Locating a good best Hard Drives for gaming for all your gaming needs is not simple, particularly with the broad variety of alternatives available today. If you’re looking for a best Hard Drives for gaming that is suitable for both fast-paced gaming and classic storage requirements, an individual should always look closely at its transport speeds, cache, and needless to say, real storage capacity.
Having said that, let us point out that not all hard drives are constructed to meet the same standards, especially those that meet the requirements of hardcore gamers. For this reason, we thought it’d be best to create a list of the ten best hard drives for gaming so as to offer you a good idea about what to search for.
10 Best Hard Drives for Gaming in 2020
1 Seagate 1TB 3.5-Inch SATA 6GB/s Desktop SSHD
As the name would have you believe, this SSD+HDD hybrid operates at much faster speeds than regular hard disk drives, which makes it perfect for gaming purposes. In fact, it is about five times faster than regular best Hard Drives for gaming while boasting a much bigger capacity than most SSDs out there. At the same time, this high-end drive benefits from a 64MB cache with 8GB NAND flash capabilities for added speed.
2 WD Blue 1TB SATA Hard Disk Drive
When it comes to speed and reliability, you simply cannot find a better best Hard Drives for gaming than WD’s Blue 1TB SATA Hard Disk Drive in this price range. Equipped with a Data LifeGuard feature, it will ensure that your drive is kept at optimal health at all times through the usage of advanced algorithms. Not only that but it also features a NoTouch Ramp Load Technology which safely positions the recording head off the disk surface so as to protect your data in the long run.
3 WD Velociraptor WD1000DHTZ
As we enter the high-end range of the market, let it be said that Western Digital’s Velociraptor drive is perhaps the fastest out there. This extraordinary drive operates at speeds of no less than 10,000 RPM, a speed that can be considered impressive by most standards. Not only that but it also benefits from an impressive reliability, as its manufacturers guarantee no less than 1.4 million hours MTBF.
4 Western Digital Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive
This next-generation desktop performance drive from Western Digital represents the highest industry standards in terms of speed and reliability. Thanks to its improved architectural design, it will provide much better data protection than its predecessors through Vibration Control Technologies, Corruption Protection Technologies, NoTouch Ramp Load Technologies, and the longest manufacturer warranty out there.
5 WD SE 1TB Datacenter Hard Disk Drive
What makes this hard drive stand out is the fact that it has a StableTrac and RAFF features that offer it a much higher vibration tolerance. Another interesting thing about this high-end hard drive is that it has a 128 MB cache, which needless to say, is the desired standard for any hard drive nowadays. On top of all this, it offers more or less the best-in-class performance overall.
6 Toshiba P300 1TB Desktop
It is important for the best Hard Drives for gaming of any kind to offer data protection and reliability, which are the exact features that make this hard drive stand out. You see, Toshiba’s P300 hard drive benefits from an internal shock detection feature and ramp-loading technologies to help protect your drive along with the data they have stored. On top of all this, it has a PMR feature that offers both robustness and reliability when operating at top speed.
7 Seagate 1TB FireCuda Gaming SSHD
Due to its Hybrid form, this particular hard drive will perform almost five times faster than regular 7200 RPM best Hard Drives for gaming. Not just that but it also boasts a responsiveness of up to three times better than most other disk drives in this price range. Speaking of which, this hybrid drive is surprisingly affordable given its capabilities, which may explain why it is so popular in the first place.
8 HGST Travelstar 7K1000
The first thing to point out about the HGST Travelstar 7K1000 is that it benefits from an advanced format and an industry standard 4k sector size. At the same time, it features 512-byte emulation capabilities and a 6gb/s transfer speeds, an overall speed that recommends it for anyone looking to engage in some light gaming. Also worth pointing out is that it costs almost half what other drives in its class cost.
9 Western Digital 1 TB RE3 SATA 3
Starting with budget drives first, let us point out that you don’t necessarily have to spend an awful lot on a hard drive as long as the games you play don’t require to process too much information at a time. In this respect, a 32 MB Cache / 7200 RPM drive should be more than enough, especially if your rig isn’t state of the art. As for this particular drive, it should be said that it benefits from a RAFF technology that makes it resist vibrations better along with a multi-axis shock sensor to ensure the long-term safety of your data.
10 Toshiba 3.5-Inch 1TB 7200 RPM SATA3 Hard Drive
This SATA3 hard drive from Toshiba should be considered an ideal budget buy for anyone looking to build a gaming PC without breaking the bank. Despite its affordable price, this 1TB drive will more or less meet all the operational standards of much more expensive drives while still being guaranteed to withstand the test of time. Also interesting for an HDD this affordable is the fact that it can reach 6.0 GB/s speeds, which even more expensive drives sometimes struggle with.
How To Buy A Hard Drive For Gaming
Even though we have selected the ten best hard drives for gaming available, technology progresses, and you may find that you want a hard drive that’s a little more modern. That’s why we’ve decided to put together this little guide. With this guide, we hope to give our readers the skills they need to pick the best gaming hard drives available, even as they’re released to the public.