I don't mess with hardware much anymore except my own so I don't keep up on good/bad brand trends, is Western Digital still making decent stuff?
I'm looking at http://www.provantage.com/western-di...t~7WNDO073.htm

I know its not exactly linux hardware related but this was the closest section I could think of. Its either going in the Latitude d620 or my netbook. The D620 is going to be my virtuilization lab and file server so it needs a nice big drive but I can;t decide weather to go ahead and swap it in the netbook and then the 500g from the netbook in the 620.

I don't think WD drives are any worse than any other... I think Seagate drives have become really bad.. avoid those.

Hi,

Cost & speed have really changed lately. Why use a 5400 when you can get 7200 rpm or even 10K at a decent price.

If speed is the issue, then look at SSD.

Just don't get an advanced format Caviar Green EARS drive. Their other models are fine.

Stick to the "caviar blue" or "caviar black" drives. They are higher performance. I would recommend samsung over WD, because their naming scheme is easier. A 500gb, 1tb, or 1.5tb Samsung drive with "F3" in the name uses 500gb platters. These are the most dense disks available, giving the highest areial density which means higher performance, lower latency, and much faster burst speeds. If you only need modest storage then a Samsung 500gb F3 is an excellent choice. As far as reliability goes, I have gotten the impression from many reviews and a few studies that WD is the most reliable, followed closely by Samsung and Hitachi. Avoid Seagate right now, especially their high capacity drives.

SSD won't work, too small, remember this is for my file/virtual host, I need huge space.
Thise Caviar Blue and Black and Samsung F3 are all 3.5" drives, not 2.5"

Hi,

If you setup the SSD properly as the server initial/working hdd then intermediate storage on a slower spinning disk can lead to significant gains.

'Huge' space as you call it can still be had by intermediate storage on a spinning disk. The system with a SSD can provide 'Huge' gains in speed whenever you are doing exchange of data if the SSD & HDD are aligned properly.

Your system!

I have Samsung drive and it works well, I think I'll buy Samsung from now on, considering the recent issues with Seagate (even tho I have several Seagate drives and they work fine).

Good advice if performance and money are the main criteria.

If quietness and/or reducing pollution and/or battery life are significant criteria then then a 5400 was good advice last time I studied HDDs.

Sure SSd has its place but look at the systems I'm using, all laptops no space for two drives, thats why I specified the systems in my sigs. The D620 just happens to be my server because no one wanted to buy it and my wife hasn't use it since she got her ASUS 900HA so its my spare machine.

Just want to note that RPM != performance. != is not equal. I've compared some 10K drives to 7200 and the performance was just about equal. Don't think that more RPM is hugely better ... it surely is more noisy tho, and more expensive.

I apologize, I missed that in your first post. You can buy 7200RPM 2.5 drives, some with single platter 500gb disks (which offer similar performance to a desktop equivalent). I would recommend something like this then:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152236

or this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136692