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.
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.
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.
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beoba - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
It'd be nice if, for the hard drive pages, there were a scatter plot showing capacity/price values across all drives and capacities, such that one could see trends in pricing across the different capacity tiers. (In other words: visually determine if, say, it were more economical to get a 300gb instead of a 250gb in a given month)Crassus - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
Are there any SATA-attached optical drives out on the market or is everything still PATA?Seems that more and more motherboard makers drop the number of available PATA connectors while adding tons of SATA ones.
rrcn - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
There are only two optical drives that I know of which use a SATA interface: both from Plextor -- the PX-716SA/SW and the PX-755SA. I wasn't aware they weren't in the RTPE, but I'll get them added as soon as possible. If I can find any others, I'll also have those added as well.--Haider Farhan
CrystalBay - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
I think it would be useful to add external storage and external optical storage as well...rrcn - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
We've never had a request for external storage devices, but if we receive more feedback regarding this, we'll see about getting external storage components at least added into the RTPE. Also, we try to mainly cover the basics in every one of our price guides because really, we can go on forever covering every single component out there. I cannot make any promises, but I'll pass your suggestion along and see what can be done. :-)--Haider Farhan
Whohangs - Tuesday, July 18, 2006 - link
I would like to see external storage components on the list also.gofor55 - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
Any chance you can include notebook hard drives in this guide next time?rrcn - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
As soon as they're added into the RTPE, we'll gladly do so.I probably should have noted that in the guide before it went live, but I have gone ahead and done so now.
--Haider Farhan
Calin - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
Not all DVD drives are created equal - by example, the Teac drives can not write DVD-RAM, while the LG ones can. While this is probably no show stopper for anybody, it might be nice to know beforehandJarredWalton - Monday, July 17, 2006 - link
Having never used DVD-RAM, I figure anyone that needs it for whatever purpose is well aware of the fact. I use relatively inexpensive DVDRs and burn stuff at 8X rather than 16X (just to be safe), and I've used quite a few DVDR drives without problems. I think we've reached the point where it's a lot like CDR support - maybe a few people still worry about that, but for me any CDR capable DVDR drive is sufficient for my needs. Anyway, there are about 5 (or more) DVDRs in the $35-$45 price range that are worth considering. Get whichever one you fancy. :)