Best HTPC HDD?

[Gottagame9000]

I've been looking at WD Red series for storage solution for my upcoming HTPC build. I like that they are low powered & they produce less noise. Since I'm going to be storing large amounts of video files & may be keeping my HTPC on overnight for some tasks is the Red series right for me? What are your suggestions? Will I notice any loss of speed (ie. boot time, videos opening or closing etc.)? My parts list> http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wmhqgs

[tmlhalo]

Lower RPM drives usually mean less noise just like lower rpm fans. That being said it is up to you if you want to take the performance hit. You can always mitigate the lower rpm by getting larger drives which benefit from data density over their smaller cousins. Maybe find a 2 dollar pack of rubber washers to farther insulate the drive vibrations. If you can also get a small SSD to  separate the OS and storage then make the disk power down while not in use. Will get 0 noise from it that way, though there will be a noticeable tick usually when they spin up. That is all as far as possible trick's I know you could do. As far as the drives themselves I haven't used Reds. They are made for 24/7 use and RAID so I imagine they're excellent drives. You might be able to use a Green though I've seen a lot of other forum members complain about performance and spin up times with them. I haven't seen it myself but I'm just a sample size of 1. I have a Seagate 4TB 5900rpm which I can say works like a champ.  

[wpirobotbuilder]

I've been looking at WD Red series for storage solution for my upcoming HTPC build. I like that they are low powered & they produce less noise. Since I'm going to be storing large amounts of video files & may be keeping my HTPC on overnight for some tasks is the Red series right for me? What are your suggestions? Will I notice any loss of speed (ie. boot time, videos opening or closing etc.)? My parts list> http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wmhqgs

The Red is made for 24/7 operation, so you should be golden (or red, as it were ). Since you'll be accessing media files, which is done in large transfers, you will have a relatively unnoticeable performance hit when compared to the Black. The only other option might be the WD Green, but since they are not designed for 24/7 operation there really isn't much benefit over the Red.

 

Don't forget to back up your data! Maybe get two drives and do backups between the two nightly.

[anticeon]

I've been looking at WD Red series for storage solution for my upcoming HTPC build. I like that they are low powered & they produce less noise. Since I'm going to be storing large amounts of video files & may be keeping my HTPC on overnight for some tasks is the Red series right for me? What are your suggestions? Will I notice any loss of speed (ie. boot time, videos opening or closing etc.)? My parts list> http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Wmhqgs

WD Green, its Eco friendly made for HTPC user.