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Recommend 1tb+ internal drive

S

shredman

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Joined
Mar 19, 2006
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48
I just had a failure of an 8 month old Samsung F3 1TB internal drive (it takes power and spins up, clicks twice and powers down). Anyway, I have it's twin which I bought at the same time holding my data. I have an M4 SSD for OS and Programs and the HD for data, steam and other games. I'm nervous about the other Samsung F3 failing. I would like to replace it with something new and reliable. After doing some research, it looks like decent choices are WD Black ~$110 and Seagate Barracuda ~$80.


There is a pretty big price difference. Is it worth it? Is one faster or more reliable? I know the Black has a 5 yr warranty. Any advice?
 
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I second that. I would completely forget about Seagate and perhaps look into Hitachi (HGST). They're owned by WD.
 
I also am looking for a hard drive, and was considering one of the HGST drives, but the reviews on Newegg scare me. I'm leaning toward a WD black or RE4.
 
I wouldn't be to concerned about 1 drive going bad. I've got 8 Samsung F3's (also have 12 F4's) all running for over a year now; not a problem. Just go with another Samsung. Fast, cool and quiet running drives. WD and Seagate aren't any more reliable, in my opinion, less.

If you got it from Newegg, it's a crap shoot whether a HD will survive any length of time due to their extremely bad shipping practices. I don't buy HD's from Newegg, haven't for many years now because of that.
 
shredman said:
Hmm. Ok, any specific model for the HGST? I'm not familiar with them.

Found This Hitachi on amazon ~$90

HGST Deskstar 3.5-Inch 1TB 7200RPM SATA III 6Gbps 32MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (0F13180)
Click to expand...

That one is good.

Hitachi has been pretty good for me over the last 3 years. They used to be called IBM. IBM used them for manufacturing and decided to sell off that division. I have a 2TB one that is very fast. I built a rig for a friend and it has 2 Hitachi drives that a working flawlessly.

Don't spend the extra cash on RE4s unless you plan to RAID. that's really the only difference between them and the Black Editions.

As far as reviews are concerned, some people have unrealistic expectations of their hardware. Don't just look at the numbers. Read the bad reviews. This will prove what I'm saying.
 
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hdfreedom said:
I wouldn't be to concerned about 1 drive going bad. I've got 8 Samsung F3's (also have 12 F4's) all running for over a year now; not a problem. Just go with another Samsung. Fast, cool and quiet running drives. WD and Seagate aren't any more reliable, in my opinion, less.

If you got it from Newegg, it's a crap shoot whether a HD will survive any length of time due to their extremely bad shipping practices. I don't buy HD's from Newegg, haven't for many years now because of that.
Click to expand...

You are correct.
 
Ok, so can you guys give me a model # or link? I will buy on amazon.com due to better shipping/packing.

I would like it to be fast, reliable and quiet. I don't really care too much about saving $20 if it's faster or better.
 
hdfreedom said:
I wouldn't be to concerned about 1 drive going bad. I've got 8 Samsung F3's (also have 12 F4's) all running for over a year now; not a problem. Just go with another Samsung. Fast, cool and quiet running drives. WD and Seagate aren't any more reliable, in my opinion, less.

If you got it from Newegg, it's a crap shoot whether a HD will survive any length of time due to their extremely bad shipping practices. I don't buy HD's from Newegg, haven't for many years now because of that.
Click to expand...

I was reading that Samsung was bought out and their drives may not be as reliable now. Do you know anything about this?
 
egroeg555 said:
I was reading that Samsung was bought out and their drives may not be as reliable now. Do you know anything about this?
Click to expand...

I haven't bought any F3's since they were bought by Seagate a few months ago. I do see that the F3 drives look to be the same drive as before. Again, if bought from Newegg, it's a crap shoot as to whether you'll get the drive in working order.

I recently bought 4 more F4's. I bought them as the Samsung M4 2tb USB2 external for $90 a piece, and they are the same Samsung F4 as before, including the label.
 
The Hitachi 7K1000.D (the one you linked) is a good choice - uses a 1TB platter so it is very fast.
 
hdfreedom said:
I haven't bought any F3's since they were bought by Seagate a few months ago. I do see that the F3 drives look to be the same drive as before. Again, if bought from Newegg, it's a crap shoot as to whether you'll get the drive in working order.

I recently bought 4 more F4's. I bought them as the Samsung M4 2tb USB2 external for $90 a piece, and they are the same Samsung F4 as before, including the label.
Click to expand...

I did as well. One caveat tho, these drives are HD204UI/VP4. Apparently, the firmware is different and changing the APM is an impossibility at this time.
 
Forceman said:
The Hitachi 7K1000.D (the one you linked) is a good choice - uses a 1TB platter so it is very fast.
Click to expand...

That one looks good, but as someone here suggested the reviews for DOA, early failure etc.. at newegg are just abysmal. Makes it hard to pull the trigger on it.
 
I wonder how much of that is Newegg's terrible packing for hard drives. I didn't check the Amazon reviews.
 
I did some more research on that Hitachi and it looks like it's performance reading large files is good, but it's gotta a slow access time ~ 18ms. Here is a good review.

[qoute]When used solely as a storage drive and doing multi-GB data transfers (e.g. my ~450 GB backup of assorted files), the Hitachi is fast at both reading and writing. But when used for Windows and applications like iTunes at the same time, it feels slightly sluggish compared to the Black and even the SE16.

As for noise, both WD drives have a constant audible whine at idle, with the SE16 having excessive vibration. But the Hitachi’s so quiet I can’t even hear it unless I put my ear right next to my case.

When seeking the Black has a rumbling noise (which is more subdued on the SE16). Meanwhile the Hitachi has a slight clicking sound at worst, kind of like an HDD iPod that’s seeking.

I’m absolutely amazed at the acoustic difference between the two companies, and the Hitachi drive could easily belong inside any silent computing system. [/quote]

So it looks like the hitachi is not a good fit for my uses as an itunes/game/photos/videos drive. Now I'm back to the drawing board...

Samsung F3
WD Black
Seagate Barracuda?
 
Do you honestly think you are going to notice that much difference between the three? Especially since your OS drive is an SSD and anything you get is going to be subconsciously compared to it? You could probably put a green drive in there and not notice the difference.
 
Forceman said:
Do you honestly think you are going to notice that much difference between the three? Especially since your OS drive is an SSD and anything you get is going to be subconsciously compared to it? You could probably put a green drive in there and not notice the difference.
Click to expand...

By green drive, do you mean the Samsung F4 or what?
 
An Eco drive, not sure what all the manufacturers call them. Like the WD Greens.
 
Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet that the drive should still be under warranty if it's only 8 months old as mentioned in the OP. Why not just RMA the drive and use the free replacement?
 
That's a typo...it's 18 months old. Only had a 1 yr warranty. I looked at my receipt from newegg.
 
shredman said:
That's a typo...it's 18 months old. Only had a 1 yr warranty. I looked at my receipt from newegg.
Click to expand...

Ahh well, I've got nothing else for ya that hasn't already been said.

I had a similar situation, though just from running out of space. I ruled out the F3 (and ANY other Seagate drive) because of the 1 year warranty. I ruled out the Hitachi's because of the poor reviews, well, everywhere. Paid the premium for a WD Black and we'll see how that works out.
 
Xonim said:
Ahh well, I've got nothing else for ya that hasn't already been said.

I had a similar situation, though just from running out of space. I ruled out the F3 (and ANY other Seagate drive) because of the 1 year warranty. I ruled out the Hitachi's because of the poor reviews, well, everywhere. Paid the premium for a WD Black and we'll see how that works out.
Click to expand...

I just did the same myself: $170 for 2TB WD Black from amazon.
 
Xonim said:
Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen it mentioned yet that the drive should still be under warranty if it's only 8 months old as mentioned in the OP. Why not just RMA the drive and use the free replacement?
Click to expand...

Well, this ended up being a good call. I sent an email to seagate/samsung and they are honoring the warranty. Kudos to them. I wonder what they will send?
 
shredman said:
Well, this ended up being a good call. I sent an email to seagate/samsung and they are honoring the warranty. Kudos to them. I wonder what they will send?
Click to expand...

Probably another F3, although, you might get stuck with some Barracuda drive instead.

The F3's prior to Seagate's acquisition of Samsung had a 3 year warranty on them if I remember right.
 
wra18th said:
That one is good.

Hitachi has been pretty good for me over the last 3 years. They used to be called IBM. IBM used them for manufacturing and decided to sell off that division. I have a 2TB one that is very fast. I built a rig for a friend and it has 2 Hitachi drives that a working flawlessly.

Don't spend the extra cash on RE4s unless you plan to RAID. that's really the only difference between them and the Black Editions.

As far as reviews are concerned, some people have unrealistic expectations of their hardware. Don't just look at the numbers. Read the bad reviews. This will prove what I'm saying.
Click to expand...

I just got the 2TB version for $10 more at frys. Samsungs are still my favorite, but I don't want to get stuck with a seagate imposter!
 
My experience has had failed Seagates and Samsungs. My WD Blacks haven't let me down. I'm up to 6 of them now. Shrug. This is not a technical evaluation, just my personal experience of hard drives. I'm now dedicated to WD Blacks. (Until they fail.)
 
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