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Best 7200RPM Hard Drive?

S

sinco

Junior Member
I am in the market to buy a new hard drive. No serial-ata or anything like that, just a normal 7200RPM with 8MB of cache. I need one that is quiet, reliable, and fast. I am thinking about getting the WESTERN DIGITAL WD1200JB SPECIAL EDITION drive. Please give me some suggestions.
 
Originally posted by: sinco
I am in the market to buy a new hard drive. No serial-ata or anything like that, just a normal 7200RPM with 8MB of cache. I need one that is quiet, reliable, and fast. I am thinking about getting the WESTERN DIGITAL WD1200JB SPECIAL EDITION drive. Please give me some suggestions.
Click to expand...

Winner 😉
 
I dont think that one drive is really better than another, 7200 is 7200...

but I have herad lots of bad thinks about the old IBM deskstar(deathstar), I've personnally seen alot of maxtors go down, but WD is a great reliable brand (maxtor is a good brand too)

I have 3 of those WD drives
 
Storagereview seems to point out that bigger WD's are faster, but Maxtor drives' speeds are constant in the line.

BTW the Maxtor DM9+ have fluid bearings for the most part, and they're good choices too. My 160GB with 8MB buffer was $80 after coupon and rebate (go for 50c a gig or less if you can).
 
The IBM/Hitachi 180GXP 8MB cache is currently the fastest out of them.
I have 2 WD JB 1200's in my box and they are plenty fast. The price is right too.
 
I have plenty of the WD SE 's which I'm happy with but when I got a couple of the GXP180's w8Mb cache my smile got bigger
 
if you want quiet, then stay away from WD.. it really depends on how quiet you want though..
if you've got a few vantec tornados and a bunch of other loud fans,etc, you won't notice the WD

I can really notice the noise of my WD 120gb over my quiet panaflo fans...
 
what the hell?

why does everyone keep saying WD's are noisy?

i have a wd 80gb first edition and when i stop the fans with my finger, and turn on computer, i hear it spin up, then silence. I don't hear a thing while it is booting up.

Or was this one of the quietest HD's of WD.

It certainly is a lot quieter than the seagate which supposedly are the quietest.
 
Originally posted by: Serp86
what the hell?

why does everyone keep saying WD's are noisy?

i have a wd 80gb first edition and when i stop the fans with my finger, and turn on computer, i hear it spin up, then silence. I don't hear a thing while it is booting up.
Click to expand...

I totally agree, my 2 WD 80Gb SEs are both quiet as a mice, I can't hear them in day-to-day operation and I'm pretty fussy about noise.

 
WD1200JB, a tad louder, a tad faster at desktop stuff.
Hitachi 180GXP, faster and a tad quieter than the WD
Seagate 7200.1, quietest, slower than the WD in server type apps, faster in desktop apps.

On a sidenote, I seriously doubt you'll notice any performance difference in day to day usage, so I'd just go with the one that best fits your needs in terms of noise, price, warranty, etc.
 
western digital = LOUD!
if you want something silent.. look elsewhere
i finally got some quiet fans for my system... and i found out that my hard drive was making most of the noise.. it makes this high pitched sound...
 
180GXP 8MB cache beats the WD Special Edition is just about every benchmark
In my experience IBM drives are quieter than WD drives
120GB 180GXP 8MB cache is $107 on Newegg, 120GB WD Special Edition is $108

This seems like a no brainer to me.....unless of course you're one of those people that is still spooked by the 75GXP failures.
 

Very Useful Link

You can compare hard drives head to head. Just like the IBM GXP 120 and WD 120.

The WD 250 is still the top ATA performer. Except 250 Gig HDD's don't come cheap.

You can Also see how IBM is a kick ass server HDD and also silent like a member above stated.
 
Every Western Digital hard drive I ever bought is still working to this very day. My 2Gb one from 1996, my 6gb one, my 15gb, my 40gb one, and my 80gb one.

My other seagate and maxtor ones failed after a few years, and an ibm one crashed my data.

I totally recommend WD's. Especially the 8mb cache buffer, special edition ones! they rock fast!

as for WD's being loud? no, not true, not in any of my cases
 
WD or Maxtor. Why?

  • Because they're cheap (look for a rebate/coupon deal)
    Because they're fast
    Because they're quiet
    Because they're reliable
 
I'm on my FOURTH Maxtor, soon to be 5th after I buy my Raptor and RMA this hunk of garbage. I'd get the WD or Seagate.
 
I've never had any issues with Maxtors that was not attributed to stress from an overclocked FSB. I have had to RMA quite a few WD's at work though, but these seem isolated to their 2mb cache 40g model.

I also happen to be in a unique position where I actually own the 80g 7200rpm version of Maxtor's, WD's and Seagate's 8mb cache HDDs (the Seagates are $59.95 after rebates at CompUSA this week).

As far as I can tell, here are the most noticable differences:

Most quiet = Seagate, by a hair. Maxtor is right behind it. WD is dead last, but bear in mind, it's still a fairly quiet HDD.

Performance = Using HDTach and Sisoft under WinXP, the Maxtor is markedly faster than either WD or Seagate. Between Seagate and WD, performance is roughly equal. I think these benchmarks utilities may tend to favor the Maxtors more so then the other brands since the Maxtors are the only ones that are ATA133 compliant. Unfortunately, I don't have any comparitive benchmarks here at work right now. During actual use though, there was no noticable difference between any of them.

Fit and construction = Although not a very good barometer for measuring durability, it's better than nothing as a sloppily built HDD generally means the overall Q/A may not be as good. Here, the Seagate is head and shoulders above either Maxtor or WD. Some of the stories I've heard about Seagate's excellent quality definitely shows. The tolerances, fit of parts, precision of build, and just flat out polish that goes into the contruction of the Seagate is just incredible when compared side by side with the other brands. It's like looking at a swiss-made watch and comparing it with a $20 supermarket CASIO. I especially like the precision fitted, protective plate mounted on the underbelly of the HDD to protect the HDD PCB and to keep foreign debris out. I guess you really do get what you pay for.

Heat = couldn't really tell the difference between any of them. All run warm, but not hot.
 
I have three of the 80 gig Maxtor 6Y080P0 (8 meg cache) 7200 rpm drives, and I love them. I have had problems in the past with WD, but I don;t know about now.
 
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