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Confused about brands...!!

P

Parimal

Member
I'm about to build my next PC. I have decided all components, but fully confused about hard drive brand. I'm planning for 120GB SATA....but not sure whether to buy Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 or Seagate Barracuda. Can you help me regarding that?? I'm looking for reliable, fast, long lasting and quite drive. WDs are not availbale in my locality, so help me between Maxtor and Seagate.
Also help me in optical drives. I don't require DVD writer...what I want is CD writer and DVD reader. So is it worth to buy a combo drive (which can read DVDs and burn CDs) or is it sensible to buy two separate drives...one DVD-ROM and another CD-RW drive?? Also help me choosing brands......LiteOn or Sony?? I have seen the performance of LiteOns, but they are very noisy (that's the only point I don't like)....how about Sony?? Is Sony as good as LiteOns when performance comes into picture?? Are they noisy as LiteOns??....totally confused....please help!!! 😕
 
I'd say you are going to get an overwhelming vote for Seagate over Maxtor.
I don't trust anything important with maxtor drives, my supplier stopped carrying them because they suck so much. Seagate is what I always buy, for myself, my company, for everyone.
 
NEC makes one of the better DVD optical drives right now. 16X DVD+R, dual layer, and its one of the more inexpensive drives out there. ~$60 at newegg.

For the Hard Drive, go with the Seagate.
 
I've used Seagate and I love their HDDs. They are quite and have one of the best warranties in the business.

I have used the NEC DVD burner and it is OK, but I had to RMA it because it quit reading disc. I like my new Sony 710, but I have only had it for a few weeks.

kd
 
I like to have at least two optical drives so I can do on-the-fly copies if I want. Actually Sonys are mostly rebadged LiteOns these days. I like the Asus or AOpen DVD ROM drives and Samsung, MSI or Plextor burners.
.bh.
 
Go for the combo... less draw from your power supply, better airflow in your system and more breathing room in general for cables etc. Unless you're burning on the fly a lot of course.
 
the seagate drive is only sata power. there really is nothing wrong with maxtor drives. blackinches has used them for a long time with no problems. if your choices are between the seagate 7200.7 and the diamondmax 9 series, blackinches would probably get the seagate also. but if you were considering the diamondmax10 that'd be a different story. blackinches would probably get the diamondmax10 since it is cheaper than the 7200.8, has 16mb cache and a 3 year warranty if you get the oem. its not as good as 5 years but better than 1 year on retail maxtors.

as for the optical blackinches likes the nec 3520 combo drive. it will pretty much do every format and its cheap at newegg.
 
Originally posted by: blackinches
the seagate drive is only sata power. there really is nothing wrong with maxtor drives. blackinches has used them for a long time with no problems. if your choices are between the seagate 7200.7 and the diamondmax 9 series, blackinches would probably get the seagate also. but if you were considering the diamondmax10 that'd be a different story. blackinches would probably get the diamondmax10 since it is cheaper w/ 16mb cache and a 3 year warranty if you get the oem. its not as good as 5 years but better than 1.

as for the optical blackinches likes the nec 3520 combo drive. it will pretty much do every format and its cheap at newegg.
Click to expand...

Stop referring to yourself in the 3rd person. Especially since your name directs one to an appendige.



As far as my recommendations:

Seagate for HDD's

NEC/Pioneer for Burners.

Just a regular CD/DVD reader, anything will do for the most part. Asus, pioneer, nec, samsung ect.
 
Do I have to put converter for SATA power connector?? I'm planning to use Antec Solution Series SLK1650B cabinet with 350Watts SmartPower. Does this PSU carries SATA power connector?? Or if I put converter for molex to SATA, will that affect in life or performance of HDD??
 
Originally posted by: Parimal
Do I have to put converter for SATA power connector?? I'm planning to use Antec Solution Series SLK1650B cabinet with 350Watts SmartPower. Does this PSU carries SATA power connector?? Or if I put converter for molex to SATA, will that affect in life or performance of HDD??
Click to expand...

Yes. All Antec PSU's 300watts and above have SATA connectors now.

If you get a different brand, and for some reason it doesnt have them, they are $3 on most online stores.

 
The NEC 3500A (or 3520A I think the new one is) CD/DVD burner is very quiet and works great. Just make sure to get TDK or TY brand disks if you want to burn at the full 48X. Its around $60 on www.newegg.com.

Then just get yourself a regular dvd/cd reader so you can make duplicates straight from one disk to another without having to transfer images onto your HD first.
 
Seagates for HDDs. Not only because of personal experience, my relative's computer shop switched to Seagates without the HDD problems and RMAs WD given them of late. It is the quietest SATA drive -- a plus for home theater and mini-ATX systems. They also take more abuse.

As for a CD/RW I'd check the website that has the previews (can't recall the name, CDR.com or something. They specialize only on evaluating DVD and CD/RW drives and media). They go into details of all the features, and what's also important, what media is least likely to burn a coaster. Keeps a running tally of problem reports on each, too.

LiteOn in the past got the highest awards, because the darn drives would burn almost any file and copy almost any disk (even the low write areas that's missed in Plextors). Plextors are better built hardware wise (tanks), but considering what folks want from a writer today and the price, LiteOns tend to be the best bang for the buck. Noise or all, it might be your best overall choice.
 
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