Help Me Pick Out A New Hdd?, sata-ide converion and getting a good deal Options

[BabyBenz84]

I wasn't really sure where to post this but I am looking to purchase a new hdd for my xbox. The 40gb I have just isn't cutting it lol.

I am thinking of getting this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822152134 640GB for $60 shipped sounds good to me. It has a 3 year warranty. Samsung is the only brand of hdd I have owned that has failed but it seems like a good deal and has a warranty.

First question: Is that a good deal for the hdd?

I know, I know, its SATA. I am going to buy this http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12537 so that won't be a problem.

Questions two: Is there any speed loss with these converters? One reviewer says he is getting 4.6MB/second transfer rate I currently have a 5400rpm in my xbox so imagine this 7200rpm should load games much quicker even if there is a little speed loss from the conversion.

Thanks much!

[bc54]

i can't vouch for either of those products, but only $60 for a 640gb is great. i think i see 500gb for $90-$110 in the newspaper ads.
the speed loss from the sata-ide converter sounds reasonable. however, a 7200 rpm drive will not increase your speed at all. this is becasue the xbox's ide cable and motherboard have a limited data speed, so data will only transfer as fast as the xbox can read, not as fast as the drive can output.
if you do get a 7200 rpm hdd, most people recommend running your fan at a higher speed, because the hard drive will spin faster, generating more heat. more extreme people cut holes on the hdd tray to increase air flow to the hdd. i don't know if it actually helps, but it was fairly simple so i did it. i wouldn't recommend if you are inexperienced in case mods, but if you can do it, it doesn't seem like it could hurt at all.
that's just my $0.02.

[BabyBenz84]

So are you saying I will have speed loss then? I don't want to have my games run choppy or loading times take longer then they do now. Will this be noticeable speed loss?

[AltimateX]

I hate to double post but I really need to know about this whole sata-ide slow down. From what I have been reading, that is not much of an issue in the XBOX but I don't want to order and then find out I have slowdown issues, especially since my friend told me to go ahead and order him one of whatever I buy for myself. I don't want to order something for him and have it not work correctly. I'd like order this asap!

[Bomb Bloke]

I know, I know, its SATA. I am going to buy this http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12537 so that won't be a problem.

If you're lucky that won't be a problem. Speed is the least of you're worries when trying to get SATA to work with a console; in many cases, it just doesn't work at all.

Personally I find my Samsung 750gb SATA drive is fairly slow, at least, compared to the old Seagate 320gb PATA I had in there before. The most noticeable problem is that it takes about ten seconds to boot an XBE file. However, once a program is running it'll operate more or less as normal (XBMC can still "instantly" start videos and seek through them, for eg) - the speed difference is minor compared to, say, how slow a DVD drive is.