HDD Recommendations?

Can someone give me a plain-English explanation of the difference between:
Seagate BarraCuda - 1TB SATA3 7200rpm 64mb cache and
Samsung - 1TB SATA3 7200rpm 64mb cache

Is Western Digital any good, or does anyone have another brand to recommend?

I need 1TB specifically for my Steam library and games—so it needs to be fast and around $200.
If there’s something cheaper that still performs well, I wouldn't complain.

Susan Anderson said:Can someone just give me a straight answer: what's the actual difference between:
Seagate BarraCuda - 1TB SATA3 7200rpm 64mb cache and
Samsung - 1TB SATA3 7200rpm 64mb cache

Is Western Digital any good, or should I look at something else?

I need 1TB to hold my Steam library and games. It needs to be fast and cost around $200.
If there's something cheaper that still works, I'm down.

you can find Seagate BarraCuda drives for $117
they're fine for a Steam library

Seagate Expansion = Cheap.
Cheap, slow garbage.

Seagate BarraCuda = Decent
Mediocre junk.

Samsung EVO = Best quality
Expensive crap. They claim a 5-year warranty, though I'm not entirely certain myself. Why don't you look it up instead of being lazy?

What kind of pricing policy is that from Western Digital? It’s like walking into a grocery store and being asked to pay three different prices for the exact same loaf of bread.
Or like buying a new car and finding out they charge you more just because it comes in green, blue, or black.

Go to Seagate today if you want. Or don't. It's your choice.

Word on the street is that Seagate has been seeing some pretty terrible failure rates lately.

The Seagate Green line isn't really a thing anymore—well, they have an SSD version now, I guess. Now you just get Seagate drives that spin at 5400rpm (which are basically the old Green replacements) and then there's the Seagate drives that run at 7200rpm, which are the "real" ones. You might want to double-check what you're actually buying.

Robert Rodriguez2 said:you've got those Seagate BarraCuda HDDs for $117
for a Steam library—they're perfectly fine

I did a little digging here, and it looks like the Seagate BarraCuda is being recommended. That’s what you had in mind, right?

wiredotter14 said:Apparently, Seagate has seen some pretty high failure rates lately.

Well, thanks for the heads-up. For some reason, I hadn't even considered Seagate.

fadedorca66 said:The Seagate Green line isn't really a thing anymore (it exists, but as an SSD); now there's the Seagate BarraCuda at 5400rpm (the old Green replacement) and the Seagate BarraCuda at 7200rpm (the "real" BarraCuda)—so you have to be careful about which one you pick up.

Yes, there is a BarraCuda that runs at 7200 rpm, so I was wondering what the actual difference is compared to the Samsung.

Apologies for obsessing over a basic hard drive, but I need something durable since I tend to swap them between machines quite frequently.

The options are:
1. Seagate BarraCuda
2. Seagate BarraCuda (7200rpm)

And you've saved me a bit of cash, too—thanks—since I'm ditching the Samsung.
If anyone happens to experience an early failure with any of these, please let me know.

The Samsung EVO is a bit faster than the Seagate BarraCuda, but—to be honest—it’s definitely louder and pulls more power too. I guess the Samsung should come with a longer warranty, though.
Back in the day, you’d pick the Samsung because it was meant for an OS since it's faster, but honestly, with how SSDs are now, that whole distinction kind of lost its meaning.
If you just need something for extra storage, the Seagate BarraCuda is perfectly fine if you're looking at Western Digital drives.

I work in tech repair, so take my word for it: skip the Western Digital stuff and just grab a Seagate BarraCuda. I won't go into all the details...

Susan Anderson said:I looked around here a bit, and I see people recommending the Seagate BarraCuda. That's the one you were talking about, right?

We usually recommend the Seagate BarraCuda; it’s cheap and gets the job done.

Thanks, everyone. I finally picked up the Dell Latitude.