What Hard Disk is best

HMS-Dreadnought · Jul 14, 2005, 08:38 PM

I want to buy a EIDE 200GB hard disk,...

I've been out the loop a while and I'm not sure what specifications I need to ask for, or make sure it has.

First, some questions I need you to ancer.

1.
What are the different rpm speeds that are avalible at the moment?

2.
What are the different cache sizes avalible at the moment?

3.
Maxtor are supose to be good... should I ask for one of them? and if so, what one should I ask for.

(also, what make/brand/model should I avoid at all costs)
My mate once had a really cheep but sadly crappy one that broke on him because they used a poor spindle or something, I can't remember.

4.
What is the pinicle/best/fastest 200GB EIDE Hard disk on the market at the moment, and what are its specification's. (cache size in MB's / rpm speed etc, etc)

Any other infomation you can give that you think I need to know b4 parting with my money, would be most helpfull .

I need to buy the damn thing tomorrow, My 30GBMaxtor HDD is dieing on me (failing to start up at boot sometimes/often)

*Thanks..

HMS-Dreadnought · Jul 14, 2005, 08:50 PM

Also,.. I would like to know the MB per SECOND rating of a new HARD drive.

***craig5320*** · Jul 14, 2005, 09:03 PM

I'd go with this one,

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=309273&cks=PRL

Capacity is a little over what you said, but it's a good price.

you need to get at least 7,200 rpm, it's pretty much all you'll find anyway.

and certainly aim for 16mb cache

As for the transfer rate, that all depends on how you connect it, modern hard drives are using sata now, but you said you want a n ide drive, so you'll be limited to ATA133 depending if your motherboard goes that fast.

mike2h · Jul 14, 2005, 09:04 PM

got to the manafacturers sites & look. ie maxtor, seagate, etc. you will get the most accurate info there. just look up the size of the hd you are interested in.
my recs in that range would one of the new cudas(seagate) or dm10(maxtor)

HMS-Dreadnought · Jul 14, 2005, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig5320

I'd go with this one,

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=309273&cks=PRL

Capacity is a little over what you said, but it's a good price.

you need to get at least 7,200 rpm, it's pretty much all you'll find anyway.

and certainly aim for 16mb cache

As for the transfer rate, that all depends on how you connect it, modern hard drives are using sata now, but you said you want a n ide drive, so you'll be limited to ATA133 depending if your motherboard goes that fast.

thank you,.. most helpfull.

I was thinking about that one as well.

The guy in the shop said the 200GB had 16MB cache, he must be wrong because even #Maxtor website says different.

QUESTION....
I dont have SATA,... can I buy an add-in PCI card with a SATA interface?

And if yes, will it be just as fast as a motherboard SATA interface?

How much are PCI SATA cards, and do you think it's worth it?
or should I just go with IDE instead?

Yousaif · Jul 14, 2005, 11:10 PM

I like my Maxtor 250GB HD. Its an ATA 133 with a 16meg cache and I was able to get it for about $140 US in January. You can probably find it for less now.

A lot of the SATA drives these days are just ATA drives with a SATA interface attached. Most of them don't run at the full transfer rate anyways. The only thing I use SATA for now is for a RAID setup.

Looks like the proce has come down ahain. Here is a link that describes my HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144422

mike2h · Jul 14, 2005, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HMS-Dreadnought

thank you,.. most helpfull.

I was thinking about that one as well.

The guy in the shop said the 200GB had 16MB cache, he must be wrong because even #Maxtor website says different.

QUESTION....
I dont have SATA,... can I buy an add-in PCI card with a SATA interface?

And if yes, will it be just as fast as a motherboard SATA interface?

How much are PCI SATA cards, and do you think it's worth it?
or should I just go with IDE instead?

maxtor has 2, 8, & 16mb cache drives the dm10's are mostly/all 16mb.
you can get sata pci cards. mo, the ywont be as fast as a reg sata connection but you will not notice the diff between it & regular pata.
the upside t othis is future compatability for your drive.
some maxtor kits have the pci cards in them.

HMS-Dreadnought · Jul 14, 2005, 11:55 PM

new possible problem,... my MOther Board might not use large HDD,.. so far all I can find is it working with 160GB drives,...

its all a bit hard to find out if it will work with a 200GB or a 250GB or even a 300GB.

My mainboard is an MSI MS-6380 / K7T266 Pro2 anybody know if it will work or not?

If it's not going to work,... will it work if I get a PCI SATA card ?

mike2h · Jul 15, 2005, 02:06 AM

that is why god made partitions.

HMS-Dreadnought · Jul 15, 2005, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike2h

that is why god made partitions.

I thought that only aplyed to FAT32 OSystems 40GB max.

I don't see how a partition is relivent to a Mainboard that dosn't regonise a HDD over 160GB's. (if indeed that turns out to be the case)

mike2h · Jul 15, 2005, 02:43 AM

if it is the case, & it is possible with that chipset(you might want to check for a bios update) then partioning it into smaller sections allows the all of the hd to be 'seen'