2TB (2.5") Seagate Firecuda SSHD or 1TB (2.5") HGST Travelstar for Laptop Hard Drive (Not boot drive)?

[Feliks]

I need a storage drive for my laptop, and for the boot drive I already have an SSD. What I use this computer for is/will be a mix of gaming, school work, coding, possibly VMs, etc; whatever my heart's desire. I use a lot of storage and I don't like to use more than 1/2 of the space available on a drive at any time anyways. If there were bigger drives available for laptops, I'd probably go for it. The FireCuda's the biggest available for the laptop. It's important to me that the drive is reliable, but speed is also important (though as long as it somewhat compares with my desktop 7200RPM drive it should be fine).

I am between the 2.5" HGST Travelstar 1TB "normal" mechanical hard drive and the 2.5" Seagate Firecuda 2TB "hybrid" hard drive.

I honestly am inclined towards each one; I really want the FireCuda because of the extra storage and somewhat because of the speed though I've heard mixed things about it especially since the mechanical part of the hard drive is only 5400 RPM (some say this doesn't matter because of the way it's designed). The TravelStar has great reviews across the board and I trust HGST much more. Also it's 7200RPM, but on the flip side it's just a plain old normal hard drive.

I am worried the data will be at risk both because of SeaGate in general being considered a "less reliable" hard drive brand and because of what was said about this particular drive at the bottom of this page http://www.overclock.net/t/1619691/laptop-drives-seagate-firecuda-sshd-vs-7200rpm-hdd (scroll to the bottom; it's the last post, by a guy who "does data recovery for a living"). It is important to me that the data's at least recoverable, yes I make backups but still, it's not like EVERYTHING gets instantly backed up (please don't give me a spiel about that... just don't).

PLEASE do not recommend to me to buy a 1TB SSD or any other SSD. I HAVE an SSD and I simply cannot afford a 1TB one and I cannot have any less than 1TB on my storage drive, as you can see I already want even more than 1TB if possible. Thank you!

 

[geofelt]

I have a method to pick between equally performing products.
Go to Newegg and find the candidates.
Filter on the reviews by verified buyers.
Then look at what percent of the reviews have zero or one eggs indicating some sort of a problem.
In particular, look at the reasons for a bad review. Some are not very valid, so exclude those.

In the case of these two drives, I see a fair number of negative reviews. You get bad reviews more than good, so do not worry too amount of the frequency of 0 egg reviews(some 20%)

If you have the budget, do as the poster you mentioned above suggested and buy a 1tb ssd.
A really big budget buys you a 2 or 4tb drive.

Samsung 850 evo would be my pick. It will have a 5 year warranty. With no moving parts, it should be more reliable and will not get damaged if you should drop your laptop. Also, a ssd does not need to be compressed.
It will work well up to 90% full.

 

[Feliks]

Thanks GeoFelt, but I can't afford a 1TB SSD, and I don't need to be convinced to buy one. If I could afford a 1TB SSD, I'd get one. Feel free to send me a free one if you are going to pop the "it's so worth it/it's so affordable now" argument. (Not trying to be mean to you, just so tired of people not understanding when others tell them they can't afford it at all).

SO excluding SSDs and including these two drives, what now would you say is better?

 

[SoggyTissue]

you should never use a sshd as the main boot drive because of the way it works.

windows will be loaded into the ssd part of the drive (as its the most frequent program you use without question), leaving the rest of the drive a normal hdd. so the only benifit would be a faster windows boot load. ... not worth the extra bux for most.

 

[Feliks]

you should never use a sshd as the main boot drive because of the way it works.

windows will be loaded into the ssd part of the drive (as its the most frequent program you use without question), leaving the rest of the drive a normal hdd. so the only benifit would be a faster windows boot load. ... not worth the extra bux for most.

With all due respect apparently no one's actually READING my question. Please go re read my question. I specifically mentioned the SSHD isn't for my boot drive, it's for storage because I already have an SSD for booting. You didn't answer my question at all so I appreciate your effort but please go re read my question mate.

 

[jaguarskx]

I recommend you back up important data to an external hard drive on a regular basis. External HDDs are relatively inexpensive; you can buy a 4TB WD Passport from your local BestBuy for $110 - $120. It's probably best to just wait for Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales.

 

[rgd1101]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Feliks : "2TB (2.5") Seagate Firecuda SSHD or 1TB (2.5") HGST Travelstar for Laptop Hard Drive (Not boot drive)?"

This got no good answers on the hard drive forum. It's been a while since I've been on these forums so please forgive me if it's not allowed to ask a question twice if no one answered the first.

I need a storage drive for my laptop, and for the boot drive I already have an SSD. What I use this computer for is/will be a mix of gaming, school work, coding, possibly VMs, etc; whatever my heart's desire. I use a lot of storage and I don't like to use more than 1/2 of the space available on a drive at any time anyways. If there were bigger drives available for laptops, I'd probably go for it. The FireCuda's the biggest available for the laptop. It's important to me that the drive is reliable, but speed is also important (though as long as it somewhat compares with my desktop 7200RPM drive it should be fine).

I am between the 2.5" HGST Travelstar 1TB "normal" mechanical hard drive and the 2.5" Seagate Firecuda 2TB "hybrid" hard drive.

I honestly am inclined towards each one; I really want the FireCuda because of the extra storage and somewhat because of the speed though I've heard mixed things about it especially since the mechanical part of the hard drive is only 5400 RPM (some say this doesn't matter because of the way it's designed). The TravelStar has great reviews across the board and I trust HGST much more. Also it's 7200RPM, but on the flip side it's just a plain old normal hard drive.

I am worried the data will be at risk both because of SeaGate in general being considered a "less reliable" hard drive brand and because of what was said about this particular drive at the bottom of this page http://www.overclock.net/t/1619691/laptop-drives-seagate-firecuda-sshd-vs-7200rpm-hdd (scroll to the bottom; it's the last post, by a guy who "does data recovery for a living"). It is important to me that the data's at least recoverable, yes I make backups but still, it's not like EVERYTHING gets instantly backed up (please don't give me a spiel about that... just don't).

PLEASE do not recommend to me to buy a 1TB SSD or any other SSD. I HAVE an SSD and I simply cannot afford a 1TB one and I cannot have any less than 1TB on my storage drive, as you can see I already want even more than 1TB if possible. Thank you!

 

[Feliks]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Feliks : "2TB (2.5") Seagate Firecuda SSHD or 1TB (2.5") HGST Travelstar for Laptop Hard Drive (Not boot drive)?"

This got no good answers on the hard drive forum. It's been a while since I've been on these forums so please forgive me if it's not allowed to ask a question twice if no one answered the first.

I need a storage drive for my laptop, and for the boot drive I already have an SSD. What I use this computer for is/will be a mix of gaming, school work, coding, possibly VMs, etc; whatever my heart's desire. I use a lot of storage and I don't like to use more than 1/2 of the space available on a drive at any time anyways. If there were bigger drives available for laptops, I'd probably go for it. The FireCuda's the biggest available for the laptop. It's important to me that the drive is reliable, but speed is also important (though as long as it somewhat compares with my desktop 7200RPM drive it should be fine).

I am between the 2.5" HGST Travelstar 1TB "normal" mechanical hard drive and the 2.5" Seagate Firecuda 2TB "hybrid" hard drive.

I honestly am inclined towards each one; I really want the FireCuda because of the extra storage and somewhat because of the speed though I've heard mixed things about it especially since the mechanical part of the hard drive is only 5400 RPM (some say this doesn't matter because of the way it's designed). The TravelStar has great reviews across the board and I trust HGST much more. Also it's 7200RPM, but on the flip side it's just a plain old normal hard drive.

I am worried the data will be at risk both because of SeaGate in general being considered a "less reliable" hard drive brand and because of what was said about this particular drive at the bottom of this page http://www.overclock.net/t/1619691/laptop-drives-seagate-firecuda-sshd-vs-7200rpm-hdd (scroll to the bottom; it's the last post, by a guy who "does data recovery for a living"). It is important to me that the data's at least recoverable, yes I make backups but still, it's not like EVERYTHING gets instantly backed up (please don't give me a spiel about that... just don't).

PLEASE do not recommend to me to buy a 1TB SSD or any other SSD. I HAVE an SSD and I simply cannot afford a 1TB one and I cannot have any less than 1TB on my storage drive, as you can see I already want even more than 1TB if possible. Thank you!

Rgd, I would have really appreciated if you at least merged this the other way around, with the question in the Laptops forum. Look at the answers on this page. Not a single one of the answers answers the question I asked.

 

[Feliks]

I recommend you back up important data to an external hard drive on a regular basis. External HDDs are relatively inexpensive; you can buy a 4TB WD Passport from your local BestBuy for $110 - $120. It's probably best to just wait for Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales.

This didn't answer my question at all..

 

[Feliks]

bump