The previous format article has been split in two parts:
We used to have a single article for the best hard drives and the best SSDs. For many reasons, that article has been split in two:
This is The Best Internal 2.5″ and 3.5″ Hard Drives (HDD) For Your Money article.
Click here for The Best Solid State Drives (SSDs) For Your Money article.
No time to read reviews and just want the answers?
I do realize that most of us have busy schedules, have no time to read detailed hard drives reviews and just want to know what is the best hard drive for their need.
This is why I write this guide for you: To help you save your time, sanity and money by letting you know what are the best hard drives at various price points.
How do I pick my recommendations?
I recommend the drives that offer the best combination of reliability, performance and storage capacity at a given price.
Alternatives that offer higher performance, longer warranty, lower power consumption and that are designed for 24/7 usage or RAID are also suggested.
Keep in mind:
1. This list is based on the best prices from B&H, Newegg and Amazon that I’ve seen on May 5th 2015. Prices and availability changes all the time. While I can’t keep up with ever changing prices, I can suggest to you great drives that you won’t regret buying.
2. All prices are based on new drives prices, no used/open box drives are listed; they might be a good deal but come with trade offs such as limited return policy, limited warranty, lower reliability, etc.
The Western Digital Black², a unique 2.5″ dual drive, combining a 120GB SSD with a 1TB hard drive in a single 2.5″ drive!
Hard Drive Failure Rates: Which brand is the most reliable?
How do I know which hard drive is more reliable than another?
From Marc Prieur, of hardware.fr, here are the hard drives failures rates according to a French e-tailer as of November 2014:
– Seagate 0.69%
– Western Digital 0.93%
– HGST (Hitachi, now part of WD) 1.01%
– Toshiba 1.29%
The failure rates are based on parts sold between October 1st 2013 and April 1st 2014, for returns before October 2014, which represents 6 months to one year of usage. The statistics per brand are based on a sample of at least 500 sales.
Although these numbers don’t paint the complete picture of world wide failure rates, they are still an interesting sample to look at.
All hard drives are prone to failure though, which is why you should Have a Backup System that you can rely on!
The Best 3.5″ Desktop Hard Disk Drives (HDD):
Fastest, highest performance hard drives:
7200rpm hybrid hard drives
Hybrid Hard Drive?
Also known as ‘Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD)’. It combines a 1TB (1TB=1000GB) or 2TB hard drive with a 8GB flash memory chip, similar to the ones used on SSDs.
This boost performance versus a traditional hard drive by caching the most frequently used files, so that when there are requests for those files, they are read from the much higher performance flash memory instead of being read from the disk.
This is all done automatically, you have nothing to do to gain the additional performance, but it also means that you have no control over it.
It also means that when the required file(s) isn’t in the cache, it is read from the hard drive, with the far lower performance of a 7,200rpm hard drive.
Overall, you get faster boot times and faster program/game launch for the applications that you use often.
All of this at a very reasonable price when compared to the price of a comparably sized SSD or a small SSD + HDD combo. It’s also much simpler to use compared to managing a small SSD and a HDD.
That said, if you want far higher performance, for editing audio, photo or video, loading Windows, games, applications far faster or loading heavy files, a SSD is the way to go.
I recommend two hybrid hard drives: A 1TB model and a 2TB model.
1. Seagate 1TB Solid State Hybrid Drive ST1000DX001:
– $74.00 at Amazon
– $74.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
2. Seagate 2TB Solid State Hybrid Drive ST2000DX001:
– $90.84 at Amazon
– $94.22 at B&H (International Shipping)
Avoid the 4TB model, it spins at a slower 5,900rpm speed, resulting in lower performance.
High performance: 7200rpm hard drives:
The Best 500GB Hard Drive:
Seagate 500GB 7200rpm ST500DM002:
– $44.55 at Amazon
– $49.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
Less expensive, more reliable and offers higher performance than other alternatives.
For only a few more dollars, you get 1TB instead of 500GB.
The Best 1TB Hard Drives:
1. Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB 7200rpm:
- $50.97 at Amazon
- $50.97 at B&H (International Shipping)
Great price, good performance and best reliability.
A good alternative at a much lower price than the faster WD Caviar Black.
2. Western Digital Caviar Black WD1003FZEX 1TB 7200rpm:
– $79.89 at Amazon
– $74.95 at B&H (International Shipping)
Get it only if you want the longer 5 years warranty.
Faster than the Seagate ST1000DM003, but if you want higher performance at a lower price, get the Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive ST1000DX001 recommended above instead.
If you more storage capacity for a few more dollars, skip this and move on to the first recommendation for 2TB hard drives right below.
The Best 2TB Hard Drives:
1. Seagate ST2000DM001 2TB 7200rpm:
– $76.65 at Amazon
– $76.65 at B&H (International Shipping)
Better in every way (price, performance and reliability) than the alternatives from HGST and Toshiba.
A good alternative at a much lower price than the faster WD Caviar Black.
2. Western Digital Caviar Black WD2003FZEX 2TB 7200rpm:
– $138.69 at Amazon
– $139.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
Get it only if you want the longer 5 years warranty.
Faster than the Seagate ST2000DM001, but if you want higher performance at a lower price, get the Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive ST2000DX001 recommended above instead.
If you more storage capacity at a lower price, skip this and move on to the first recommendation for 3TB hard drives right below.
The Best 3TB Hard Drives:
1. Seagate ST3000DM001 3TB 7200rpm:
– $104.49 at Amazon
– $96.25 at B&H (International)
Once again, better in every way (price, performance and reliability) than the alternatives from HGST and Toshiba.
A good alternative at a much lower price than the faster WD Caviar Black.
2. Western Digital Caviar Black WD3003FZEX 3TB 7200rpm:
– $181.70 at Amazon
– $162.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
If you want the fastest 3TB hard drive on the market and/or a longer 5 years warranty.
The Best 4TB Hard Drives:
HGST 4TB 7200rpm:
– $164.99 at Amazon
– $169.00 at at B&H (International Shipping)
Affordable 7200rpm 4TB hard drive
3 years warranty
Western Digital Caviar Black WD4003FZEX 4TB 7200rpm:
– $211.68 at Amazon
– $212.92 at B&H (International Shipping)
The fastest 4TB hard drive on the market.
5 years warranty.
The Best 6TB Hard Drive:
Seagate STBD6000100 6TB 7200rpm:
– $259.99 at Amazon
HGST 0S03839 6TB 7200rpm:
– $279.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
The Best Low-power Green 3.5″ hard disk drives (HDD)
Pros and cons vs high performance hard drives:
+ Lower power consumption
+ Less noise
– Lower performance
Ideal for secondary storage or a single drive external enclosure.
Western Digital Green 1 TB: $58.60 at Amazon or $52.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Green 2 TB: $90.78 at Amazon or $88.38 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Green 3 TB: $99.99 at Amazon or $99.69 at B&H (International Shipping)
Seagate 4 TB ST4000DM000 5900rpm: $132.80 at Amazon or $139.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Green 6 TB: $248.99 at Amazon or $239.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
The Best RAID/NAS 3.5″ hard disk drives (HDD)
Designed for 24/7 usage, ideal for multiple drives enclosures (NAS) and RAID.
TLER enabled (critical for RAID), unlike most consumer hard drives nowadays.
Seagate and Western Digital both offer such hard drives. Western Digital drives can be found at lower prices and are available at more capacity points, hence why I recommend them.
Western Digital Red 1 TB: $64.99 at Amazon or $64.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Red 2 TB: $104.14 at Amazon or $95.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Red 3 TB: $119.00 at Amazon or $119.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Red 4 TB: $174.03 at Amazon or $160.49 at B&H (International Shipping)
Western Digital Red 6 TB: $269.99 at Amazon or $259.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
The Best 2.5″ Laptop Hard Disk Drives (HDD):
Compatibility warning:
Make sure to double-check which height of hard drives your laptop supports: 9.5mm are the most common, but some are limited to drives with a 7mm height.
Fastest laptop hard drive:
A unique dual drive (hard drive and SSD) in one 2.5″ drive!
Western Digital Black²:
– $130.25 at Amazon
– $181.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
This is the world’s first 2.5-inch dual drive, with a 120 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD in a single 2.5″ drive.
An ideal solution if you only have a single hard drive bay in your laptop and want the high performance of a SSD with the large storage capacity of a hard drive.
The drive initially shows up as a 120GB drive (the SSD part) when you install Windows. Once that is done, you install software from Western Digital to enable the 1TB hard drive.
High performance: Hybrid 2.5″ Hard Drive
Fast boot-up times, fast program launch for often used programs and average performance otherwise:
If you’re looking for a less expensive alternative to the Western Digital Black 2, consider the Seagate Solid State Hybrid Hard Drives:
– 500GB: $59.99 at Amazon or $61.84 at B&H (International Shipping)
– 1TB: $77.00 at Amazon or $77.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
Hybrid Hard Drive?
Also known as ‘Solid State Hybrid Drive (SSHD)’. It combines a 500GB or 1TB hard drive with a 8GB flash memory chip, similar to the ones used on SSDs.
This boost performance versus a traditional hard drive by caching the most frequently used files, so that when there are requests for those files, they are read from the much higher performance flash memory instead of being read from the disk.
This is all done automatically, you have nothing to do to gain the additional performance, but it also means that you have no control over it.
It also means that when the required file(s) isn’t in the cache, it is read from the hard drive, with the far lower performance of a 5400rpm hard drive.
Overall, you get faster boot times and faster program/game launch for the applications that you use often.
Note that it’s 7mm thick, allowing you to use it in ultrabooks, tablets and other devices that require thinner 7mm hard drives.
High performance 2.5″ 7,200rpm hard drives:
The Best 500GB 2.5″ Laptop Hard Drive:
Western Digital Black 500GB 7200rpm WD5000BPKX:
– $54.98 at Amazon
– $62.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
Also available in a 7mm variant: Western Digital Black 500GB 7200rpm WD5000LPLX:
– $58.50 at Amazon
– $57.94 at B&H (International Shipping)
The Best 750GB 2.5″ Laptop Hard Drive:
Western Digital Black 750GB 7200rpm WD7500BPKX:
– $61.06 at Amazon
– $61.75 at B&H (International Shipping)
The Best 1TB 7200rpm 2.5″ Laptop Hard Drive:
HGST 0J22423 1TB 7200rpm:
– $66.78 at Amazon
– $69.95 at B&H (International Shipping)
Mainstream performance 2.5″ 5,400rpm laptop hard drives:
Seagate 500GB 2.5″ 5400rpm 7mm ST500LT012:
– $40.99 at Amazon
– $45.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
7mm thick, perfect for a low-cost hard drive that fits in thinner laptops and tablets.
750GB 2.5″ Hard Drive:
1. Western Digital Blue 750GB 5400rpm 2.5″:
– $49.00 at Amazon
– $49.00 at B&H (International Shipping)
Low cost, highly reliable 750GB 2.5″ hard drive with a 2 years warranty.
2. Western Digital Red 750GB 5400rpm 2.5″ WD7500BFCX:
– $62.99 at Amazon
– $64.98 at B&H (International Shipping)
Slightly higher cost, even more reliable as it is designed for 24/7 usage, comes with a 3 years warranty. Perfect for external enclosures where reliability is highly important.
1TB 2.5″ Hard Drive:
1. Western Digital Blue 1TB 5400rpm 2.5″ WD10JPVX:
– $62.94 at Amazon
– $62.94 at B&H (International)
Low cost, highly reliable 1TB 2.5″ hard drive with a 2 years warranty.
2. Western Digital Red 1TB 5400rpm 2.5″ WD10JFCX:
– $76.19 at Amazon
– $69.99 at B&H (International)
Slightly higher cost, even more reliable as it is designed for 24/7 usage, comes with a 3 years warranty. Perfect for external enclosures where reliability is highly important.
3. Western Digital 2.5″ Blue 1TB 5400rpm 7mm thick WD10SPCX:
– $88.04 at Amazon
This variant is more expensive, but you only need it if you need a 7mm thick hard drive. Otherwise, pick the option above.
2TB 2.5″ Hard Drive:
Seagate ST2000LM003 2TB 5400rpm 2.5″ 9.5mm thick:
– $103.88 at Amazon
– $102.99 at B&H (International Shipping)
Conclusion
I hope that you enjoyed the latest edition of this article.
If you have any comments, suggestions or questions, please leave a comment below!
