Newbie seeking HDD advice!

[NewPCBuilder]

Hey everyone, my 5 years old Compaq PC RIP yesterday, so I figured that it's about time I learnt how to build a custom one.

A little background on how it died. The PC started to show BSoD for a period of time (around a month back) and it also warned about an "imminent hard-disk Failure" on this black&white code-looking screen before the Windows loading screen. Eventually, the PC got stuck at the Windows loading screen and sits for eternity.

I have stripped the entire computer down and laid its parts out. I have discovered this Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 HDD.


I have a couple of questions:

1) Am I still able to reuse the above old HDD as it might be due to it that my PC died?

2) After reading/watching a few tech articles and videos, I'm still very confused on this topic. Does the OS need to be on a separate HDD from the storage one? (i.e: 1 for OS - booting up, 1 for storage - Steam, movies, etc) Or will 1 HDD suffice for bth purposes?

3) Do you guys have any recommendation for a 1TB HDD? (I don't mind a HDD that is more than 1TB if the price allows it. My current budget of the System Unit is ~$900, and I'm looking to allocate more funds towards a better GFX card.)

4) Should I avoid SSDs since I have a limited budget to follow? Or should I try to consider them? I'm not entirely sure with how SSDs work, but if I'm not wrong, there's no moving parts in it which means it has a lower risk of malfunctioning(?), hence its higher pricetag?

Sorry for the newbie questions.

 

[jtjt00]

Hey everyone, my 5 years old Compaq PC RIP yesterday, so I figured that it's about time I learnt how to build a custom one.

A little background on how it died. The PC started to show BSoD for a period of time (around a month back) and it also warned about an "imminent hard-disk Failure" on this black&white code-looking screen before the Windows loading screen. Eventually, the PC got stuck at the Windows loading screen and sits for eternity.

I have stripped the entire computer down and laid its parts out. I have discovered this Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 HDD.


I have a couple of questions:

1) Am I still able to reuse the above old HDD as it might be due to it that my PC died?

2) After reading/watching a few tech articles and videos, I'm still very confused on this topic. Does the OS need to be on a separate HDD from the storage one? (i.e: 1 for OS - booting up, 1 for storage - Steam, movies, etc) Or will 1 HDD suffice for bth purposes?

3) Do you guys have any recommendation for a 1TB HDD? (I don't mind a HDD that is more than 1TB if the price allows it. My current budget of the System Unit is ~$900, and I'm looking to allocate more funds towards a better GFX card.)

4) Should I avoid SSDs since I have a limited budget to follow? Or should I try to consider them? I'm not entirely sure with how SSDs work, but if I'm not wrong, there's no moving parts in it which means it has a lower risk of malfunctioning(?), hence its higher pricetag?
0
Sorry for the newbie questions.

1. Yes, best as secondary storage drive
2. Either, separate is recommended so that reformat don't affect data drive
3. Get Toshiba 1TB hard disk at $64
4. Get Crucial MX100 128GB SSD at $105, SSD will outlast your hard disk.

All prices quoted is from Tradepac.

 

[tungsten2]

1."imminent hard-disk Failure" means your HDD is dying.It is NOT recommended to reuse even as secondary storage.

2. It is recommended the OS on one partition and data on another.

3. 1TB should be alright is you do not have a lot of data.

4. With SSD getting cheaper by the day, you should consider getting a SSD and load only OS and Applications on it. Get a 2nd HDD for data storage.

For below $100, you can get a 128GB SSD nowadays.Go walk around SLS. Do not buy hastily, check the price from a few shops and availability of the stocks.

Avoid Samsung Evo for now as there is a known bugs the will have performance hit after a few months of usage.

 

[Gribber]

i gotta agree, re-using it is not recommended.

skip seagate hdd altogether.

 

[Louisloo]

Your PC death is caused by the hdd. You should not use it anymore.

Anyway it is already 5 years old and about time to go...

 

[NewPCBuilder]

1. Yes, best as secondary storage drive
2. Either, separate is recommended so that reformat don't affect data drive
3. Get Toshiba 1TB hard disk at $64
4. Get Crucial MX100 128GB SSD at $105, SSD will outlast your hard disk.

All prices quoted is from Tradepac.

1."imminent hard-disk Failure" means your HDD is dying.It is NOT recommended to reuse even as secondary storage.

2. It is recommended the OS on one partition and data on another.

3. 1TB should be alright is you do not have a lot of data.

4. With SSD getting cheaper by the day, you should consider getting a SSD and load only OS and Applications on it. Get a 2nd HDD for data storage.

For below $100, you can get a 128GB SSD nowadays.Go walk around SLS. Do not buy hastily, check the price from a few shops and availability of the stocks.

Avoid Samsung Evo for now as there is a known bugs the will have performance hit after a few months of usage.

i gotta agree, re-using it is not recommended.

skip seagate hdd altogether.

Your PC death is caused by the hdd. You should not use it anymore.

Anyway it is already 5 years old and about time to go...

Thanks for all your replies everyone. I will be getting rid of this hdd soon, and after reading through a little, will be avoiding Seagate too. I doubt I will be getting a SSD though as my budget doesn't seem to be able to fit it, but thanks for suggesting and enlightening me on the matter!

Anyways, after seeing quite a number people recommend the Western Digital WD 1TB 64mb and looking at it's pricetag, do you think it's wise to get it? If not, any other alternatives that you might recommend?

 

[Gribber]

Thanks for all your replies everyone. I will be getting rid of this hdd soon, and after reading through a little, will be avoiding Seagate too. I doubt I will be getting a SSD though as my budget doesn't seem to be able to fit it, but thanks for suggesting and enlightening me on the matter!

Anyways, after seeing quite a number people recommend the Western Digital WD 1TB 64mb and looking at it's pricetag, do you think it's wise to get it? If not, any other alternatives that you might recommend?

Wd got color code 1.

If this is your main hdd, go for either blue or black disks from WD