2nd HDD 16mb or 32mb buffer for Time Machine

[GoCubsGo]

I'm buying a 2nd hard drive for my later 2008 MacPro. I haven't decided what size I'm getting, probably something around 500GB since my main hdd is 500GB. At any rate, this one will be used primarily for Time Machine. Is it hugely beneficial to get a drive with a 32 mb buffer over a 16 mb buffer?

If it matters, I'll be putting a 1TB into the 2nd bay and the Time Machine HDD will be in the third bay. Not sure whether or not that factors into all this.

 

[robbieduncan]

16 vs 32Mb buffer will make almost no difference. If the price an all other specs are the same, get 32, but I'd not worry about it too much.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Pretty sure the price was about $50 less. That'll cover tax and shipping, I'll probably just get the 16 for both the 500gb and the 1TB. Thanks Robbie.

 

[robbieduncan]

Pretty sure the price was about $50 less.

WTF? Seriously? Here in the UK the difference in 50Gb drives is about £8. Of course I'd not buy the Hitachi, only because I still have bad memories of the IBM "deathstar" drives that pretty much all failed. Then they sold their desktop drive business to Hitachi

 

[taylorwilsdon]

16 vs 32Mb buffer will make almost no difference. If the price an all other specs are the same, get 32, but I'd not worry about it too much.

qft. If you're going to be using it as a constantly accessed drive, like for the OS or a Photoshop scratch-dedicated drive, then the buffer size plays a role. If you're going to be backing up your system, it won't change anything.

 

[dmw007]

Pretty sure the price was about $50 less. That'll cover tax and shipping, I'll probably just get the 16 for both the 500gb and the 1TB. Thanks Robbie.

If the price is that great, then go for the HDD w/ 16MB cache. Normally you can find a HDD w/ 32MB cache for a few dollars more than one w/ 16MB cache (check out www.newegg.com).

 

[GoCubsGo]

qft. If you're going to be using it as a constantly accessed drive, like for the OS or a Photoshop scratch-dedicated drive, then the buffer size plays a role. If you're going to be backing up your system, it won't change anything.

What is "qft"? Anyway, since I was speaking primarily about a drive for my TM, I think the answer of "no real difference" between the 16 and 32 is quite appropriate. Now, for the 1TB drive I'll be getting the 32mb buffer as I'll assign it as the scratch disk for PS. That sounds like a decent idea, no?


Newegg has the WD Caviar SE16 640mb for $85 whereas OWC has it for $78. Since I purchased the wrong ram from Newegg when I first bought my MP, I figured I'd pick up another 8GB from OWC for $275. I think that'll be ok if I stick 2 2GB modules on top (1st & 2nd slot), moving the 1GB already there to slot 3, and do the same for the second memory tray giving me 10gb memory and then the storage. The point of that is to shop all in one place to save shipping. I checked local prices around here and they're slightly higher (Best Buy and Fry's Electronics) so I guess I can wait a bit for it to arrive.

I would love to get the 4GB matched sets but I don't want to pay $200 more.