New HD - 7200.12 or Caviar Black
 

I need a new HD and I have trouble deciding between whether I should get the seagate 7200.12 or WD Caviar Black.

Size wise I am looking at the 500GB model, and their prices are very similar. (WD black costs $4 more)

I am using it in an office machine, no gaming, but I want it to be very quick and responsive when it comes to opening applications and files.
Looking at the benchmark kinda makes it even harder coz it seems the seagate has better average read/write performance, but the WD black has better score in benchmark like PCmark.

Seagate drive is considerably smaller, consume less energy and runs cooler, so I think my main question is really, is the WD Black drive going to show a noticeable difference in speed (for things like opening folders/document/spreadsheet).
If the difference is negligible, I think I will go with the seagate just for its cooler and quieter running drive...
Anyone has experience with both or able to comment on their performances?

Go with a WD, Seagate hasn't been making any good and reliable HD for a while now.

Seagate is cheaper. Plus their warranty service is not too bad.
But I've sent 3 defective drives to Seagate within 1 year and my bro replaced his hdd twice within 2 months. 3 of which are 7200.12.

Now that Seagate offers 3yr warranty, I'd go with WD. I think their Black has a 5yr warranty.

WD Black. And get the 640GB version.

Western Digital 100%!!

I've been using WD drives since '91'ish. Never had a problem with ANY of them during this entire span.

Everyone suggest black, so black it is!

Not going to get the 640GB since 500GB is now $58, but 640GB is $84.
Plus I have no use for for the extra space in an office machine.

on another note, a Seagate 320GB 7200.10(or 11, can't remember) I had a few years ago were horrible. Slow, laggy and nosiy.
But the 7200.12 drive I got a few month ago was much better, maybe they changed..?

ive been on the WD cavier black 1tb for the last 2months and i love it, its fast and nth has gone wrong yet. my votes on the cavier black.

wd blk

blacks are the best

i had 3 seagates and all have crap out on me within 6 months

Just checked ncix and the 500gig is 67.99 and the 640gig is 69.99
Posted via RS Mobile

not here in TO.

The 500GB Black is on sale for $54.99 today. Lots at all the stores.

http://secure.ncix.com/products/retailpromo.cfm

the caviar black is superior in both speed and reliability and has a better warranty.

however don't buy the 500gb version it was an early model and a good chunk slower than both the 640gb and 1TB versions. (due to platter sizes)

I believe the 640GB version is usually only a few dollars difference anyways.

edit: caviar black performance is up there with the velociraptor series

http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...TB_copy_lg.jpg
http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...TB_copy_sm.jpg
http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im...k_2TB_read.jpg
http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/im..._2TB_write.jpg

Wow that's insane. That new 2TB drive i pretty sexy.

haha...u are confusing my decision again.
More research shows that WD Black 500GB uses 250GB platter, while the 640GB uses 320GB and thus, you get better speed with the bigger platter.
Seagate on the other hand, uses 1 single 500GB platter for their 500GB!
Maybe I should stick with seagate??

*I don't want to go with WD black 640GB coz it costs $20 more (35%) than the 500GB right now, not worth the additional space + i have no use for them.

Just stick with the WD 500GB then, there's no point in going for a Seagate from a warranty and reliability standpoint. Sure, the Seagate might perform a bit better in that price range, but what good is performance if it can't last more than a year?

Go with the WD 500GB Black!

Stick with the caviar black, the 500gb caviar black is on par with the 7200.12 in performance. WD has a better warranty and better recent trackrecord in reliablity.

Platter size makes a difference between the range of caviar black models, but is usually not a huge thing comparing harddrives, regardless of the 7200.12s single 500gb platter its on par.

The blacks are great drives. I have 2x1Tb WD Blacks

never had an issue with my seagate .11 and .12

benchmarks are great and all, but I doubt you'd even notice the speed differences between the Seagate and WD Black

I had 3x 7200.11 fail on me in a year.

i don't notice any speed differences in my WD Green in daily usages.

Just placed an order for the 640GB version of the Caviar Black from ncix for $69.

Good deal

i'm using 2 wd greens 1tb and they work great too