SATA - 1.5Gbps
Now, we come to the 1.5Gbps hard drives. As mentioned already, these SATA hard drives have yet to even reach their 1.5Gbps bandwidth. So again, we would say that you should allow the price to be the determining factor regarding which drive you ought to buy. Worth mentioning is that not all motherboards support the higher bandwidth SATA specification, but luckily, the drives are backwards compatible.
There are also a number of excellent drives from which to choose here and we can only make so many suggestions. To start off the recommendations, we would suggest the Maxtor 1.5Gbps 300GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6L300S0], which is currently priced at $120 shipped, breaking it down to $0.40 per GB.
The Maxtor 1.5Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6L250S0] is another viable option. At $0.40 per GB, this hard drive is on sale for just a hair under an even $100 shipped.
If you have any doubts that most users will never notice the difference in performance between 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps, consider for a moment that Western Digital Raptors are all 1.5Gbps - even the new 150 GB model. Speaking of which, the Western Digital 36.7GB 10000RPM Raptor [RTPE: WD360GD] drives have been steady for quite some time now. With a few dollars up and down from time to time, at the moment, this drive is priced at about $105 shipped. The 74GB Western Digital Raptor [RTPE: WD740GD] is now priced at $149 shipped after a $20 mail-in rebate from TigerDirect. Finally, the overall fastest drive on the market, the 150GB Raptor [RTPE: WD1500], is now selling for $276 shipped, making it slightly cheaper per gigabyte than the lower capacity models. Some people might also be interested in spending $75 more to get a small window on the hard drive, but we're certainly not going to recommend it.
Now, we come to the 1.5Gbps hard drives. As mentioned already, these SATA hard drives have yet to even reach their 1.5Gbps bandwidth. So again, we would say that you should allow the price to be the determining factor regarding which drive you ought to buy. Worth mentioning is that not all motherboards support the higher bandwidth SATA specification, but luckily, the drives are backwards compatible.
There are also a number of excellent drives from which to choose here and we can only make so many suggestions. To start off the recommendations, we would suggest the Maxtor 1.5Gbps 300GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6L300S0], which is currently priced at $120 shipped, breaking it down to $0.40 per GB.
The Maxtor 1.5Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6L250S0] is another viable option. At $0.40 per GB, this hard drive is on sale for just a hair under an even $100 shipped.
If you have any doubts that most users will never notice the difference in performance between 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps, consider for a moment that Western Digital Raptors are all 1.5Gbps - even the new 150 GB model. Speaking of which, the Western Digital 36.7GB 10000RPM Raptor [RTPE: WD360GD] drives have been steady for quite some time now. With a few dollars up and down from time to time, at the moment, this drive is priced at about $105 shipped. The 74GB Western Digital Raptor [RTPE: WD740GD] is now priced at $149 shipped after a $20 mail-in rebate from TigerDirect. Finally, the overall fastest drive on the market, the 150GB Raptor [RTPE: WD1500], is now selling for $276 shipped, making it slightly cheaper per gigabyte than the lower capacity models. Some people might also be interested in spending $75 more to get a small window on the hard drive, but we're certainly not going to recommend it.
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rrcn - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
We have addressed this concern at the beginning of the article. =)SnoMunke - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
Hitachi has been producing SAS drives for awhile...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
rrcn - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
Thanks for the heads up. We'll be adding it shortly. =)Souka - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
Too bad they didn't mention the Samsung Spinpoint series.I was looking for a 250gb SATA to replace a old 100gb 2mb/cache IDE drive (giving to dad)... I checked out StorageReview.com and they had a VERY NICE round up of 250gb drives.
After looking at the data, I choose the Samsung Spinpoint 250GB SATA2 w/8mb cache drive. The drive is fast, and the coolest and quietest option in the group.
In this AT article they mentioned the Maxtor 250gb drive is a good bargain at 98$ shipped.... Well, I think the Samsung I bought for $97.99 shipped from NewEgg is a better deal.
My $.02.
Oh yeah, here's a link to the Storage Review review.... http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200601/250_1...">LINK
JarredWalton - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
As was mentioned in the article, there are a LOT of good deals on hard drives. WD, Samsung, Maxtor, and Hitachi all offer 250GB SATA 3.0Gbps drives for around $100, and any of those are worthy of consideration. Personally, I like the WD 16MB SE models, but the others are good as well. The Samsung drives *are* the quietest on the market, but there really isn't a massive difference between many of the HDDs... except that Maxtors are generally louder on seek noise. (Gary Key described them to me as "bongo drums" not to long ago! :) )