June Hard Drive Price Guide - Page 4

Serial ATA Hard Drive Value

Just as in the previous PATA chart, we are also taking a close look at our Serial ATA drives and determining exactly which models and capacities offer the best overall value. We do this through the tried-and-true method of determining hard drive value, or "price per GB", which is then used as a sorting criteria to ensure the best $/GB deals rise to the top. Of course, no method is foolproof, and other factors like performance or features certainly come into play, but it does give us a different view on which brands, speeds and capacities offer the best bang for the buck.

The Serial ATA value chart shows virtually the same basic trends we found in the PATA value listings, but it's an even split here between the two capacity ranges. Five of the top ten SATA values sit in both the 250GB to 320GB and 400GB to 500GB ranges, although the latter does control the top four SATA drive values. The top spot goes to another 500GB model with a 22-cents per GB rating, but this time it's the Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB, followed closely by its 400GB cousin and the Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB at 23-cents per GB. It's hardly surprising to see the five Western Digital Raptor models are at the bottom on the chart, as this line of 10K RPM drives is designed for pure performance and reliability, not value.

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Page 1 June Hard Drive Price Guide Page 2 Serial ATA Hard Drive Price List Page 3 Parallel ATA Hard Drives Sorted by $/GB Page 4 Serial ATA Hard Drives Sorted by $/GB Page 5 Parallel and Serial ATA Hard Drives Sorted by Price Change Page 6 Parallel and Serial ATA Hard Drives Sorted by Price

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