Opinions Please :)

[dave87]

Hey

Just about to order 3 new hdds, for a media centre PC, I've chosen the following provisionally, but would like any views if poss

1x 80gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
2x 300gb Maxtor Diamondmax 10s

However, I've also noticed the Maxline 3s on there for only a few pounds more. What would be better? - I'm going for quiet, but performance has to be reasonable, even though I plan to raid the 2 300s.

Thanks

Dave

[sawyen]

Well.. Cant comment too much about the 80GB Barracudas.. the 2 200GB Barracuda RAID in my lab's workstation is pretty crap even on PCI-X..

I have 2 160GB DM10 on RAID 0 in my system now and they're good. They might be slightly quieter on larger capacities, but my 2x160GB Sabres are pretty noisy during seek.. but are very very very fast. Loaded a far cry map in like *snap*.. BF2 goes like *snap*...

[mrbanana]

If it's quiet drives you're looking for a lot of people rate the Samsung drives. Checkout the forums on http://www.quietpc.com.

Alternatively, if you go for the Maxtors and they're too noisy you can always suspend the drives, or pop them in soundproof enclosures, although the heat generated may reduce the life expectancy of the drives.

[autopilot]

Yeah, if you want peace and quiet and decent speeds as well, take a look at the highly rated Samsung Spinpoint's (the 250Gb seem to be the best according to the computer mags i have read). I'm going to order one tomorrow

[dave87]

Thanks guys, however the people I want to buy them off, Dabs, don't have the 250gb ones, so any alternatives. Will the noise of the maxtors be such a problem if I sound proof the case?

Dave

[dave87]

bump?

[user1453]

the maxline 3's are good drives but probably a bit noisy for what you want, if you are looking for a truly silent media center pc gigabyte has got a component that allows you to use ram cticks as hard drive space, you could store the os and programs on that and store the video files on a hard drive on another computer.

[dave87]

Well, I've ordered 1x80Gb Samsung Spinpoint PATA Drive, 1x 300gb Maxtor Diamondmax 10, and I'm gunna see how I go. At worst the 300gb can go in my main desktop and I'll find another. Otherwise the next buy is a new motherboard, some more RAM and a new Chassis, as the rest is fine

Thanks for all your help,

Dave

[user1453]

what motherboard are you thinking of getting?

[arthurleung]

Both the 7200.8 and DM10 are pretty quiet (In terms of standing out in 9 HDDs)
I'm getting 220MB/s out of RAID0 from 4 disks.

If you want slient, get Samsung or Hitachi.

I would Suggest you go for 3x250, and dump that crappy 80GB. IMO Anything other than 250,300+GB sucks.
Max platter density is around 100~133GB, and platter density = speed. While a 120GB disk is UNLIKELY to use 120GB platter given the cheap price of 60GB platters, New 250/300GB disks use 100/125GB platters which means less disks and less heat.

The 80GB will be FAR slower than the 300G you got. Get a bigger disk, or get a raptor.

[dave87]

I dont need speed, its running an athlon 2000+ atm, soon to be a sempron 2400+ on a NF7-S when I get my hands on one, so the hard disk is more or less in line with the machine. Its only for data storage and pvr duties anyway. BTW 80gb is for the OS only. The 300gb is the PVR/Data storage. I've got my main desktop for speed anyway, which even though its centered round a barton core 3200+ runs pretty well (the gig and a half of ram helps) so I'll use that for anything processor or memory intensive, untill I go for my next system. (which may be a laptop considering Im about 9 months from entering uni)

Dave

Thanks for the advice people, the only reason the 80gb will be included is I cant really afford a third 300gb hdd, and it would be wasted anyway, considering the way I install stuff.