Advice needed for a new HD or SSHD to expand Steam Library

[EoLynn]

My Steam dedicated disk is getting full, only 10% space left now on a Seagate SSHD 4TB ST4000DX001. And not all games are installed.

So I'm looking for another disk since I prefer to keep my old WD Green 2TB for my documents, music and other stuff. But Seagate doesn't make this 4TB anymore, it's been replaced by a Firecuda SSHD with only 2TB max. Some online stores still sell it though.

For loading purposes heavy modded games like FallOut 4 SE and Cities:Skylines are installed on the main SSD along with Win 10.

Right now I have:
C: 256MB Samsung 840 Pro SSD for OS and a couple of games
D: 2TB WD Green for docs and personal stuff
E: 4TB Seagate SSHD for Steam
F: xxx <- what to add?

I play 80% of the time on my desktop PC, and 20% in the living room on my Home Cinema with the Steam Link.

My rig is based on a i7 hexacore OC @4.1GHz, 32 GB Ram, and a GTX 1080Ti.

So I'm wondering what kind of new HD should I add to expand my Steam Library:

- find another "old" Seagate SSHD 4TB @5900 rpm,
- get the new Seagate SSHD Firecuda 2TB @7200 rpm,
- or go for more pure capacity with something like a Seagate Ironwolf 6TB?

They say the Firecuda is faster, but I'm not sure if it has a huge impact on some demanding games (load times) compared to the old model (which has 2x more space).


Advices and comments would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[Mossy Snake]

I'd get the Firecuda, that thing is very reliable from what I've seen.

[⛧EyMi Mayhem⛧]

Fast, well yes/no.
But no for games.. your games will run on the slower part of the drive which is the equivalent of a 7.2k HDD.

Alternative WD Black or Gold with 4tb if u have the extra pennies.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822232558

[76561198135154379]

It looks like you can obviously afford good hardware, why not just buy some terabyte SSD's?

[Arya]

I would add another 4TB WD Black. They're great value for money.

[EoLynn]

@ Riley, An SSD, why not... I plan to change my rig maybe next year around an i9. There are some nice configs around already. My idea is to put back my old GTX Titan in my current PC and sell it or give it to a friend, and use my recent 1080Ti in Sli on the next one, as well as keeping the disk I'm going to add.

High-end rigs come with 512MB or 1TB SSD now, so it will be OK for the best games.

In the meanwhile, I feel the need for space as big games requiring lots of GB are upcoming. I can of course uninstall some that I don't play often, as downloading stuff again is fast with fiber connexion.

@Eymi, Rump &Wolfie, So games don't really benefit from the SSD part of SSHD? That's not what they advertise. And what makes Western Digital HDs black or gold a bit better?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Seriously, just uninstall some games from the 4TB Drive, are you joking!

Replace the 840 SSD with a good one, like 500GB or better 850 EVO perhaps.
The 840 series is very bad.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

WD Black and Gold are somewhat faster and with better reputation. Any HDD can fail no matter what reputation the manufacturer has but with WD Black and Gold you at least have decent warranty.

[⛧EyMi Mayhem⛧]

Originally posted by EoLynn:

@Eymi, Rump &Wolfie, So games don't really benefit from the SSD part of SSHD? That's not what they advertise. And what makes Western Digital HDs black or gold a bit better?

Great performance & warranty and the gold also offers a bigger cache.

[EoLynn]

You guys are right, I forgot about that site but I just tested my rig again on userbenchmark.com and the Firecuda 2TB SSHD is only around 16% faster than mine with only half the space.

But the WD Black 4TB is much better with +32% more effective speed.

http://hdd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/WD-Black-4TB-2016-vs-Seagate-Desktop-SSHD-4TB/3908vs2668

Oddly, the 5 and 6 TB versions of the WD Black seem to ben even faster!

I think I got the SSHD last year when I needed a new drive and because it had a big discount.
Looks like hybrid HDs aren't really worth it as a dedicated game drive...

[LiMpY]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

Seriously, just uninstall some games from the 4TB Drive, are you joking!

^this^ good grief, some kind of hoarding complex perhaps?

[InfinityJosh]

Bad Motha is right!
Just unistall some games you don't play.
I play on a 240GB SSD!

[pasa]

Indeed, what's the point keeping steam games installed that you no longer play (or didn't start yet). It re-downloads whatever in a blink.

[Arya]

Originally posted by pasa:

Indeed, what's the point keeping steam games installed that you no longer play (or didn't start yet). It re-downloads whatever in a blink.

Not everybody has good internet like us. For some people it can take days to download a game.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

^ In that case, grab a WD Gold 8TB and call it a day