Recommend a good hard drive replacement?

[dorkdotdan]

4GB IDE SCSI DDRS Model. da best drive replacement in da worl!1!!!1 My SATA failed, my IDE failed but this stuff is still working.

Nobody in the entire world uses SCSI anymore.

I know you're joking

[Ad Bot]

[Pecon]

That's an interesting idea... Although I'd have no idea how to set that up. But it'd make a lot of sense.

Basically, you plug in both the drives, and select the SSD when running the windows installer. After that, you just make sure to install programs on some folder in the secondary drive. For redirecting documents, you can right click the documents library in explorer and hit properties. That then lets you choose what folder(s) are considered to be your documents directory.

[devildogelite]

That's an interesting idea... Although I'd have no idea how to set that up. But it'd make a lot of sense.

Using multiple drives is super easy with windows 7 at least. Drives are pretty much plug  play.  It'll show up like a jump drive would. Just chose to install programs on it

[Pie Crust]

Nobody in the entire world uses SCSI anymore.

[colo r=transparent]I know you're joking[/color]

I DO BITCH!

And I'm not joking. Pics:

There it is connected in my PC next to a tiny SATA drive. (4GBs)

My camera is stuff but it shows the SCSI logo and it says SCSI right next to it.

EDIT: 1.2 MPs

[YayFun]

The only real downsides to SSD's are that they're far more expensive per gigabyte and if you delete a file, you actually delete it after the recycling bin (this can also be seen as a pro, however)

If you mean it's gone forever, then no, that's not true unless the SSD itself has an option to forever delete the files. I've recovered many deleted files from SSDs.

I actually just recovered 7GB worth of files today from one.

[QuadStorm]

If you mean it's gone forever, then no, that's not true unless the SSD itself has an option to forever delete the files. I've recovered many deleted files from SSDs.

I actually just recovered 7GB worth of files today from one.

Well, your SSD probably has TRIM disabled, since I'm pretty sure most SSD's will by default permanently delete files unless you manually override this or something, since it'd eventually impact performance if this isn't done.
related

[MegaScientifical]

Well cleanup programs offer Wipe Empty Space or whatever option now.

Edit: Quad, I know why you can recover 'deleted' files. I'm actually glad to know why on so many levels...

Edit2: Ohh, the SSD part. Interesting... And that's why the recommendation to use it just for the OS sounds smart. You shouldn't be deleting and adding data to it when it only has the OS, unless literally replacing the OS... Still feel like that would be complicated to set up, though

[MegaScientifical]

internal

Anyone else agree on this? (Western Digital 4TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD4003FZEX)

[Hammereditor5]

That's an interesting idea... Although I'd have no idea how to set that up. But it'd make a lot of sense.

If you do not want to re-install anything, you can delete all your unnecessary files or put them on a separate partition, to shrink your C:\ partition down to the size of the SSD. Then, you clone the C:\ partition on to the SSD, then manually set up a D:\ boot loader drive for Windows. You use a Windows Recovery live CD to repair the bootloader, and then you are good to go.

USB 3.0 is technically around 4.8Gb/s and SATA 3.0 is like 6.0Gb/s
transferring huge movies the speeds aren't really a huge deal.

Make sure not to confuse bits and bytes.

Anyone else agree on this? (Western Digital 4TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD4003FZEX)

You don't need to be very picky about SATA III support. Any mechanical hard disk is not bottlenecked by even SATA I. So if you can find an older, cheaper drive for the same capacity, get it.
Also, $250 is too much for a 4 TB drive. You can get a Seagate ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" HDD for $160.00, on Newegg.

[Pecon]

Anyone else agree on this? (Western Digital 4TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive, Black, WD4003FZEX)

That would be a very reliable choice for a Hard Drive. I am still of the opinion that having a SSD + HDD setup is far superior for achieving high performance without sacrificing your storage space.

[MegaScientifical]

If you do not want to re-install anything, you can delete all your unnecessary files or put them on a separate partition, to shrink your C:\ partition down to the size of the SSD. Then, you clone the C:\ partition on to the SSD, then manually set up a D:\ boot loader drive for Windows. You use a Windows Recovery live CD to repair the bootloader, and then you are good to go.

You don't need to be very picky about SATA III support. Any mechanical hard disk is not bottlenecked by even SATA I. So if you can find an older, cheaper drive for the same capacity, get it.
Also, $250 is too much for a 4 TB drive. You can get a Seagate ST4000DM000 4TB 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" HDD for $160.00, on Newegg.

I'm not sure I'm ready for the whole transferal process with the OS, but thank you for telling me a way to do it.

Well I've always been a software person, so I consult others on hardware and therefore am not sure where specs matter the most. I understand incompatibility, just not sure how to identify it.

Does seem steep, although I also want to make sure it lasts. My current 1TB has lasted 2 years of abuse, while that 4TB I mentioned physically failed 2-3 weeks ago (loud grinding). Seagate hasn't been treating me in particular well, although I've heard they are good and could be swayed to believe I was in the flukes. What matters is the reliability, though.

That would be a very reliable choice for a Hard Drive. I am still of the opinion that having a SSD + HDD setup is far superior for achieving high performance without sacrificing your storage space.

Wouldn't the SSD/HDD setup just be for loadup optimization and not really do anything for space since I'd still need the overall space in the end?

[Hammereditor5]

Wouldn't the SSD/HDD setup just be for loadup optimization and not really do anything for space since I'd still need the overall space in the end?

Yes.

[Pecon]

Oh, believe me; it helps a ton more than I could possibly describe. Seriously, the speed gains are worth it; I would know since I have this setup. I upgraded my current build from just having a HDD, and absolutely everything is faster, even well beyond the boot.

[MegaScientifical]

Understood. Anyway, in terms of quality, I understand a harddrive SHOULDN'T be easily fallible, so anything you suggest might be good, but I'm thinking track record of he brands, retailers, shipping... Okay, not shipping.

[Hammereditor5]

Oh, believe me; it helps a ton more than I could possibly describe. Seriously, the speed gains are worth it; I would know since I have this setup. I upgraded my current build from just having a HDD, and absolutely everything is faster, even well beyond the boot.

Even with a slow AMD Athlon II x4 635 CPU, my computer's startup time (time to boot, log in, enter the desktop, and all auto-starting programs to load) went from 180 seconds to 25 seconds. Even though the 500 MB/s. SSD is limited by SATA II.