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Just wondering if anyone has built a Media Centre with one of the new fast laptop drives as below instead of a 3.5 drive:
WESTERN DIGITAL SCORPIO 320GB/7200RPM/SATAii/2.5"/16MB CACHE
Should, by rights, be as fast as a 320gb desktop drive but very quiet. Price is about $220 but if it's reliable and quiet and small then that's got to be a good thing.
If anyone has let us know please, and what are your experiences of the drives, even in a laptop.
Ive got a WD Scorpio drive in my media center, been in for a month or so.
Not sure if its the same as what your looking at, cost me about $90.00 for a 250 gig sata drive.
Wasn't really worried about the performance as its only for the OS and a few files, but its heaps quieter and possibly cooler.
Oh and did I say its HEAPS quieter.
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I got a Seagate 320GB 7200 2.5" SATA Drive upgrade about a month and a bit back from China. I use it in my HP Entertainment Pavilion (which incidentally is my VMC too!).
The advantage for me is that I can take my entertainment with me while I am stuck in hotel rooms and in question to the HDD, my drive you can't hear. When laptop gets hot you only hear the CPU fan buzz a little, still very low if no noise from HDD and when at home my projector fan is noisier (must remember to look into fixing that!! lol).
I would recommend one and should check out the Seagate drives as they have good performance also, perhaps the best in its class. I would think the WD drive would be around the same noise levels, just will cost you a bit more than std 3.5" HDDs.
Peace Out.
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Wasn't really worried about the performance as its only for the OS and a few files, but its heaps quieter and possibly cooler.
Oh and did I say its HEAPS quieter.
This thread has come just in time for me, I was thinking of doing the same just for the OS files. I thought about using my old external 2.5" 40GB but it's IDE so would be too messy (plus the old drive is one of those scratchy sounding ones).
I have 2 x 1TB WD Green Power HDDs in my HTPC now but the drives sit pretty close together in their cage so they do get a bit warm. My plan was to move 1 of the 1TBs into an external enclosure, have a laptop HDD for OS and misc files, and a 1TB WD EVCS "AV" drive for recording. Does this seem feasible? Is a separate OS drive a must?
You don't need a seperate drive, but if you are recording lots of TV, especially two channels at once, then it would be an advantage for sure, as laptop drives are not as fast as desktop ones.
I have obtained two drives, one 160gb for the OS and a 250gb for the recored tv drive, should be enough space for me.
Will let you know how it goes, I am building it this weekend.
i actually one of these hi speed laptop drive in my laptop. eventhough its a couple of years old now.
that laptop i was pratcially using for everything tv, heavy gaming, movies, music ect and i've found them quite reliable and reasonably quick (even for heavy gaming cod 4 on an external was running at 24 fps on the internal hdd close to 40) not bad for a 2 year old laptop so for media it will be fine
Why? 2.5" HDD's are not as good as 3.5". By definition. There are quieter 3.5inchers then 2.5 on the market.
Why?
I would have thought their lower power draw, less heat, and smaller footprint would be a plus in a HTPC? I want to negate the airflow restriction of having 2 x 3.5" drives stacked above each other right in front of my PSU (has a front air intake).
If you can suggest a small capacity but quiet 3.5" I'd consider it too.
I would have thought their lower power draw, less heat, and smaller footprint would be a plus in a HTPC? I want to negate the airflow restriction of having 2 x 3.5" drives stacked above each other right in front of my PSU (has a front air intake).
If you can suggest a small capacity but quiet 3.5" I'd consider it too.
No, no and no. They are for laptops. Small factor, no less power. no less heat. just small.
Ant Samsung 3.5 will do.
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My reasons are purely the size issue. I am case modding an old X-Box case to fit my HTPC inside it, just for the why not factor as I have a few spare parts lying around, and by the time I get a Mobo and DVD and power supply in there's not much room for a 3.5 drive, so 2.5 is the bext option for me. No other reason at all.
I was just worried about the speed issue with recording and watching two channals at once.
My reasons are purely the size issue. I am case modding an old X-Box case to fit my HTPC inside it, just for the why not factor as I have a few spare parts lying around, and by the time I get a Mobo and DVD and power supply in there's not much room for a 3.5 drive, so 2.5 is the bext option for me. No other reason at all.
I was just worried about the speed issue with recording and watching two channals at once.
Cheers
Paul
I see, then get 7200RPM 2.5 HDD. I have one in my laptop. and can record HD and watch recorded from HDD at the same time. Don't have dual tuner for laptop.
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Got to disagree with Vlad here (don't think anyonw has ever done that before). 2.5" drives are quieter, use less power, run cooler and are much smaller than 3.5" drives. I have a couple of the WD GreenPower drives, which are among the quietest and lowest power 3.5" drives available, and they are nowhere near just about any 2.5" drive in any of these respects.
As to recording multiple hidef channels, I have used a 5400 2.5" drive to record 4 at once, no problems. If you are worried about it, get a 7200 one.
My favourite bit about 2.5" drives is the small size. Yes, airflow is better, but this really makes it so easy to suspend the drive with elastic in any normal 3.5" bay. This really cuts out vibrations to the case and means you just can't hear a thing unless you have your head against the case.
Got to disagree with Vlad here (don't think anyonw has ever done that before).
On many occasions.
I am not against 2.5" drives, but they are more expensive and not as fast as 3.5". Any laptop with 5200 RPM would agree with me
HDD is not a major power consumer in your HTPC and I my Samsungs are virtually silent.
Unless you are building something extremely small, I don't see any reasons to use it.
I hate 2.5 SAS HDD's in recent rack-mounted servers, failure rate is much higher then 3.5"
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Re: Laptop Hard Drive in a Media Centre
so for media it will be fine
On many occasions.