2.5'' 1TB 9.5mm Hard Drive for storage and backup purposes?

There are so many 2.5'' 1TB 9.5mm hard drives at this time, and I can't choose what's the best form me. So I'm here asking some help. My requirements, ordered by priority:

• Quiet
• 1080p video playback without shuttering
• Decent speed for backup
• Low power consumption

I've found five models so far. The have quite the same features, apart from the WD10JUCT with 16Mb cache and HTS541010A9E680 that's SATA600. Price is for my country (not including shipping costs):

• $85,17 / €62,38: Toshiba MQ01ABD100
• $88,91 / €65,12: Samsung HN-M101MBB
• $79,31 / €58,09: Hitachi HTS541010A9E680
• $94,30 / €69,07: Western Digital WD10JPVT
• $104,39 / €76,46: Western Digital WD10JUCT

Which should I buy, based on my preferences? Thanks, really, for helping me.

 

They all meet your requirements IMO.

 

So, would you go for the cheaper one? Or for the WD10JUCT for a few extra bucks, given the doubled cache size? Thanks for your help!

 

If playing movies and decent speed are your only requirement go for the cheapest one but if you are planning to get a HD get the WD10JUCT for the extra cache because buying a HD is something you may do only once every couple of years.

 

How the extra cache will affect performance?

 

cache generally improves snappiness when you open and close a small subset (about 8-16mb) of files continuously. It also improves the Random Write performance when you really bombard the drive with requests (i.e. high queue depth). For the purposes you outlined, you want a drive with high sequential transfer speed. I can vouch for the WD10JPVT being really good, its transfer speed comes within about 5% of the much faster 7200RPM drives yet is really quiet. I honestly didn't know a 16mb cache version of the WD10JPVT existed (i.e. the WD10JUVT), I guess you can get that too due to low price difference only if the drive also has 2 platters. This is important because drives with more platters tend to be noisier and use more energy.
I am assuming though you are using this drive for storage (specifically external storage)

If you want a system drive (for Windows), you really need one of the 7200RPM drives. This is because while their transfer speeds are similar to the high density 5400RPM drives, they are much snappier (i.e. lower access times) for Windows. Try to also get one in the highest capacity possible (750gb WD blacks come to mind) as you can limit your partition to ensure the Windows is only on the fastest outer platter tracks.

 

Cache allocation will improve your performance, and the Western Digitals are good drives in terms of longevity and performance. If you really want something that fits the bill for all your requirements, an SSD would satisfy kindly, but would also cost you considerably more.

Otherwise, I would say go with one of WDs. I hear the Hitachi drives are a little louder, but other than that, they should all produce about the same level of noise (you should be able to find spec sheets that show you the dB rating for the drives, if applicable).