[Q] How to identify what internal HDD you need for PC

evolutionqy7

Howdy

As the title says i want to change or upgrade or add a new HDD to my desktop but im not sure where to get one or even which one to get. I live down in the middle of nowhere so ordering online probably would be the best option

Ive attached the pics of the HDD bay and what cables it uses in case some one knows a thing or two about it

Help would be appreciated

Thanks

bhickey

Looks like a Seagate 500GB SATA drive. Look on Dabs.ie, Komplett.ie etc. for SATA drives.

PogMoThoin

You'd get a 2Tb for around 90 quid these days. Sata is what You need

cherryghost

There's enough space in the bay to add a second Hard Drive if you want. Just make sure to get a SATA HD, and a 3 euro SATA cable to go with it

evolutionqy7

yeah i was more into lookin to add one. and move the OS onto the new one since the original one is getting pretty noisy

is the other empty white plug there for the 2nd HDD?

cause i couldnt see any other wires like from the original HDD

thanks for the replies

EDIT: [Q] Which one is most important RPM or the HDD or the Buffer Size? Any point in looking at the Hybrid HDD's?

PogMoThoin

If You follow the blue cable You will see that its double ended and that it plugs into a socket on the board, You should have other empty sockets. You need another cable for the second drive, its called a Sata cable


The other cable on the left is from the power supply, You may have a second if You look at the other connections lying loose



If You've not got a second You can get an adapter to convert from normal molex



Back to the HD, how much space do You need and whats Your budget?

evolutionqy7

id say 1-2 tb would be enough not too fuzzy. budget 100-150E

PogMoThoin

Budget is over the top

1Tb:
http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/11_HDD/07_INTHD35/productdetails/20005053/Samsung_SpinPoint_F3_Desktop_Class_HD103SJ_Hard/HD103SJ/default.aspx

2Tb:
http://komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/11_HDD/07_INTHD35/productdetails/20066405/Samsung_Int_2TB_3_5_Sata_300_5400rpm_32MB/HD204UI/default.aspx

evolutionqy7

I have 4 sata ports in total. 1 Taken by DVD Drive and other by the current HDD so two spare. For power source i guess ill have to get an adapter. I have a four pin white plug the same as goes into the first one.

Will need to look into a replacement Heat sink and fan too cause the fan goes mental every time i try playing a game. Or even launch full screen visualization from iTunes

gflood

stay away from 5400 rpm drives. too slow. Id go for a 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA (Samsung Spinpoint are good).

gflood

to clarify, 5400 drives are fine for storage but not for booting.

Ideal scenario is to get a SSD drive for boot and a 2TB one for storage.

evolutionqy7

well im looking for something acceptable to handle games the only thing bringing my windows score down is the hdd.

dont really care for booting speed either not gonna build my own pc for another year so save it for then

Edit: I looked closely beside the dvd drive and it does have split for power. Didn't look closely but i might be able to swap power wire from dvd to hdd bay.

PogMoThoin

Don't be fooled by the 5400rpm, the Samsung 5400rpm isn't at all slow, its miles faster than what He's got and is one of the fastest of the 2Tb drives. Despite the 5400rpm spindle speed mine does a very respectable read speed of 100 MB/s+ and is nearly as fast as the Samsung F1 satas that were the fastest sata You could buy 18 months ago.

Heres my 2TB F4 5400rpm sata:


Heres my 1Tb F1 7200rpm sata:


SSD's are faster but not value for money for storage drives yet.

Mr Benevolent

Interesting, I didn't realise that some HDDs are as fast as last gen SSDs!

PogMoThoin

Confab wrote: »

Interesting, I didn't realise that some HDDs are as fast as last gen SSDs!

Yes, but access times are where ssd's are on another level, access time is virtually zero on an ssd which makes a few miliseconds seem huge. Also the speed on ssd's doesn't slow like mechanical drives do towards the edge of the platter

Here's my Intel value 40GB, its an entry level ssd:

evolutionqy7

Hi guys sorry to bring this up from the dead

But just want to make sure that im getting the right SSD

Was just looking at this http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2178140 or probably go for the 80GB version just to make things easier in the long run with space

The one im looking for is SATA interface connectivity isnt it?

This also comes with all the cables so seems good enough

Serephucus

That drive is SATA, and will work fine, yes. You will probably need an adapter from your PSU, if all you have is molex (the four-pin, white plug), and you'll need a SATA data cable, as they don't usually come with the drive (though you might have spares if you have your motherboard box around).

Adapter:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/sata-power-cable-9809

Cable:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/sata-cable-45cm-5170

Fluffy88

That drive seems a little expensive for what your getting,

This drive is 60Gb and has read/write speeds of 285MBps / 275MBps compared to speeds of 200MBps / 45MBps on the drive you selected and it's got 800,000 hours extra life time.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-60gb-vertex-2-sataii-2-5--solid-state-drive--oczssd2-2vtxe60g--72K9.html?refs=4294946440-52750000-52450000

Now I am just looking at the stats, I see people don't like the brand OCZ but I haven't ever heard of people buying Intel SSD's either, but you probably could find a better value SSD if you shop around a bit.
Also if your Mobo supports SATA3 or SATA-600 I would recommend looking for a SATA-600 SSD as it will be faster

Monotype

40GB is not that much. I recommend 60GB to be comfortable.


@Fluffy88 Intel's SSDs have been very good and reliable, but they're usually quite expensive, so you don't see them recommended as often. I would avoid the OCZ V2 as that's only 55GB. That said, I can't really find anything much better around that price.

Memoryc have some reasonably good deals on drives - but they're 6Gbps so you wouldn't get anywhere near the fully performance.
http://www.memoryc.com/products/description/64GB_Crucial_m4_SSD_2_5_inch_Solid_State_Drive_6Gb_s/index.html
http://www.memoryc.com/products/description/60GB_OCZ_Agility_3_SSD_2_5_inch_Solid_State_Drive_6Gb_s-read_525MB_s-write_475MB_s_/index.html

They have free delivery though and you might be able to get 5% off (see bargain alerts thread).

Fluffy88

Yeah Monotype is right, the vertex 2 I posted earlier is an old drive anyway.

I am quite new to this game but it seems http://dabs.ie in terms of price is very good.
Here is the 60Gb Agility 3 that Mono posted from two other sites.
http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-technology-60gb-agility-3-ssd-series-sata-6gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive-7HR1.html?refs=4294946440-52450000-52750000-50121
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/60gb-ocz-agility-3-ssd-25-sata-6gb-s-sandforce-2281-read-525mb-s-write-475mb-s-50k-iops

I have been doing a bit of reading up on SSD's today and OCZ seems to be one of the market leaders in terms of SSD's and both their Vertex and Agility 3's are the drives to go for, with the Vertex having, maybe, a slight advantage.