Introduction

Greetings and thanks for joining us in this week's price guide. This time around, we'll be taking a look at most of your basic storage necessities, including hard drives with various interfaces and your most common external storage means: optical drives.

For all our price guides, we use our RTPE for reference. It not only tracks current pricing, but it also tracks price changes, available rebates, shipping fees; refurbished, OEM and retail products, and we also keep a historical log of prices. Unlike other price searches which are more interested in per click revenue, with our RTPE, we are interested in getting you the best product at the best price.

We are the only engine to use our own in-house created bots which crawl thousands of links an hour, gathering pricing data directly from vendors rather than collecting data from XML feeds and FTP servers, as many other engines do. This allows our users to have the most accurate information regarding not only pricing and shipping costs, but also product availability. There are few things that can be more irritating than ordering a product only to find it is out of stock, or that the vendor with the best price is backordered. Speaking of vendors, our RTPE only tracks companies that we feel are reliable, and the list consists of highly recommended and rated merchants. Since we don't collect any revenue for link traffic to these vendors, we are free to use merchants that have aggressive pricing rather than deep advertising pockets.

As per many requests from our loyal readers, we are still working on getting laptop hard drives into our RTPE. However, that task is not yet complete; rest assured that once it's ready, we will be sure to include that market segment in our storage price guides. We know many users also have a laptop or two, and some of them could use a hard drive upgrade/replacement.

One last thing before we get caught up in the midst of all these storage options. We realize that the pricing tables on the following pages do not allow better sorting options like the RTPE does, as all of the tables are listed in alphabetical order. The main thing that you will find in the RTPE is the cost per GB breakdown, as well as the ability to sort by price. This makes finding the best storage deals extremely easy, and we will provide a few direct links to the RTPE for lists sorted by price. We're still working on getting that functionality into our article tables, and hope to have that in the near future.

Now enough about our pricing engine and let's get back on track about what this guide is about. Starting off this storage guide, we'll first take a look at the SATA drives.



SATA - 3.0Gbps

Beginning with the 3.0Gbps SATA drives, those of you that prefer to do your own research might want to start with SATA 3.0Gbps drives sorted by Price/GB. We can see the best deals this week are mainly coming from the 250GB drives, with at least one 320GB drive at the top of the charts. Most of these drives cost around $.31/GB. With hard drives, you often get the most hard drive space for your money by going with the largest drive available, up to a certain point. The transition point is currently at around 400GB, with the 400GB drives currently priced about $0.10 to $0.15 more per GB than the 250/320GB drives.

Sure, $0.10 doesn't seem like very much, but when you're talking about 400GBs, that's an extra $40 over linear Price/GB scaling that you're shelling out, and the net difference between a 320GB and a 400GB drive is $70. That's $70 you can put towards a better, lighter case, a new optical drive, a faster CPU or GPU, or perhaps a new keyboard/mouse combo. However, if you're putting together a setup and need plenty of hard drive space (i.e., if you're looking for a hard drive for HTPC use, or something to put in a SFF system), going with a single large drive might be worth the price premium. Something from the 400, 500 or even 750GB range would work nicely.


The most reasonably priced 400GB drive we can find this week is from Seagate: the 16MB Barracuda 7200.9 [RTPE: ST3400633AS] on sale for $170 ($0.42/GB). This is the slightly older 7200.9 model as opposed to the 7200.10, so you might get slightly better performance by spending more money. If you're primarily interested in increasing capacity without seriously increasing cost, however, the difference between models isn't particularly significant.


If you're more interested in the 500GB drives, you can see that cost/GB continues to increase, though at $0.02/GB it's not a dramatic jump. The cheapest 500GB drive we can see today has pretty much the same capacity cost as the least expensive 400GB Seagate we mentioned above. Going for $215 ($0.43/GB), the Western Digital 3.0Gbps 500GB 7200RPM 16MB Caviar SE16 [RTPE: WD5000KS] is a good 500GB drive. You can also often find great prices of $200 or less for 500GB drives at some of the larger retail chains like Fry's Electronics, which is worth investigating if you're in the market for such a drive.


At the moment, we're only seeing one 750GB drive in our pricing chart. The Seagate 3.0Gbps 750GB 7200RPM 16MB Barracuda 7200.10 [RTPE: ST3750640AS] is going for about $360 ($0.48/GB). You can see from the image below that this drive has been on a steady decline since its release back in early May of this year. Considering that this is by far the largest hard drive presently available, the price/GB is actually pretty reasonable, and hopefully it will drop down to $.40/GB or less in the future.

Like we mentioned at the top of this page, your best deals are going to be had from the 250GB and 320GB categories. There are many options at practically the same price, so the ultimate decision will be left to your discretion. We'll start with the 250GB drive recommendations: priced at roughly $73 ($0.31/GB), the Samsung 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 8MB SpinPoint P [RTPE: SP2504C] is an excellent choice. Hard drives from Samsung are known for being some of the quietest on the market. Next up, you can see the Western Digital 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE [RTPE: WD2500JS] is going for about $78 ($0.31/GB) shipped, and the 16MB version [RTPE: WD2500KS] is going for a few dollars more (or a few dollars less if you want to wait for the mail-in rebate). The Seagate 3.0Gbps 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Barracuda 7200.10 [RTPE: ST3250820AS] is also another great choice. It is currently priced at approximately $80 ($0.32/GB) shipped.

Moving on to the 320GB drives, the Seagate 3.0Gbps 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Barracuda 7200.10 [RTPE: ST3320620AS] is on sale for about $99 ($0.31/GB) and is currently one of the most attractive hard drive offerings on the market. Western Digital also has a couple of options for you in this category, the Western Digital 3.0Gbps 320GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE [RTPE: WD3200JS] and the Western Digital 3.0Gbps 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Caviar SE16 [RTPE: WD3200KS]. Both of these drives are going for about $110 ($0.34/GB) shipped. The clear winner here would be the latter option as it has a 16MB cache rather than the 8MB cache of the first, so for the same price there's no reason not to get the increased cache.

As we'll explain in more detail on the next page, SATA 3.0Gbps drives are backwards compatible with SATA 1.5Gbps connections, and because most of them are newer models you often get (slightly) improved performance and features. The only real reason to go with an SATA 1.5Gbps model is if you can get a better price. Due to the sheer number of 80GB-320GB models that are available, you'll probably be better off searching our price engine directly, either by Price/GB or by lowest price. However, here's a list of all the 3.0Gbps drives that are currently listed in our pricing engine. We've included them below just to ensure we don't leave anything out.





SATA - 1.5Gbps

We'll move on to the 1.5Gbps SATA drives now. Some of our readers have asked us what the differences between these and the 3.0Gbps drives are and which drive they should select, so we'll gladly explain it here:

At this point the difference between the 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps interfaces is a moot point as sustained transfer rates have yet to exceed 150 MB/s (or even 100 MB/s), the limit for the 1.5Gbps drives. This means that the transfer rates for the 1.5Gbps drives aren't bottlenecking their performance, so a 3.0Gbps drive won't show any performance increase in this area. The newer 3.0Gbps drives are better in a few cases, but that's due to innovations such as increased platter densities, not the SATA interface.

If your motherboard only supports the 1.5Gbps interface and not the newer 3.0Gbps standard, don't worry. The 3.0Gbps drives are backwards compatible with motherboards supporting the 1.5Gbps interface, so choose whichever drive will give you more bang for your buck without worrying too much about that factor. Some drives also have a jumper block that can be used to force 1.5Gbps mode if necessary.

Another question we were asked was, "Since the interfaces don't impact performance, then why do you tend to separate the 1.5 and 3.0Gbps drives?" The answer's fairly simple: the charts we place in our guides are already overwhelming as is, or so we've been told. ;-) Throwing together the 1.5Gbps and 3.0Gbps drives all on one page will just make it that much more hectic, so we divide them up via SATA interface to minimize the insanity. For those that are interested, here's a list of the SATA 1.5Gbps sorted by Price/GB.


As you can see, the prices here are just about even with the 3.0Gbps drives -- although we are seeing increasingly better deals with the newer SATA 3.0Gbps models. There are a few good deals on 320GB drives, such as the Western Digital 1.5Gbps 320GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE [RTPE: WD3200JD] which is currently priced at about $113 ($0.35/GB). The Western Digital 1.5Gbps 320GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar RE [RTPE: WD3200SD] is also selling for about $113 ($0.35/GB). Unless prices drop further on drives with these capacities, or you have a specific need a getting a drive with the older SATA 1.5Gbps standard, you should refer to the previous page and get an SATA 3.0Gbps drive.


There are some well-priced drives within the 400GB category, and this time prices are actually cheaper on drives with the older interface. The Western Digital 1.5Gbps 400GB 7200RPM 16MB Caviar RE2 [RTPE: WD4000YR] is going for about $140 ($0.35/GB). The Western Digital 1.5Gbps 400GB 7200RPM 16MB Caviar SE16 [RTPE: WD4000KD] is also a decent solution - the going rate for this drive is for $150 after a $20 mail-in rebate.


Here's everyone's favorite 10,000 RPM SATA drive series, the Western Digital Raptor. Performance is better in some tasks, but you sacrifice storage capacity for the higher spindle speed. The cheapest Price/GB on the Raptor line belongs to the 150GB models, and it's still about five times as much as the most popular SATA solutions ($1.66/GB), so you'll really want to give careful thought to whether or not a Raptor (or two) is truly your best upgrade option. For the highest end PCs, it's a reasonable choice, but we'd recommend spending the money elsewhere if you're looking to keep prices in check.

As with the other SATA drives, here's a list of all the available 1.5Gbps drives that are listed in our pricing engine. You can also find them sorted by price if you're basically just looking for any hard drive to put in a system.





PATA

The PATA drive interface is one of the oldest still around, so please note that many of these drives have only 2MB of cache. We would like to recommend you go with a drive that has at least 8MB of cache, if not 16MB. There isn't usually a significant price increase when going from a 2MB to 8MB to 16MB cached drive, so pay attention before purchasing and take advantage of the greater cache available.

Just as with the last two pages, the best deals we're able to find are within the 250GB to 320GB range, and this time the 300GB solutions make an appearance. We'll start with some 250GB drives to consider for your build.


The Western Digital ATA100 250GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE [RTPE: WD2500JB] is currently priced at about $77 ($0.31/GB). You can also go with the Maxtor ATA100 250GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6L250R0] which is on sale for $83 ($0.33/GB) shipped. Although there are quite a few people who are opposed to Maxtor drives for various reasons, overall performance is usually better with the Maxtor rather than the Western Digital above. We feel the small increase in price is worth the additional 8MB of cache, although if you are interested in silent hard drives you will be better served by getting something else like a Samsung drive. Unfortunately, the Samsung PATA drives aren't very competitive in terms of Price/GB or capacity; we would rank Seagate as being second overall for noise levels, trailing slightly behind Samsung models, and they are the best overall option for quiet PATA models.


Within the 300GB drives, we have a few solutions that may be appropriate for some of our readers (all of which feature 16MB of cache): firstly, you have the Maxtor ATA100 300GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6L300R0] which is on sale for about $100 ($0.33/GB) shipped. Second up is the Seagate ATA100 300GB 7200RPM 16MB Barracuda 7200.9 [RTPE: ST3300622A] that is currently priced at $103 ($0.34/GB) shipped. Last but not least, we have the Maxtor ATA100 300GB 7200RPM 16MB DiamondMax 10 [RTPE: 6B300R0] going for $112 ($0.37/GB) shipped.


Let's take a quick look over and see what kind of deals we can find within the 320GB drives. First off is the Western Digital ATA100 320GB 7200RPM 8MB Caviar SE [RTPE: WD3200JB] that is priced at approximately $103 ($0.32/GB) shipped. Another option is the Seagate ATA100 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Barracuda 7200.10 [RTPE: ST3320620A] that is currently going for an even $110 ($0.34/GB) shipped.


Finally, here are the 400GB and 500GB drives. If all you're after is raw capacity, the 400GB and larger models are definitely worth considering. However, with the limited number of PATA connections supported on many modern motherboards, not to mention the fact that prices on these PATA drives are at best equal to the SATA equivalents, we would be hesitant to spend this much money for the older interface.

We've generated a complete list of PATA drives for your viewing pleasure (or confusion). Going directly to the RTPE will once again allow for easier sorting and by Price/GB as well as lowest price.





SCSI and SAS

Moving along to the enterprise sector, we'll take a look at the SCSI and SAS drives we have floating around the marketplace. There are a lot of drives being offered in this lineup, so we know looking through the chart may seem a tad overwhelming. We'd like to remind you to make sure you purchase a drive that meets your system requirements. There are drives with a 68-pin interface along with drives using an 80-pin interface, so it's worth double-checking before you purchase anything.

You also have the option of going with a 10,000 or 15,000RPM hard drive. The 15K RPM drives are rather loud, not to mention being expensive and having relatively limited capacities, which is why most people would much rather stick with slower SATA drives in desktop systems. The 15,000RPM SCSI drives are used almost exclusively in the enterprise sector, which accounts for the extremely high prices. If you're looking for the highest capacity 15,000RPM drive possible, there are quite a few 146/147GB models available, starting at about $800 and going up to over $1000. However, unlike the 10K market, there are no 300GB 15K SCSI drives available just yet.



There are also SAS drives available for the enterprise market, but you will pay a slightly higher premium than you would for the Ultra 320 drives. There are only three manufacturers listed here, but both Maxtor and Hitachi drives have 16MB of cache while Seagate's offerings only have an 8MB cache. This isn't a huge concern, but we feel it still warrants mention.






Optical Storage

We'll wrap up this storage guide with the DVDR solutions available. There aren't any HD-DVD or Blu-Ray optical drives showing up in our RTPE just yet. As soon as they become more readily available, you'll see them listed here. We are aware of exactly one vendor currently offering a Blu-Ray drive, TigerDirect, and the price of roughly $1000 for the Pioneer BDR-101A is far more than we are willing to consider recommending. Instead, we suggest you sit tight and wait things out to find out which standard emerges victorious; hopefully, prices will also become more reasonable while you wait.

Now let's take a look at the DVDR drives. There are quite a few drives that are listed here, making a solid recommendation slightly difficult as there are many drives that work very well. DVD burners have become a commodity item, so for most people the differences between manufacturers are very small. That being the case, we generally recommend going with the best price you can find. Please don't hold it against us if we don't specifically suggest one of your favorites.


First, there's the ever-so-popular NEC 16X ND-3550A [RTPE: ND-3550A] on sale for about $36 shipped. There is also the Pioneer 16X DVR-111D [RTPE: DVR-111D] which is going for about $37 shipped. If you want a few extras, the BenQ 16X DW1655 [RTPE: DW1655] features LightScribe technology. At the moment, this drive is going for about $42 shipped.

Again, there are many popular choices that warrant mention, and we've tried to point just a few of them out. And once again, that wraps up our Storage Price Guide. Thanks for reading, and as always we are open to suggestions on how to make these guides more useful to you, our readers.