I don't know much specifics about SSD .. I just got whatever came in my laptop (lenovo thinkpad). It's been a long time since I bought any serious computer hardware other than laptops ... but for hard drives, I just get Western Digital Green since I neither need speed or any crazy reliability (just cheap, low power, cool, and very little noise) for my home theater PC. Maybe one day I'll convert to SSD but still too expensive for me.