I'm gonna buy a second internal hdd soon, give me some feedback

[1000possibleclaws]

Right now my PC has a 320 gig 7200RPM Serial ATA Hardrive, and a free slot for another one.

I live in Canada so newegg isn't an option, and to my knowledge NCIX is second best, and Tigerdirect is an alternative as well.


I'm not sure which types of hardrives would work on my computer, I've only upgraded my PSU and vid card before and don't know much else about computer hardware. The options on ncix are:

External IDE SAS SATA SATA2 SCSI Vista Optimized


I'm not positive which kinds of hdds i should be looking at. SATA sounds familiar. Could you guys help me out with my options?

ps: I was planning on getting a terabyte harddrive but it seems 500gbs are alot cheaper. I'm not sure which I will get, but I need to know which ones I can consider and which won't be compatible.

cheers guys, plz help me out if you're familiar with this kinda stuff. If I'm not being clear on something tell me and I'll elaborate.

[IdolEyes787]

It depends on if your motherboard supports SATA2 or not T.S.O.L
Adding a hard drive is easier than adding a psu.If you have the software it sets everything up for you.You just have to screw it in place and plug in the cables.
Most people would recommend a Seagate, definitely the most reliable and one with a big memory buffer is a plus
I'll let someone more knowledgeable answer the technical part but I understand in terms of speed there is very little difference Between SATA and SATA2 away .Also be aware if you get an OEM you just get the drive,no cables or software.If price isn't a big concern get retail

This is really good and a great price http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27144&vpn=ST3500320AS&manufacture=Seagate

If you need the space and can only fit in one drive though either the 750GB or the 1TB Seagates are the best choices,depends what you can afford.

Also I've done business with both NCiX and TigerDirect and never had any problems so just go where you can get the best deal.

That's all I can offer if you need real insight best to wait (or pm) for clocker.

[clocker]

Oh, the pressure.

There is no downside to a SATA2 drive- they don't cost any more and have twice the bandwidth of the older spec.
SATA2 drives have a jumper block which can cap them back to SATA1 spec if your board requires.

[1000possibleclaws]

oh ok. and when i get it i just put it in the slot, hook it up to the psu, and install a driver or something like thatÉ

[clocker]

Don't forget the data cable (from drive to motherboard).

No driver required...if you already have one SATA drive all the appropriate drivers are already in place.

You will initialize, format, partition the drive exactly like an IDE drive.

[kondrae]

i recommend the seagate sata 7200.11 version. they're a bit faster than average but same price/gigabyte. and its a seagate

[b0sch]

I recently added the 750GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 to my system and I couldn't be happier. 32MB cache makes for exceptionally fast read/write perfomance, yet I've noticed that it consistently runs cooler than my Seagate drives. It's also incredibly quiet and offered decent value ($/GB) too, since I bought it from Newegg for $109.

[rtxs]

If your motherboard support sata2 you have many good options of hdd

[1000possibleclaws]

fack it looks like I'll need to buy a new case cause HP ones are really inconvenient to mod.. I'll look into this more and get it sorted out after school's over in a few weeks. I've posted this in a different forum with my specs so i don't really need anymore help here but thnx for the responses

It depends on if your motherboard supports SATA2 or not T.S.O.L
Adding a hard drive is easier than adding a psu.If you have the software it sets everything up for you.You just have to screw it in place and plug in the cables.
Most people would recommend a Seagate, definitely the most reliable and one with a big memory buffer is a plus
I'll let someone more knowledgeable answer the technical part but I understand in terms of speed there is very little difference Between SATA and SATA2 away .Also be aware if you get an OEM you just get the drive,no cables or software.If price isn't a big concern get retail

This is really good and a great price http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27144&vpn=ST3500320AS&manufacture=Seagate

If you need the space and can only fit in one drive though either the 750GB or the 1TB Seagates are the best choices,depends what you can afford.

Also I've done business with both NCiX and TigerDirect and never had any problems so just go where you can get the best deal.

That's all I can offer if you need real insight best to wait (or pm) for clocker.

hehe yeah those 2 are the ones i was planning on buying. I've also had good experience with NCIX, although I've never purchased anything from tigerdirect because it always ended up being more expensive. If i get a new case, I'll make sure it have a decent amount of hdd slots and then I'll go for the much cheaper per gb 750gb model.

[kondrae]

harddrive prices have dropped lately. you can get a 750gb for $110 now. heard seagate will release a 2tb hhd next year. cant wait. then a 750 will look small

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