[mythtv] how fast a HD is fast enough?

Dave Caplinger mythtv-dev@snowman.net
14 Oct 2002 23:17:10 -0500


I while back someone on the list was discussing their hard drive
concerns; specifically that seek time had a significant impact on MythTV
being able to record one thing and view another at the same time.  Now
that I have my MythBox finally working, I need to buy a new hard drive
for it, so I'm trying to balance speed (both transfer rate and seek
time), size, noise, heat, and my wallet.  (easy, right?)

I'm trying to keep the drive under US$100, so I think I've got it
narrowed down to one of the following 7200rpm drives:

*  Maxstor DiamondMax Plus D740X 60 GB		$97
*  IBM DeskStar 120GXP 40 GB			$76
*  Seagate Barracuda IV 60 GB			$91

The 'cuda in particular is supposed to be quiet but a tad bit slower in
seek time (9.7ms according to storagereview.com).

Am I over-designing this?  What do the rest of you use for HDs in your
MythBoxen?  Are they fast?  Quiet?  Reasonably priced?  :-)

- Dave