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    Hard Drive Choice?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by narsnail, Nov 10, 2008.

  1. narsnail

    narsnail Notebook Prophet

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    My mom asked me what I wanted for xmas other day, and I want another HDD, so im stuck between a 500gb 5400rpm Western Digital, or a cheap Solid State Drive.

    The pros of the normal drive is the storage obviously, having 750GB in my laptop would be awesome, but I really would like a snappy system and if a SSD can do that for me I think it would be a better choice.

    Anyone have experiences with high capacity drives or SSDs?
     
    narsnail, Nov 10, 2008
    #1
  2. Jakamo5

    Jakamo5 Tetra Vaal

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    The only REAL downside to an SSD is the relatively low memory capacity, especially if you're getting one for cheap. Regardless, I'd say if you're not looking to RAID, get the SSD. Having more space is awesome, but there's always external HDDs.

    EDIT: I take that back, looking at the prices alone, the two can't really be compared. 500GB 5400RPM is about $150-200? A 16GB SSD on newegg is about $185, go up to 60GB and you're looking at upwards of $300. I would say only go with the SSD if you really want an SSD bad.
     
    Jakamo5, Nov 10, 2008
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  3. BMW135i

    BMW135i Notebook Consultant

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    I'd get a another stocker and set up RAID 0.
     
    BMW135i, Nov 10, 2008
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  4. narsnail

    narsnail Notebook Prophet

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    yeah teh SSD doesnt really justify the cost with space, there is relatively cheap one on newegg.ca for $180, its 32gb and I think its a Patriot, but apparently the low end ones are brutal. I would really like an intel one but they are much too expensive.
     
    narsnail, Nov 10, 2008
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  5. ivar

    ivar Notebook Deity

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    Depending on what you are doing, the huge storage can be external USB and cheap, while the on-board can be SSD (expensive but fast) - and it should be a good SSD, not just any.
     
    ivar, Nov 11, 2008
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  6. Phil

    Phil Retired

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    Cheap SSDs and Vista don't go together very well.

    Go for a Seagate 7200.4 500GB.
     
    Phil, Nov 11, 2008
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  7. AuroraAlpha

    AuroraAlpha Notebook Consultant

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    I would say your best off staying with harddrives. SSDs are very expensive for even modest space and if you can afford just one SSD then you can probably get similar performeence from two harddrives in RAID0 (if you have the space).

    I would agree that a second 250GB 5400rpm HDD in RAID0 or RAID1 would give you the best performeence/price. After that a RAID set-up with either 320GB or 500GB drives. Then one SSD, then two SSDs in RAID.
     
    AuroraAlpha, Nov 11, 2008
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