Best Brand Hard Drives? (Are Maxtors Good?)

Necrosaro420

Senior member
Apr 24, 2005
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I have had this 200gig WD slave drive for years, and it has finally died, leaving me without all of my data.

What is the best brand hard drive to get? Are Maxtors any good? Do they last??
 

raincityboy

Senior member
Dec 30, 2004
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I know people who swear by brand "x", and I know people who swear at that same brand.
I like Seagate, because of the 5 year warranty.
 

Necrosaro420

Senior member
Apr 24, 2005
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Originally posted by: raincityboy
I know people who swear by brand "x", and I know people who swear at that same brand.
I like Seagate, because of the 5 year warranty.

Have you ever had a problem with any of yours? how long before these happened??



 

PurdueRy

Lifer
Nov 12, 2004
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I have had a problem with my Seagate drive that required RMA. My WD drive has kinda a high pitch whirr to it which is annoying if you are listening for it. Technically, I have never had a problem with a maxtor, but others have. Next drive I get will probably be a samsung.
 

Josh7289

Senior member
Apr 19, 2005
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I have had a Seagate since last year, and it has caused me no problems. It is very quiet, too.
 

OSX

Senior member
Feb 9, 2006
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I've had a Samsung going for four years now, and a dead silent fujitsu notebook drive.
 

networkman

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
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It's a rather simple reason, but I like Western Digital drives because the jumper settings have been always consistent and thus easy to set. :)

As for the OP, regardless of which manufacturer you choose, BACKUPs are to be made for a reason - because ALL hard drives WILL fail eventually. ;)
 

raincityboy

Senior member
Dec 30, 2004
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Originally posted by: Necrosaro420
Originally posted by: raincityboy
I know people who swear by brand "x", and I know people who swear at that same brand.
I like Seagate, because of the 5 year warranty.

Have you ever had a problem with any of yours? how long before these happened??

I have been pretty lucky with every major brand.
My subtle point is that you can have a failure with any brand. They have a warranty for a reason.
If you have important data, you need to back it up.
 

jackschmittusa

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2003
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I have easily bought a couple of hundred hds since '91, for myself and to put in other's machines. I have had 1 each Seagate and Maxtor, and 2 WDs fail in all of those years.

I too like Seagate's warranty. WD once replaced a brand new DOA drive with a refurb. I am currently using a Maxtor in my main rig and am perfectly satisfied with it.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
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I pretty much try to use as many Maxtor and Seagate HDs as I can. I've tried WD, but every one of their drives has died on me save the 320gb in my HTPC..... knock on wood.
 

AlgaeEater

Senior member
May 9, 2006
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Hopefully this thread stays constructive...

In any case, I've had pretty good luck with all the major brands, but Maxtors tend to be just a bit (solely in my experience) the black sheep of the bunch.

Out of 4 drives that have died on me, 2 were Maxtor, 1 was an Hitachi, 1 was a Western Digital. But this isn't saying much since I own(ed) a lot of Maxtor drives compared to others. Like 10 drives versus 3 IBM, 4 Hitachi, 2 Segates, 6 Western Digitals.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,726
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Originally posted by: networkman
It's a rather simple reason, but I like Western Digital drives because the jumper settings have been always consistent and thus easy to set. :)

As for the OP, regardless of which manufacturer you choose, BACKUPs are to be made for a reason - because ALL hard drives WILL fail eventually. ;)

QFT
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
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In 20 years of owning and working with scores of HDDs, the only failure I ever experienced was a Western Digital. Right now, I am sold on Seagates - especially for my laptop with the 160 GB Momentus!
 

Phantom Deuce

Junior Member
Jun 24, 2006
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Seagates are amazing. Unless you get an IDE. Seagate SATA's are amazing, but stay away from IDE, and if you must get one, DO NOT USE IT AS A BOOT DRIVE. This is personal experience, plus 200 reviews to back me up. =D

Maxtor = Blech
WD = 2nd to Seagate
Samsung = Too Cheaply made for me


Personal opinion, but even with all the problems Ive had with Seagate, they're the best way to go. =)
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
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buy whatevers on sale. i've own pretty muych all the brands, i got plenty of drives since i just keep adding more for space without disconnecting the old ones:p damned hotdeals and rebates, i got 4hds running right now in one pc alone. i've had failures from each brand. its a cr@p shoot, there is no perfect brand and none of us really buys enough drives to really have an idea of which brand is the most reliable. plsu new models come out too often. just get whatevers on sale, and remember, its a motor spinning at thosuands of rpms per second, its gonna fail sooner or later, just assume it will and you'll be happier. its why people run raid 0 for a mirrored copy of all their data, guards against drive failure. i just keep double copies of my documents/photos and stuff on separate drives. and on dvdr
 

Phantom Deuce

Junior Member
Jun 24, 2006
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Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
its why people run raid 0 for a mirrored copy of all their data, guards against drive failure. i just keep double copies of my documents/photos and stuff on separate drives. and on dvdr
Isnt that RAID 1?

Originally posted by: Omizzle
Seagate>WD>everything else>Maxtor

Exactly =)
 

ForumMaster

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2005
7,792
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maxtor do not last. i've had atleast 3 go on me. i have a WD drive that seems fine but a lot of people like Seagate too. BTW, seagate baught Maxtor. Samsung is also considered ok with quite drives and Hitachi is also fine. Go with seagate. they make good drives and most importantly, make sure you have ventilation in your case and maybe even put a fan on the drive. it will prolong the drive's life.
 

Paulson

Elite Member
Feb 27, 2001
10,689
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www.ifixidevices.com
I have about 5 or 6 western digital drives that have been running 24/7 for YEARS (like 5 or more)...

I recently started buying seagates and they've been running for a year 24/7 (one is in a tivo getting A LOT of use)...

A few of my western digitals have that damn bearing whirring noise that I can't stand, but as long as they still work it's all good.
 

opmike

Member
Jun 17, 2006
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My previous computer had a Hitachi drive installed from the factory (didn't have any issues out of it really). However, I decided to go with a Seagate this time around after flipping a coin between it and a Western Digital :)
 

tweekah

Senior member
Oct 23, 1999
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I've seen every brand die on out on the field/work. IBM "deathstars" were the most notorious.

Whatever brand you buy it will die INEVITIBILY. Just remember to keep them cool and not stack them too close if you do make sure there's airflow overthem. That is a major requirement for longevity.

On a personal level I've had one 250 maxtor give out within six months. I've never had one of my WD drives die on me. And i've had a IBM 10k SCA die on me.
 

Bobthelost

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2005
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I've currently got a seagate, two samsungs and a WD raptor. I've also had at least one maxtor (probably two) and a deathstar (that still works today, but i lent it to a mate). None have failed yet although they will in time i'm sure.

Personally my favourite at the moment is samsung, because i like low noise HDs. My affection may swing back to seagate if the 7200.10 line turns out to be quiet in it's smaller sizes. For performance i've got my raptor and for storage i might as well get a nice quiet drive.

You can't go far wrong with seagate if you're just in the market for a hard drive. If you want performance then hitachi and WD both tend to outperform seagates (although i'm not sure how the 7200.10s compare in meaningful tests), if you want low noise then samsung is excellent and whichever is cheapest is dependant on where you are and when you're buying.