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1TB HD Suggestions?

S

SCSnare

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 14, 2008
34
0
Austin, TX
I've searched the forum here and have found recommendations but also some warnings on all the 1TB HD's for the Mac Pro. So basically I'm coming here to ask probably a very redundant question because I'm still unsure as to which drive I should buy to add to my Mac Pro. Barracuda? Caviar? Hitachi?

I'd much rather buy one that's below 250.00, so if that changes any opinions, there ya go.
 
I've been using a RE2-GP "Green Power" drive from Western Digital's enterprise line for about a month and a half. Runs cool and quiet and efficient. It's on the expensive side, but worth it.

It offers low-power consumption and high reliability, but at the cost of speed. It's not slow by any stretch of the imagination (faster than the stock MP WD or Seagate had drive), but won't beat out a Raptor or anything. Xbench gives me a score of 81 consistently on it.

I use it for Time Machine and general storage in an external eSATA enclosure from OWC, coupled with the eSATA extender kit (utilizes the two extra internal SATA ports for external usage)
 
I have two of the Samsung F1s in mine, and they run silent, fast and stable. Of course I have them in Raid0, and then an additional HD for data etc.
 
There were a lot of issues with the F1 1TB last time I checked. But maybe they have been resolved now.
 
I've been running 3 of the WD10EACS drives in my Mac Pro and they're great. Granted, they're not the fastest, but they hold their own against Seagate's 1TB/32MB and are by far the quietest, coolest, lowest power-using 3.5" drives ever made. Easily the best rated 1TB drive on NewEgg.
 
jb60606 said:
I've been using a RE2-GP "Green Power" drive from Western Digital's enterprise line for about a month and a half. Runs cool and quiet and efficient. It's on the expensive side, but worth it.

It offers low-power consumption and high reliability, but at the cost of speed. It's not slow by any stretch of the imagination (faster than the stock MP WD or Seagate had drive), but won't beat out a Raptor or anything. Xbench gives me a score of 81 consistently on it.

I use it for Time Machine and general storage in an external eSATA enclosure from OWC, coupled with the eSATA extender kit (utilizes the two extra internal SATA ports for external usage)
Click to expand...
ditto
 
btw, the RE2-GP and WD10EACS are essentially the same drive — enterprise and consumer. the difference is "RE2-GP also sports WD's RAFF (Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward) technology. RAFF's intent is to ensure that RE2-GP drives operate optimally even when installed in rackmounted servers that are prone to high levels of vibration". I've also read that RE2 doesn't perform error correction in some data corruption instances in order to keep all the RAID drives in sync — which could or could not be the RAFF thing I quoted. Not sure.

Since they're essentially the same drive, whichever you find cheaper is the one to get...
 
I have had the WD drives, and was not impressed. Perhaps they really are "green", and perhaps they are technically advanced, but they are SLOW. Even in Raid0 they were significantly slower than my current F1s.

KB
 
Killerbob said:
I have had the WD drives, and was not impressed. Perhaps they really are "green", and perhaps they are technically advanced, but they are SLOW. Even in Raid0 they were significantly slower than my current F1s.

KB
Click to expand...

I hope you're talking about the 1TB and not 750GB F1 cause they're on different levels. But I wouldn't call the WD-GP drives slow... more like the 1TB F1 is just freakin fast. If for some odd reason I needed a 1TB boot drive I'd definitely go for the 1TB F1.

WD's 320gb-per-platter 960GB drive will be out later this year and should give it a run for its money. edit: it'll be 1TB — from Anandtech: WD engineering told us they can easily stretch the areal density of the current platter design to get to the magical 1TB capacity to match their competitors and witness the marketing group smiling
 
The Samsung F1s (1TB) are by far the fastest ones. For storage I have the Infrant, sorry Netgear NV+, with 4xHD103UJ. That gives me effectively 2693GB, screamingly fast, cool running, and silent storage.

In my MP I have 2 in Raid0, and though I have heard some rumors about issues in the NV+ forums, I think this was down to initially incompatible firmware.

I have been around the block with HDs: I had the WD400GB (had to RMA a few), then the Seagate 7200.10 750GB (noisy and hot), and now finally the F1s. I haven't tried the 750GB, but the TB HD is my choice now.

KB

BTW - 189CHF in Switzerland (90GBP or 116EUR or 175USD).
 
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