October 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 follows along with the trends in the PATA market, but with some interesting exceptions. The 400GB to 500GB capacity range is still the primary sweet spot for buyers, with it taking over the top two positions, and six out of the top ten. Where it changes is the presence of a few 750GB hard drives, which offer a better value in the SATA design, than their PATA model. One of these, the Western Digital Caviar SE16 750GB, is in third spot, just back of the Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB (21-cents/GB) and Maxtor DiamondMax 21 500GB (24-cents/GB). The five Western Digital Raptor models are right at the bottom on the chart, as this line of 10K RPM drives is designed for enthusiast-level performance and reliability, not value.

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Page 1 October 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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