Which HDD Should I Trust More: Hitachi or Seagate?
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TechyNinja42
I've got two old laptop HDDs that haven't been used much lately, and I'm trying to figure out which one is in better condition to use for storing MP3 duplicates of my FLAC songs. One is a Hitachi 320GB and the other is a Seagate 500GB, and they both spin at 5400 RPM. I checked them with CrystalDiskInfo, but I'm not great with numbers and I'd love some help interpreting the results. The Hitachi makes a strange noise when connected, almost like a truck engine, while the Seagate runs pretty smoothly. They're both functioning well as of now, with no visible damage. Are there any other tests I should run, or should I just stick with one over the other? Any guidance would really be appreciated!
Answers
It's tricky to compare these two because they report some important metrics differently. The Hitachi shows numbers where lower is better (0 is best), while the Seagate reflects higher numbers as better. Essentially, it looks like one is measuring good percentages and the other is measuring bad ones. So, it gets pretty confusing!
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Based on the SMART status, the Hitachi looks decent, but keep in mind that SMART can't always predict drive failures. The Seagate, on the other hand, shows signs of failure, so definitely back up any important data from it ASAP. If you’re willing to risk losing data and don’t want to buy a new drive, then it might still be usable, though it could be slow for tasks like batch conversions.
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HDDGuru92: True, the Seagate is running low on spare sectors, which usually indicates it's nearing the end of its life. Just a heads-up that it might not last much longer.