Well, I just ordered the WD Red, 500gb. Chose that one because of deloptes's recommendation and because best I can tell this is as sturdy as they get. (As, it seems, is attested in the warranty.) By the time it gets here I hope I'll have cooked up a good fstab for it -- the existing drives will have to move down by one letter, so my sda4 will become sdb4 b4 I can use it. And so on.
I hope the increase in speed will be noticeable. Incremantal increases in computer speed in my experience tend to be inverse-obvious.
New fast computer: I *think* it's a little faster.
Returning to previous computer for something six months later: My gawd, this thing is *s-l-o-w*!
You'll hear way too much about my installing it before I get it done and will regret having answered my original post, but thanks to everybody. -- dep
Pictures: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/depscribe/album Column: https://ofb.biz/author/dep/