which hd to get?

well im looking for an internal hd for my e6400. i need atleast a 250 gig hd and was wondering which one should i get? i prefer 7200 rpm but is there that much of a difference in performance between the 7200 rpm and 5400?

also i want one thats fairly quiet and doesnt produce too much heat

 

The faster 5400RPM drives are almost as fast as slower 7200 drives. For 5400s the WD Blue series is quite fast and silent. Samsungs are also quite good.
For 7200s the new Seagate 7200.4 is the best there is currently, its fast and is available up to 500Gb.

 

Get a 320GB 7200RPM drive, Hitachi is usually the cheapest, as low as $60 while Seagate and WD can be had for $70+.

 

The E6400 is a 14" laptop, and it is pretty thin, so to keep vibrations down I think you are better off going with a 500Gb 5400rpm drive or a 320gb 5400rpm drive.
Good drives to look at are the
Hitachi 5K320 (320gb 5400rpm)
and
Western Digital WD5000BEVT (500gb 5400rpm)

The WD is faster than the 5K320, but the 5K320 is very quiet.

K-TRON

 

I've tested two 5K320 and to my sensitive hearing I find is not that 'quiet'. I've put the drive on a USB enclosure with the top cover off and the drive make a similar sound to a 7200rpm drive. I've not tested yet the 320GB & 500GB versions of the WD Scorpio Blue family, and would venture to say those are quieter than the 5K320. The WD Scorpio Black 320GB is also noisy.

I'd recommend you the WD5000BEVT or the WD3200BEVT.

 

What is the current drive in your laptop? That may help us recommend which ones will be as quiet or quieter. One of the problems on this board is that everyone's impression of silent is different and mostly based on what they used before.

I have tried the Hitachi 5K320 (5400RPM) and the WD3200BEKT (7200RPM) and both are significantly noisier than my original WD1200BEVT (5400RPM), which is absolutely silent.

On the theory that silent performance is the signature of the WD Blue series, I have ordered a WD3200BEVT to try out. I will report on its performance when I receive it day after tomorrow. I hope the theory holds true, because this is the last drive the shop is letting me exchange.

 

thx ill keep those reccomendations in mind and im not sure but its an 80 gig 7200rpm and it comes wednesday or thursday so yeah... and is there much speed difference between a 7200 rpm and 5400? cuz if theres not too much difference for a higher end 5400 ill prolly get a 5400 since its less noisy

 

The WD Blue 500GB is almost as quick as any 320GB 7200rpm drive but with access times a little bit higher (18-19ms).
I'm on the same boat as Specialista, have tried 2 5K320's and both make noise, so I'm sure I didn't got a 'faulty' drive. The WD Black is speedy but is more noisy than the 7200rpm.

I think that depending on every laptop of each user, the opinion of quietness will vary. For example on Thinkpads, the drive is at the front right side just below the palmrest, and if you use your laptop in a quiet environment the sound is there. And because of Thinkpad design, my fan is not often ON so the noise I'm hearing all the time is the HDD that's why.

I wish to get a 500GB Blue but maybe later when those are cheaper. For now I'm sticking to my dead silent 80GB Blue.

P.S. Maybe a single-platter 7200rpm or 5400rpm would be quieter. Specialista: maybe our 80GB & 120GB drives are single platter, that's why we not hear any noise but who knows, I'd like to get to the bottom of all this 'silent drive'

 

i was thinking of getting a wd or seagate but saw this so anyone know how this performs?
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10008894

 

the 7K320 performs very well. I have three of them, absolutely the best harddrive for the money. $50 for 320gb 7200rpm. I really wish I waited for buying them, cause I bought all three 160Gb 7k320's at $110 each. I would have saved $180 if I bought them now

K-TRON

 

how are they sound wise? and do u get that much less batter life with 7200 rpm hds?

 

You maybe lose like 10minutes of battery or so on a 7200rpm vs a 5400rpm. New HDD are very power efficient compared to the first generation of 7.2K.

 

It's absolutely true that quiet is in the eye of the beholder. I have a Seagate 7200.3 250GB drive that should be pretty quiet according to a lot of reviewers, but it is loud to me when it is inside the E6400. I thought I had a second fan in the laptop . But then it is supposedly to be one of the fastest drive available, so there you go.

Back to the OP's question. He has a drive with a free-fall sensor, so perhaps he shouldn't dismiss it so readily. And it may be really quiet, too.

 

well ijust bought the hitachi one i posted hope it runs nice and the rebate comes too =-)

 

According to SilentPCReview, the 120GB WD1200BEVS is also 2-platter like the 320GB WD3200BEVT. If they are correct, then single platter is not the explanation for silent performance.

Both my WD Scorpio Blues were made in Malaysia, whereas the very noisy Scorpio Black 3200BEKT and the noisy Hitachi Travelstar 5K320 were manufactured in Thailand. Could the manufacturing source be the indicator of noisiness? I vaguely remember reading somewhere on NBR that all hard drive manufacturers use a single joint-venture plant in Thailand.

 

The platters are made in Thailand,
the manufacturing site shouldnt make any difference. The seal between the lower casing and the cover makes the big difference.
Single platter drives will always be quieter, one less spinning disc and two less heads = quieter.

K-TRON

 

I am not sure how come lot of you find the 7200 rpm loud. I am wondering if i am not hearing it because maybe it has to do with the case its in ... i will do some measurements with sound meter but for me my 7200rpm sounds not much louder if not same in terms of db pollution.

 

Yeah same I never even heard the 7200 rpm..

 

I'm planning on getting an precision m4400 and will end up upgrading both the RAM and HD via online realtor. I think I'd value quiet/power consumption over higher speed drives. some of the comments i've read in this thread make me believe that I could probably get away with using a 5400 rpm drive without losing too much in performance.

Are 250 GB drives the only large single platter drives available? if so which company makes the "best" one? is there a 7200 rpm, 250 GB drive that is quiet while being efficient power-wise and heat wise?

 

The downside to 7k2 HDDs is they use a little bit more power, so you will end up with less battery life.