[SOLVED] Seagate Firecuda 1TB (2.5") VS Western Digital Black 1TB (3.5") which drive is better?

antonis mark

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Jan 21, 2021
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hello similar to a graphics card I am looking for a storage upgrade for my older computer it has a WD BLUE 1TB wd10ezex and Windows 10 operating system but even after defrag system boots very slowly and not only that (assuming I don't care about boot times) but it takes a long time (hours) to apply a single steam update also system upgrades neverly progress (for hours) meaning I have to wait many hours to upgrade the software, anyways which choice is better? I would like the fire Cuda but SADLY only the 2.5 (which is bad) variant is available but I don't really think that is fast and reliable compare to WD BLACK but I also heard rumours about wd black going click of death anyways I am in an eastern bloc with a small market if you want I can post the links to the 2 hard drives stores for a better comparison alternative I can cancel the whole plan and wait until next month to get an SSD but I may need this computer very soon. last intel optane memory is not available since this computer lacks an NVMe slot
 
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found out that my old PC supports intel rapid storage, IDK this is good now I can install a 120 GB SSD and maybe make my HDD hybrid and get the performance I wanted
Don't go down that road.

You will NOT get SSD speed from what is stored on the HDD.

IRST is a half assed concept, for certain limited use cases. It is not magic.
A single SATA III SSD of sufficient size will crush that configuration.

antonis mark

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Jan 21, 2021
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here by the way since it took 1 hour to reset the computer and apply some updates i posted finally also the HDD is 100% used by the system
 

Karadjgne

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With use, computers collect garbage. Comes from installation files, deletes, web pages, games, other software, you, etc. And that garbage piles up in 2 places. The registry and temp folders.

I'd suggest using ccleaner (piriform.com) and cleaning out the garbage, followed by the registry tool (leave on default settings and say YES to a backup) and cleaning out all the dead ends, orphans, conflicts, garbage totally out of the system.

Then see about your startup files, just how much is really useful and what can be stopped permanently or set on delayed startup etc.
 

antonis mark

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Jan 21, 2021
108
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595
found out that my old PC supports intel rapid storage, IDK this is good now I can install a 120 GB SSD and maybe make my HDD hybrid and get the performance I wanted let's see if this works...
 

USAFRet

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found out that my old PC supports intel rapid storage, IDK this is good now I can install a 120 GB SSD and maybe make my HDD hybrid and get the performance I wanted
Don't go down that road.

You will NOT get SSD speed from what is stored on the HDD.

IRST is a half assed concept, for certain limited use cases. It is not magic.
A single SATA III SSD of sufficient size will crush that configuration.
 
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Solution

Karadjgne

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IRST saw only somewhat prevalent use back when a 120Gb drive was massive, and 16-64Gb SSDs were what was considered budget. It's basically antiquated tech that was supplanted by Octane, which also saw limited use, being expensive and rather finicky and showing very little in the way of real world gains.

The problem is that cpus are in the middle. For gaming files or other small file transfers, even an SSD can swamp a cpu, supplying more than it can deal with, so an nvme at double that speed is relegated to just the same data flow. A hdd is somewhere north of 5x slower than an SSD, so the cpu is often left waiting in limbo for the data to arrive. IRST hoped to fill in the gap in between and supply the cpu faster, but it's still waiting on data from the hdd first. A plus to Windows as that stays resident, but otherwise only repetitive use apps show any benefit.

Overall, a decent sized ssd/nvme has a lot more gains in every area, not relying on the hdd for anything other than overflow or long term data storage.