[roders]

Hitachi Travelstar or Seagate Momentus; which is best?
Is there much difference, and which model/version/revision should I get?

[Tuoder]

Fast and Furious: New 7200 mobile drives from Hitachi And Seagate | Tom's Hardware

Tom's Hardware says Hitachi, but they are both good.

[roders]

Cheers man, that’s EXACTLY what I needed, the Hitachi (latest gen 2) is cheaper here in the UK and I think I've found it with Sata for a pretty good price (£60 incl shipping for the 60Gig) wonder if it's a lot more noisy than the current internal HD, as I like to leave my Mini on overnight downloading, and it's in my bedroom, so I'm really grateful that it's basically silent at present.

I was going to get an external Mini HD solution as well, probably the Lacie Mini as it's available in the UK and I think it's quieter than the Newer tech ministack (1 or 2), I don’t need a USB or firewire HUB, so I can get the Firewire external one only, which is bit cheaper.
The only other option available in the UK is the Iomega minmax, which I "think" is the newerstack V2 re-badged.
Wondering If I should "just" go with an external solution as I think it’s the cheapest and best value option.
Although I reckon it won't be "much" faster than the latest Hitachi 2.5" 7200rpm drives due to the Firewire 400/USB2 ports (i.e. not 800 or ESata) on the MacMini.
I might even get a non Mac mini sized external HD with firewire 400/800 and USB 2 to use with my PC, as I should be able to daisy chain it between both (if the Ext HD solution has enough Firewire ports, basically 2).

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by roders 

Cheers man, that’s EXACTLY what I needed, the Hitachi (latest gen 2) is cheaper here in the UK and I think I've found it with Sata for a pretty good price (£60 incl shipping for the 60Gig) wonder if it's a lot more noisy than the current internal HD, as I like to leave my Mini on overnight downloading, and it's in my bedroom, so I'm really grateful that it's basically silent at present.

I was going to get an external Mini HD solution as well, probably the Lacie Mini as it's available in the UK and I think it's quieter than the Newer tech ministack (1 or 2), I don’t need a USB or firewire HUB, so I can get the Firewire external one only, which is bit cheaper.
The only other option available in the UK is the Iomega minmax, which I "think" is the newerstack V2 re-badged.
Wondering If I should "just" go with an external solution as I think it’s the cheapest and best value option.
Although I reckon it won't be "much" faster than the latest Hitachi 2.5" 7200rpm drives due to the Firewire 400/USB2 ports (i.e. not 800 or ESata) on the MacMini.
I might even get a non Mac mini sized external HD with firewire 400/800 and USB 2 to use with my PC, as I should be able to daisy chain it between both (if the Ext HD solution has enough Firewire ports, basically 2).

Just remember that some enclosures are better than others. I hear alot about the Oxford 911 chipset being good. But this is not something I know alot about, myself.

[roders]

Thnx for the info, going to go with an internal Hitachi 7k100 for now, might pop for the 7kE100 which is designed for 24/7 operation, as I like to leave my mini running aquisition overnight, it's so quite I don't even know it's on, so hope this will be the case with an upgraded drive.

[Tuoder]

Originally Posted by roders 

Thnx for the info, going to go with an internal Hitachi 7k100 for now, might pop for the 7kE100 which is designed for 24/7 operation, as I like to leave my mini running aquisition overnight, it's so quite I don't even know it's on, so hope this will be the case with an upgraded drive.

Laptop hard drives are generally very quiet. You may notice the difference if you get up close.

[roders]

Does anyone know if the E7k100 which is designed for 24/7 operation (which is handy for leaving my MacMini on P2P), is any slower than the 7k100?
They're both 7200rpm laptop drives and cost the same price here in the UK.
The specs SEEM to be the same, but I'm thinking 24/7 operation means more reliable, but slower.
As the the reason I want this drive is SPEED!

[Tuoder]

Sometimes, the difference between the 24/7 and the other is the warranty. If you use a non-24/7 drive 24/7 and admit to it, they may not honor the warranty. Sometimes the drives really are different, like in the old days.