Hard Drive Overhaul

DallasWhovian

I am needing to replace my hard drive, as after 8 years, it is making clicking noises, indicating that it is not doing so well. It has been operating as a gaming computer, with a 1 TB Hard Drive, 7200 RPM. I need to know how important the RPMs are to this whole thing, as it has been a long time since I built the computer, and forgot a few things on how important certain specs are. I would prefer a 4 TB hard drive. This is because I want the space in case something unexpected comes up in the future. I have a Seagate, but I am not sure they are as good now as they were then. 

I also want a SSD Drive to be added as well. This would be to allow for faster bootup times, plus for a handful of games that run better on the SSD. I'm not sure of any what specs I would want on the SSD though.

TSPhillipT

Hello @DallasWhovian, welcome to the Micro Center Community!

I have moved this thread to a more relevant section.

7200RPM is considered the standard for a hard drive and is the recommended RPM for it.  The higher the RPM, the faster the disc inside the hard drive will spin and the faster it is.  Something like this is what I would recommend; https://www.microcenter.com/product/415204/wd-black-performance-4tb-7200rpm-sata-iii-6gb-s-35-internal-hard-drive.  

For SSDs, there are a lot of options to go for, you have the choice of M.2 or SATA SSDs.  This article has a very good breakdown on the types of SSDs and what the specs for them means; https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/2969/how-to-choose-your-parts-part-6-ssds-and-hard-drives.  

DallasWhovian

Is the Seagate Equivalent roughly the same quality or better?

TSTonyV

It should be about the same in terms of quality. There was a period of time a few years ago where Seagate had a string of some bad drives in the higher storage capacities, but as far as I'm aware those are pretty much fixed and there haven't been any major issues for a while. 

DallasWhovian

Also, what is an M.2 SSD?

TSTonyV

M.2 SSDs are a newer style of SSD that have become pretty popular. They slot directly into your motherboard, as opposed to plugging in with a cable, like this one: 

https://www.microcenter.com/product/600422/inland-premium-1tb-ssd-3d-nand-m2-2280-pcie-nvme-30-x4-internal-solid-state-drive