Can't make a HD decision

C

ChoppinBroccoli

New member
Hi guys,

So I'm building my own PC for recording and I'm looking into getting 2 80GB hard drives (one for the OS and program files, one for the sound libraries). Problem is I can't decide which one to get! I've researched on here and on reviews and it's like the more I learn the more confused I get lol. Here's basically what I've narrowed it down to.

Western Digital Caviar
Pros: Fast read speed, fast write speed, great at business applications (although this is not what I"ll be using my computer for)
Cons: Loud sounding drive, random access not as fast as the Maxtor.

Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9
Pros: Fastest random access time, not too loud
Cons: Slightly slower read/write speed as compared to the WD Caviar, not too good with business applications.

Seagate Barracuda
Pros: EXTERMELY quiet
Cons: Not up to par with the Maxtor and WD in terms of random access time and read/write speed.

Right now I'm leaning towards the WD Caviar. I figure with the case I"m getting (Antec Sonata), the noise the drive creates will be masked pretty well. Plus I can always point my amp/mic away from the computer too.

Also, much of this info I obtained from here: http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/200311141/index.html

So any suggestions? What do you all think I should get?
 
If it were me I would get the Barracuda, because Seagate drives are the most reliable around by far, and because a loud hard drive is EXTREMELY annoying. Quietness is very important, especially for a DAW. I have a loud drive and I have to keep it in the closet and run the wires under the door when I record. There is nothing less professional than a noisy background. :(

An IBM Ultrastar (Made by Hitachi) is a good quiet drive to check out too.

The Cheetah is also a nice Seagate drive...
 
As far as reliability, I would go with the WD Caviar HD. I've had nothin but good experiences with WD, although they are a little louder. Of course my pc has 4 fans so I really can't hear the HD. I use it for gaming, not recording. I've heard good things about Segate HDs, but Maxtor, well, I've had a couple crash on me. I'd give Segate a try. Maybe also look in to Samsung HDs.

Another thought: Instead of getting 2 80Gb drives, how bout 1 120Gb or greater, and splitting it into 20Gb for Windows & system files, and the rest for the recording software, .wavs, and everything else. A 20Gb C: drive is perfectly fine if not overkill for just the system files. Win XP only requires 1.5 Gb of space (but more is definitely better). I made mine 20Gb just to be safe, and it runs just as fast as the day I put it together. Just a thought and a good way to save some $$$. :cool:
 
Belthazor said:
how bout 1 120Gb or greater, and splitting it into 20Gb for Windows & system files, and the rest for the recording software, .wavs, and everything else.
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert, but that is contrary to standard DAW practice of having separate drives on different IDE channels to maximize performance.

Also, the recording software would normally reside on the system drive.

I use Seagate Barracudas, very quiet.
 
I second the bad experience with Maxtor...I just had one crash on one of my pc's.

To support the WD (mine are SATA's) great drives for the buck. A slight step up would be the Seagates.
 
ChoppinBroccoli said:
Hi guys,

So I'm building my own PC for recording and I'm looking into getting 2 80GB hard drives (one for the OS and program files, one for the sound libraries). Problem is I can't decide which one to get!
Click to expand...

My vote? None of them. 80 Gigs is about the worst case scenario as far as price/performance curves go. They're so old that they don't sell many new ones except as replacement parts, so the price is much, much higher per gig than sizes in the middle of the size curve... say 120-200 gigs.

Get a pair of 200 gig drives... or get a 120 gig drive for the system drive, 200 for the data drive. You'll be a lot happier in the long run.
 
punkin said:
To support the WD (mine are SATA's) great drives for the buck. A slight step up would be the Seagates.
Click to expand...


Agreed, I'm leaning towards the WD Sata drives.. but how come Seagates are a step up? The link I included in my first post in this thread shows Seagates performing much lower than the WD and Maxtor drives. Only in terms of quietness (which again, my Antec Sonata SHOULD alleviate I hope) is it a step up.

Btw, I'm liking the positive comments about the WD drives. I'm leaning towards them even more so now.
 
dgatwood said:
My vote? None of them. 80 Gigs is about the worst case scenario as far as price/performance curves go. They're so old that they don't sell many new ones except as replacement parts, so the price is much, much higher per gig than sizes in the middle of the size curve... say 120-200 gigs.

Get a pair of 200 gig drives... or get a 120 gig drive for the system drive, 200 for the data drive. You'll be a lot happier in the long run.
Click to expand...

Good point. But I really don't need 200GB. 80 is more than enough for my needs. No point in spending more on stuff I don't need, even if the price per gigabyte goes down.

Thanks for the suggestion though, a point to consider for others looking into buying harddrives.
 
Get the Barracuda's.

Audio recording and playback streams data sequentially and so as long as the data remains relatively unfragmented direct access speed is not as important as sustained transfer rate. The barracudas are pretty good on sequential access, and their relaitve low noise makes them a no brainer in a recording environment if you're at all serious about keeping the noise floor down.
BTW I agree 120GB is the minimum you should get
 
Seagate has one thing to its merit.... 5 year warranty!!!! No one else give more than a year or 2 tops anymore. I recently purchased 2 seagate 160 gig drives with a 5 year warranty on each of them. this tends to instill some confidence.



Randy
 
Bulls Hit said:
Get the Barracuda's.

Audio recording and playback streams data sequentially and so as long as the data remains relatively unfragmented direct access speed is not as important as sustained transfer rate. The barracudas are pretty good on sequential access, and their relaitve low noise makes them a no brainer in a recording environment if you're at all serious about keeping the noise floor down.
BTW I agree 120GB is the minimum you should get
Click to expand...


Hmmmmm...... starting to change my mind. What's your opinion on SATA?
 
I don't believe that Seagates hold the quietest HDD title anymore. Samsung SATA drives were measured to be a bit quieter...and faster.
I have a Hitachi IDE and Seagate IDE side to side...I can hear the Seagate.
However, nothing can beat the 5 year warranty that the Seagate has. Hitachi and Samsung have a 3 year warranty, though.

Personally, I would go with a Hitachi (cheapest HDD...probably trying to recover from the bad name that the IBM Deskstars gave them) or Samsung.
 
Seagate have never let me down.
Quiet and reliable.

I wouldn't touch Maxtor with a bargepole having had 3 of their drives fail badly on me.

Western Digital make very reliable but noisy drives.
 
I say both WD and Seagate are good. But I tend to like the Seagate more. Even the price seems better. SATA drives are cheaper now and I think will server you well. However you will need a SATA controller card if your motherboard does not sopport it.
 
ChoppinBroccoli said:
Hmmmmm...... starting to change my mind. What's your opinion on SATA?
Click to expand...

I use 2 barracuda SATA drives. Definitely get SATA if your mobo supports them. If not, don't bother with a SATA card, just get IDE
 
I have 3 WD drives in my computer and can't hear any of them. Before I got the third, I had a Maxtor in there and it was the loudest drive I've ever dealt with. I think it may have been a bad drive or something. With an Antec case, you shouldn't really need to worry about HDD noise. HDD manufacturers are almost all making quiet, fast drives that it's difficult to choose anymore. I'd focus more on making sure your cooling system is quiet, as that tends to be the loudest component.

I have a 40GB drive for the system and application installations, a 30GB scratch drive (for temp files and whatnot), and an 80GB data drive. The 80GB drive is SATA while the other two are IDE. The only complaint I have about SATA is the cheap, crappy internal connections. My motherboard also has crappy placement for them (right behind the area where you put the drives) so installation of drives is a pain in the ass. I've already broken one of the connectors trying to tidy up the cables in there.
 
bulls hit is right. Sustained transfer rate is the biggest thing that will affect audio recordings (on your audio drive that is). Better seek rates will affect the performance of your OS drive though. Partitioning a single drive for recording deos not actually help anything. In fact, it could even be slower than just recording straight to your OS drive. So far I have been very happy with my Seagate serial ATA drives. Serial ATA will give you a better track count (although any quality ATA133 drive will provide more than enough throughput for most users). If you are building your computer right now, I would make certain that you get a Motherboard with several ATA ports on them. My latest motherboard has 8 serial ATA ports on it, and it runs beautifully. 4 of those are even serial ATA2. As a point of reference, over the years I have had just as many WD crash on me as Maxtor, but I certainly seem to hear more bad things about Maxtor here than about WD.
 
ChoppinBroccoli said:
Agreed, I'm leaning towards the WD Sata drives.. but how come Seagates are a step up? The link I included in my first post in this thread shows Seagates performing much lower than the WD and Maxtor drives. Only in terms of quietness (which again, my Antec Sonata SHOULD alleviate I hope) is it a step up.

Btw, I'm liking the positive comments about the WD drives. I'm leaning towards them even more so now.
Click to expand...

It is my understanding that the Seagates have a better warranty is all and marginally faster access time. Not enough to sway me towards purchasing them for the extra bucks.
 
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