could pick up a Crucial M4 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive for about the $200.budget you mentioned...;)
 
Could be a cool idea.
So, some of these drives say SATA III. Does that mean I can't do that kind?

SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147192

And what would be a good 1 or 2 TB drive to go along with it? Sounds like I'll be pushing into the $250 budget, which is okay.
 
You can use SATA III just fine, it will just operate at 3Gbps rather than 6Gbps, still will be blazingly fast compared to any spinner. The 840 Pro is a really good drive too. As far as 1-2TB drives go, go with what you can find in your budget. I've been buying Seagate and Samsung lately, simply because they've been cheapest while still giving me 7200 RPM.
 
I'd definitely go for a "lower end" but bigger SSD if money is a concern, and the Crucial M4 is only lower end because newer drives are faster. In practice it won't matter.
 
UPDATE:
I got my stuff from newegg, and planned today to install it. However, The SSD didn't come with a mounting bracket. I assume I'm going to need that, and that I just overlooked that detail?

Sad that I'm here with no mounting bracket and ready to go.
 
I assume I'm going to need that
Click to expand...
You do not need to mount an SSD with a bracket. Velcoro or tape it to the bottom of your case. There are no moving parts so its a lot less fragile than a hard drive.
 
How bad would it be to install the OS on the SSD without a mounting bracket???

I ordered one and can put it in later, but there are no moving parts, so does it matter?
 
No it does not matter. None of my SSDs are mounted with brackets. Even the one I purchased in 2009.
 
Mine is in an antistatic bag and just sits on an horizontal part of the case, next to a pump. It isn't taped or anything. I need my 15 3,5" bays for hard drives !
 
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