6 replies to this topic

[Laststop]

If you are using a dedicated 256GB SSD to be your boot drive with windows and all your productivity apps and favorite games and you are using large HDD's to store your audio and video and images is the extra speed the 7200 RPM drive provides very noticeable when you are only playing media off the HDD?

How much extra heat does a 7200 rpm drive produce vs a 5400 rpm drive?

Basically what the deal is I got 2x 2TB hitachi drives for 218 dollars total, they were on sale for that incredible price 109 each. I can trade them for 2x 5400 RPM Western Digital AV-GP Green drives + 60 dollars to a classmate of mine that does video editing and wants to upgrade to 7200 RPM.

Am I better off with the 7200 RPM hitachi drives or should I go for the money savings and heat generation savings (is the heat difference even noticeable?) and go with the AV-GP WD green drives? I also think the AV-GP line of WD green drives are more reliable since they are meant for 24/7 operation in DVR's.



Basically it comes down to what will I benefit more from.

Pros 7.2k Hitachi Drives
-faster speeds
-drives are brand new unused
-full 2 year warranty
-SATA III interface

Cons 7.2k Hitachi Drive
-More Power
-More heat
-won't get extra 60 dollars

Pros 5.4k Western Digital Green AV-GP series
-lower power consumption
-lower heat output into my case
-Made for 24/7 Audio Video Storage and Retrieval
-probably more reliable
-60 dollars saved

Cons 5.4k Western Digital Green AV-GP series
-slower speed
-15 month old drives not new
-6 months less of active warranty
-SATA II interface


I'm assuming for audio and video mass storage the speed difference between the drives is a moot point. I don't know if the heat generated is really that much different either. What would you guys do, keep the brand new hitachi deskstar 2TB 7.2k drives or trade them for WD green AV-GP 24/7 A/V DVR 2TB HDD's and put an extra 60 in my pocket?

I'm leaning towards keeping the hitachi's unless the WD drives produce a measurable amount of less heat or these AV-GP drives really are built with a lot more quality and reliability since they are labeled as being specially made for 24/7 DVR environments

Edited by Laststop, 26 February 2012 - 10:50 PM.

[Stonerboy779]

When using it day to day just playing back your music you will not know the difference.
When you are backing up or transferring it or populating libraries for the first time you will notice it.

However since populating libries and backups ect are not everyday thing and can be left alone to do there thing just buying the cheaper drive would really be best.

Another thing to look at especially if this is a media drive in a quiet htpc (besides how cool it runs) is how loud it runs. Some companies meauser their drives in sone and you will just need to convert to dba with google to compare.

[Laststop]

no this will not be in an HTPC.

Would you rather have 2x brand new 2tb 7200 RPM hitachi deskstar drives or 2x 15 month old 2tb WD Green AV-GP drives + 60 dollars, if they were being used for media storage in a large gaming PC that has a 256GB SSD for all apps and the OS?

[Stonerboy779]

Brand new every day over anything 1 year + old.

Also those greens are being sold for quite the profit by however has them and that would irk me from the beginning.

[Laststop]

yea, just gonna keep the hitachi drives. Some people were tellin me hitachi drives are unreliable and the AV-GP WD drives were super reliable

[Coors]

Hitachi's aren't unreliable. I've had the 1TB in my desktop for a few years. And the one in my laptop for about 6 years now. If it was me i'd keep my newer faster drives.

[Waco]

I'd keep the newer drives too. My Hitachi drives have been on 24/7 for nearly 8 years now without any issues.