[SOLVED] Looking for the "best" HDD (2021) - Any recommendations?

[JVSF]

Hi there!

My old WD Black internal harddrive from 2013 just went toast and I need to replace it. I'm considering replacing it with and SSD, but I have to check compability with my motherboard first. In the meantime I'm wondering which HDD's are the fastets and most reliable on the market today? I'm looking for the best of the best, although that varies depending on the intended usage I can imagine. The HDD is to be used for my stationary computer as an internal harddrive.

I have been looking at replacing the old drive with a new WD Black, but then I came across the WD Gold and WD Ultrastar. Is there any disadvantages of choosing Gold or Ultrastar over Black?

If any of you have any experience with these three drives, or have any other drive-recomendations it would be greatly appreciated!

All the best, Jonas

 

[siaan312]

If you do not have an SSD for your windows boot, get an SSD.
It's such a big upgrade you'll be amazed how you've survived so long without one.

If you are just looking for a secondary drive for storage, it really doesn't matter what drive you take.
The WD black is very capable. Basically all hard drives today perform similarly, even low end ones, as long as they are 7200rpm, and with 256kb cache per gigabyte.
Unless you need 24/7 operation, data recovery, less noise, more efficiency, less shaking and such, going with higher end drives won't benefit you much.

 

[JVSF]

If you do not have an SSD for your windows boot, get an SSD.
It's such a big upgrade you'll be amazed how you've survived so long without one.

If you are just looking for a secondary drive for storage, it really doesn't matter what drive you take.
The WD black is very capable. Basically all hard drives today perform similarly, even low end ones, as long as they are 7200rpm, and with 256kb cache per gigabyte.
Unless you need 24/7 operation, data recovery, less noise, more efficiency, less shaking and such, going with higher end drives won't benefit you much.

Thanks for your reply! I already have an SSD for Windows. Sorry for not clarifying. It's regarding my secondary harddrive where I install software that I use for work (music production and motion graphics). So yeah, an SSD could be a great replacement for sure. My motherboard is quite old, so I just have to check what SSD's are compitable. I really want the newer NVMe M.2 cards, but I don't think they are compitable with my ASRock X79 Extreme9.

 

[siaan312]

Thanks for your reply! I already have an SSD for Windows. Sorry for not clarifying. It's regarding my secondary harddrive where I install software that I use for work (music production and motion graphics). So yeah, an SSD could be a great replacement for sure. My motherboard is quite old, so I just have to check what SSD's are compitable. I really want the newer NVMe M.2 cards, but I don't think they are compitable with my ASRock X79 Extreme9.

Sadly it is not. Any ssd that is 2.5inch would be compatible, but IMO for your secondary drive, and HDD is good enough.
Also, NVME is not faster than SATA in real world.
Then what I said above for your HDD choice still stands.