I Need a New HDD for My Laptop (WD vs. Seagate)

Hello,


I am in need of a new internal hard drive for my ASUS X58L. My current setup is an internal Hitachi Travelstar 5K250 HTS542512K9SA00 and an external Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500418 ST3500418AS.


I have narrowed my choice down to five drives, but I'm not very experienced with hard drives and would like some input as to which would be the best option.

1. Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BPKT - 320 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB cache, £32.00
2. Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BPKT - 500 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB cache, £42.00
3. Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9320423AS - 320 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB cache, £32.00
4. Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500423AS (ST9500420AS?) - 500 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB cache, £42.00
5. Seagate Momentus Thin ST320LT007 - 320 GB, 7200 rpm, 16 MB cache, £32.00

Basing your input on value/performance for money would be most appreciated, as I understand that both manufacturers are pretty decent.


Thank you!
Dylan.

 

I have the first two hard drives (scorpio black) and they work very well. I never had a problem with them, but they do get very loud.

I like the fact that it is backed with the five year warranty if anything should happen. I had a 1 TB 3.5" hard drive (black) and to get it replaced was no hassle at all.

 

When you say "very loud," is that distracting at all? I can hear my current Hitachi one pretty well and its constant noise is annoying. On the other hand, the external Seagate drive doesn't bother me at all.

 

had 2 scorpio black and they are great drives.
original 6 year old had 2 bad sectors and then started causing problems which was replaced with same under warranty and as mentioned if they are out of warranty from laptop supplier then they are still covered by manufacturer for 5 years.

only problem is in my new laptop i have a 512gb ssd and there is just no comparison. i will never go back to spindle drives

 

Thank you for the information, mate. I do think I will be going with the 500 GB WD drive, simply because I already own a Seagate drive and it will be interesting to see how they both compare.

SSDs are only good if you can afford them.

This laptop will actually feel like a new machine by next week as I've ordered a processor and a new battery as well (RAM is already upgraded to maximum). It's almost 5 years old and I'm trying to keep it running for as long as possible!

My next computer will be a custom built desktop as I don't think I'll be investing in a laptop again.

Dylan

 

On reliability WD is much better than Seagate.

John.

 

PassMark HDD Test - 500 GB Seagate scores worse than the 500 GB WD.

 

I don't believe that at all.

 

Wow, this will be a better upgrade than I first thought;

PassMark Hard Drive scores:

Current
Hitachi Travelstar 5K250 HTS542512K9SA00 (Internal)

Rating = 266​

Rank = 2420/2790​

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500418 ST3500418AS (External)

Rating = 739​

Rank = 1006/2790​

Upgrade
Seagate Momentus ST9500423AS --- Seagate Momentus ST950042 3AS (Internal)

Rating = 599 --- 653​

Rank = 1308/2790 --- 1171/2790​

Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BPKT (Internal)

Rating = 684​

Rank = 1100/2790​

 

WD. I've NEVER had a problem with WD but I've had problems with Seagate.

 

It's all anecdotal, no 1 manufacturer is any more or less reliable than another.

I can disagree with people saying Scorpio Blacks are loud, I have one in my work laptop, and I don't notice any real difference vs ambient room noise.

 

I used both brands but I find Seagate to be the noisiest out of the two as it "crunches" a lot under load. It's a bit of a lottery with reliability, I had a WD drive failed on me but I can't fault the customer support as it has been very good in my experience. They also upgraded my drive for free under RMA which was a bonus!

 

It's cool guys, I'm going with the WD drive. It scores higher in benchmarks and I need the faster drive for my web development work.

I don't have anything against Seagate or WD. It'll be an interesting experience, comparing both vendors' drives with each other.

 

Another vote for WD from me . The Scorpio Black is quieter than the Hitachi, including when it's reading/writing, plus it's noticeably faster than 5400 rpm drives. Never had long term experience with Seagate, the one I had did fail but it was external.

The only caveat with the Scorpios is the head parking - if it's idle for 8 seconds, it parks them with quite a loud click sometimes. I increased the time to 300 seconds with Wdidle3 tool, and it runs great. Though as a main drive it will rarely be idle.

 

I thought Seagate had discontinued 7200RPM notebook drives? A year ago I would have recommended one of their Momentus XT drives if you want something cheap. I've been using a first gen one for years, and it really is faster than a normal 7200RPM drive, BUT they discontinued and replaced them with 5400RPM hybrid drives.

Anyway, personally between a normal Seagate and Western Digital 7200RPM drive, I'd go for the Seagate without hesitation, BUT I think I'd use a 7200RPM WD if Seagate 7200RPM drives aren't available anymore.

 

Out of your choices I would recommend the WD 500GB Black too.

As for this is the last notebook you'll invest in - I had to chuckle... you don't invest in anything with a cpu - it is simply a tool to get a job done. And if you need mobility, that is what notebooks are for - and if mobility is not (at all) important - the desktops are more powerful, more upgradeable and even cheaper vs. a similarly configured (if even possible) notebook - but you still don't invest in them any more than you invest in cereal.

 

So that's what that noise is! Thanks - I have a 750GB Scorpio black that has everything but the OS, so I hear it from time to time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, all Scorpios have it, but the Scorpio Black is quite loud - probably when it's moving to park from the edge of the disk. But 9000 hours and going so it's nothing to worry about apparently...

 

Have had many problems with WD which I would put down to high ambient temperatures, IOW if you are getting a WD then keep it cool.

 

Like I said, I can't afford a new desktop computer or I would just do that instead. All parts are coming from eBay. The processor I have now is from eBay (I bought it last year; second-hand) and it's running fine. The upgrade processor is also second-hand, but the hard drive is brand new.

By holding off buying a new computer, I'm making the upgrade more noticeable whenever I do finally decide to do it. I'm one of those people who like to get the most out of their products before dumping them. This machine isn't as powerful as it can be, but that will change by next week.

I've also ordered a new replacement battery and some Antec Formula 7.