Hard Drive purchase recommendation...

[GS1]

Quickie...

Out of the following 3 brands of Hard Drives (looking for a 20 or 30 Gig HD), which one is the

1. Most stable / reliable
2. Fastest
3. Has the lowest noise factor
4. and generates the least amount of heat?

a) Western Digital
b) Quantum
c) Seagate

Unfortunately those are the only 3 brands of HD which are sold in my area.

Also does anyone know of any good HD review sites?

And finally what HD are you using?

Thanks.

 

[Charles]

Quantum is stable, fast and reliable. But it's loud.
Seagate is not an option for me.
Maybe WD.

That's just my opinion.

I'm using IBM.

 

[MWink]

I would reccommend Maxtor but it is not in your list. Out of your list, I would only get WD. Seagate and Quantum are the 2 least reliable in my experience.

 

[downhiller80]

I use IBM 34GXP's and Seagate Barracuda's. Of the two I'd say the IBM's perform better although that's not to say the seagates are slow. I guess they're let down by their lack of cache compared to the IBM's. If you can find the "barracuda II" I'd choose them as they have the same cache as the IBM's.

7200rpm ("expert&quot WD drives ARE identical to their IBM counterparts.

Quantum are VERY noisy according to most people.

I'd say my seagates are noisier than my IBM's but they are also WAY cooler in operation!

Seb

 

[Prodigy^]

LOTS of people here have had WD HDD's fail on them......can't you buy online?

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

check out http://www.storagereview.com

 

[Ulysses]

None of the above.

Go for the new king of the ATA/IDE hill, the IBM Deskstar 75GXP series @ 15 or 30 GB. The king's father is the Maxtor Diamond Max 40 Plus series, but I've heard they're noisy. Personally I use the king's cool quiet grandfather, the Western Digital Expert, which has a great HDD management and installation utility called Data Life Guard.

Storage Review is a geek's delight, but somewhere I think they have a "Leaderboard." Ah, yes, I see it now - their leaderboard says the best 7200 rpm ATA drive is the one I mentioned.

Don't skimp on your HDD.

 

[rayon]

I just got one IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB and this model goes as high as 75GB. It is very quiet and fast. The second option would be the Quantum Fireball Plus LM. Third: Maxtor Diammond Plus 40. All of them are 7200 RPM, UltraATA/66 (the IBM is ATA/100 I think).

There is an issue with the Maxtor though. I heard it does not works well in overclocked systems.

 

[rayon]

I just got one IBM Deskstar 75GXP 45GB and this model goes as high as 75GB. It is very quiet and fast. The second option would be the Quantum Fireball Plus LM. Third: Maxtor Diammond Plus 40. All of them are 7200 RPM, UltraATA/66 (the IBM is ATA/100 I think).

There is an issue with the Maxtor though. I heard it does not works well in overclocked systems.

 

[Spearfodder]

I've not had a quantum fail yet, and wd's are fine in my book. Seagates have crashed on me, and I'll NEVER own another maxtor. They are junk.