Hitachi or Seagate?

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Hi all,

I've built most my PC, but need a HD!

I've got watercooling set up in my PC, so am after a compromise between performance and silence.

Major uses of pc will be web development and i'll probably start gaming, as my last 2 computers have been unable to play anything decent due to being portable laptops! :o

I ruled out Samsungs in the end as I've heard of some problems with them, and it seemed that the p80s were the really quiet ones, with the p120s getting more into areas where the seagate and hitachi aren't much louder, so I thought i might as well go for a bit more performance in that case.

The two drives in question are:

Seagate 7200.9 160gb or 120gb
Hitachi T7K250 160GB

I'll either start with one, or get two at the same time. Space isn't much of an issue to me, but speed and silence are :cool:

From what I've read they seem to be pretty similar - can anyone make any recommendations or help me in my decision?! :D It's confusing as some places say one is quieter, whilst others say the opposite!

Thanks :)
 
Soldato
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Seagate ***!

Having said that I have never had a Hitachi so they could be better I suppose... meh.. I'll i know is in 5 years I have never lost a Seagate HDD and they also come with 5 Year Warranties :D

SiriusB
 
Soldato
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If Seagate, make sure you get the new 7200.9 series.

Personally, I've always loved Seagates and I would get that - they are relaible drives and come with a 5 year warranty. Having owned 2 hitachis too, they are excellent drives. Fast, slightly noisier than a Seagate, but certainly faster.

TBH, they are among the best drives, so either way is a good choice :).
 
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The trouble is that if I were to go with a 7200.9 drive, on here they only sell an 80gb version (too small) and a 500gb version (too expensive) and dont seem to have any drives between the 2 extremes. Will there be, say, a 300gb version coming anytime soon?
 
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Thanks for the replies everyone! :)

Looks like it'll be the 160GB 7200.9 Seagate then! I presume in real-life there probably won't be much difference between these two drives? If the speed difference isn't significant, I may as well go for the slightly quieter of the two. In which case I guess the Seagate also wins due to the positive experiences of people on this forum :)

Well, anyone with any other comments or positives for one or the other, let me know before 4.30pm so I can order before the deadline today! ;)
 
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aleco said:
Thanks for the replies everyone! :)

Looks like it'll be the 160GB 7200.9 Seagate then! I presume in real-life there probably won't be much difference between these two drives? If the speed difference isn't significant, I may as well go for the slightly quieter of the two. In which case I guess the Seagate also wins due to the positive experiences of people on this forum :)

Well, anyone with any other comments or positives for one or the other, let me know before 4.30pm so I can order before the deadline today! ;)

Good choice :)
 
Soldato
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I used to have 3 Seagate drives and they were absolutely awesome. I'm running a Maxtor at the moment, as I bought it from my dad when he upgraded.

I use mostly Hitachi drives in builds and can't fault them at all. They're very fast and very quiet.

It's a hard decision as Seagate offer a 5 year warranty whereas the Hitachi drives are faster than the Seagates.

Ohh, I see you've made your mind up... you won't go wrong with a Seagate :)
 
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With these Seagates, whats the difference between the IDE version and the SATA versions? Would I notice much of a performance loss if I went for the 7200.9 IDE, or should I hang in and wait for the 300gb SATA 7200.9?
 
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danceMB said:
With these Seagates, whats the difference between the IDE version and the SATA versions? Would I notice much of a performance loss if I went for the 7200.9 IDE, or should I hang in and wait for the 300gb SATA 7200.9?
In terms of speed, I would think 3MB/s maximum is the difference between the two, as SATA does have some speed improvements etc. Whether the average user will notice this? I don't think so. If you have a loaded up PCI bus and have a SATA controller on the PCI-E bus, then yes, there could be a bigger difference but so long as you have the HDU on it's own IDE channel (without CD/DVD drives) then you are fine. I personally buy SATA because it is the future and is easier to upgrade/put into your next big upgrade.
 
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The Seagate does sound like a good idea even though there are other drives around that are slightly cheaper, but then if it runs fast and quiet without any breakdowns then it warrants the increased price.

You near always get what you pay for
 
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If it's going to be partitioned and have XP/OS installed on it then I would get the faster IBM/Hitachi drive, if however it's going to just be used as storage then the Seagate would be the better option simply because it comes with a 5year warranty instead of the IBM's 3.
 
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Im really going to be after a "main" drive that will be used as an OS, but also for games & apps, I will still keep a smaller IDE drive for all photos and MP3's and anything else just for storage.

So the Hitachi drive is better in terms of speed? If it lasts at least 3 years then im all for it
 
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