PATA
Moving right along, here you'll see the many PATA drives that are available. Looking at the cost per GB, these drives are right up there with the SATA drives these days. As most motherboards currently support SATA drives, we suggest that you go with a SATA drive. However, if you are running an older motherboard or one without the option of the SATA interface, a PATA drive is going to be your only option.
Just as with the SATA drives, you have the option of also going with up to 500GB capacity drives. There are also many that are still being produced with only 2MB of cache. We recommend that you go with at least 8MB of cache, if not 16MB. It can only benefit you, as the price of a drive with 16MB of cache isn't much higher than a drive with only 8 or 2MBs.
We aren't seeing much fluctuation in the prices this time around. Really, the only significant adjustments are within the 400GB category. The most that we are seeing there is about a $30 decrease, which nonetheless is still worthwhile. Throughout all the other PATA sizes, the pricing fluctuations are trivial.
We have broken down the pricing tables here as there are so many drives and this will allow you to easily and quickly find the specific hard drive capacity that you are looking for. If you're interested in drives smaller than 120GB, you can search the price engine manually. Given the price difference between 80 and 120 GB drives, there's really not much point in purchasing the former. If you don't mind mail-in rebates, TigerDirect has a couple of really nice offers: $58 shipped for either the Seagate 160GB 7200.9 or the Maxtor 160GB DiamondMax 10 ($.36/GB).
Moving right along, here you'll see the many PATA drives that are available. Looking at the cost per GB, these drives are right up there with the SATA drives these days. As most motherboards currently support SATA drives, we suggest that you go with a SATA drive. However, if you are running an older motherboard or one without the option of the SATA interface, a PATA drive is going to be your only option.
Just as with the SATA drives, you have the option of also going with up to 500GB capacity drives. There are also many that are still being produced with only 2MB of cache. We recommend that you go with at least 8MB of cache, if not 16MB. It can only benefit you, as the price of a drive with 16MB of cache isn't much higher than a drive with only 8 or 2MBs.
We aren't seeing much fluctuation in the prices this time around. Really, the only significant adjustments are within the 400GB category. The most that we are seeing there is about a $30 decrease, which nonetheless is still worthwhile. Throughout all the other PATA sizes, the pricing fluctuations are trivial.
We have broken down the pricing tables here as there are so many drives and this will allow you to easily and quickly find the specific hard drive capacity that you are looking for. If you're interested in drives smaller than 120GB, you can search the price engine manually. Given the price difference between 80 and 120 GB drives, there's really not much point in purchasing the former. If you don't mind mail-in rebates, TigerDirect has a couple of really nice offers: $58 shipped for either the Seagate 160GB 7200.9 or the Maxtor 160GB DiamondMax 10 ($.36/GB).
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rrcn - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
We have addressed this concern at the beginning of the article. =)SnoMunke - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
Hitachi has been producing SAS drives for awhile...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...
rrcn - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
Thanks for the heads up. We'll be adding it shortly. =)Souka - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
Too bad they didn't mention the Samsung Spinpoint series.I was looking for a 250gb SATA to replace a old 100gb 2mb/cache IDE drive (giving to dad)... I checked out StorageReview.com and they had a VERY NICE round up of 250gb drives.
After looking at the data, I choose the Samsung Spinpoint 250GB SATA2 w/8mb cache drive. The drive is fast, and the coolest and quietest option in the group.
In this AT article they mentioned the Maxtor 250gb drive is a good bargain at 98$ shipped.... Well, I think the Samsung I bought for $97.99 shipped from NewEgg is a better deal.
My $.02.
Oh yeah, here's a link to the Storage Review review.... http://www.storagereview.com/articles/200601/250_1...">LINK
JarredWalton - Sunday, March 12, 2006 - link
As was mentioned in the article, there are a LOT of good deals on hard drives. WD, Samsung, Maxtor, and Hitachi all offer 250GB SATA 3.0Gbps drives for around $100, and any of those are worthy of consideration. Personally, I like the WD 16MB SE models, but the others are good as well. The Samsung drives *are* the quietest on the market, but there really isn't a massive difference between many of the HDDs... except that Maxtors are generally louder on seek noise. (Gary Key described them to me as "bongo drums" not to long ago! :) )