How fast is the 30GB ATA/100 Quantum Fireball AS compared to the IBM 75GXP?

[NFS4]

I have two WD Expert 27.3 drives in a RAID-0 config, but they are slow, old mofos...slower than I thought it would be in this config.

So, I'm selling one to my dad and I'll find a buyer for the second.

As a replacement, the Quantum 30GB ATA/100 7200RPM Fireball AS is $126 + $30 Quantum rebate at Buy.com. I'm gonna get two of 'em.

How does this drive compare to the IBM 75GXP in performance?

 

[stultus]

Well enough not to justify the price difference

Check www.storagereview.com

 

[NFS4]

Is it worth $80 more than the Quantums when buying two drives?

$280 for two IBM's vs $200 for two Quantums...

 

[Informant X]

Yeah i was wondering this same thing. Anyone have experience with both? Storage review pits them close.

 

[Budman]

Those new AS drives are a bit slower that the LM were,If you can find 2 LM's those are definately faster.

 

[Viperoni]

I can honestly say I like my AS, but dont get the regular non-HBD beraing version.
Whiny little bastid

 

[mschell]

I was running two Quantum AS 20G drives on a RAID 0 setup(Abit HP370) and found the drives worked well.
I also copied the contents of my IBM 75GXP to one of the Quantum drives and used it as a boot drive for awhile just to check for any differences. It's very difficult to tell which drive I'm running on other than a slightly louder idle and seek noise from the Quantum drive which means they perform pretty much the same.
Storage Reviews benchmarks are not the last word on how a drive will perform in everyday Windows task. Most results in the benches they run don't vary more than 10 -15% from the slowest to the fastest drives and those are synthetic benchmarks which don't directly relate to Windows operation.
I think Storage Review should add a small "subjective impression" section to the drives they test - the published numbers don't tell the whole story.

I would devote some time to experimenting with stripe/cluster size on any RAID 0 setup, it has a big influence on the performance of the array. My setup was at a disadvantage because I run a small 1G Windows partition, 8K cluster size max along with a data partition that takes the rest of the 40G array, 32K cluster minimum, this setup makes it hard to pick an optimum stripe size which for common Windows stuff is 16K cluster/16K stripe.

 

[NFS4]

Well, I think that the Quantums will do unless I see some hardcore evidence that the GXP's are worth $80 and their performance is so overwhelming.

The Quantums at Buy.com do have HBD.

 

[ROcHE]

I have one and I can say that it's fast. Faster than my old Western digital 7200rpm 18.2gigs.

 

[interchange]

I'm going to have to say the Quantums are your best bet. Subjectively, I've always seen IBM as a bit more expensive for the same quality. For a while, they had some pretty hardcore quality, but I think you'd be paying $80 for a name. I'd be more worried about things like warranty, RMA policy, drive quality, noise, etc. than speed considerations.

 

[limsandy]

I had an experience with IBM 10.1 GB HDD and it had bad sectors such that I had to replace it just within a month since I bought it. The replacement came and had bad sectors too after a year or so. Maybe it's just my luck.... but I have heard that people are happy with their IBM drives. Also note that the drive I had was not 75GXP version.

 

[Informant X]

limsandy! I had that SAME problem with my IBM HD. 10.1, it's prolly the same one. The size just kept on shrinking, and shrinking...It's currently at like 8 gig.

 

[NFS4]

Well, Quantum it is!! I've just gotta pay off this dang credit card (damn the $500 limit!!!!). My recent upgrade has left me with only $50 credit left. I've got the money to pay it off, but I've got to wait til the 17th to start the new cycle and pay the bill.

Hopefully, they'll be the same price or cheaper by then.

 

[Super6]

I have the IBM's but if I were buying today I'd go with the Quantums because of the better price. I hear Quantum is running slow with the rebates though.

Super6

 

[sad]

Performance wise, they are on par with each other, for 80bucks less go with the fireball. Works great in raid0.

 

[jackshit]

you get what you pay for

my guess is that the quantums (IDE sux), will fail way before the IBMs (IDE still sux, but...), but on the other hand, this might not be a concern with the way drives grow in storage size, and appz and data keep right along. You may have to replace the tiny little 60GB array b4 it has a chance to go bad.

depends on your priorities

 

[Budman]

A name like yours doesnt inspire confidence in what you say,after all you know jackshit.


NFS4 wasnt asking your opinion on IDE drives in general,he was asking about those 2 peticular models.

If you have nothing better to do than to come crapping in this thread i suggest you go play somewhere else.

 

[yymatt]

I brought 30gb as from buy.com one mouth ago, with a 64mb kingston pc133 memory

total 151.XX using a 30 off 150 coupon and 30 dollars rebate
final cost 90 with free shipping

Sold the memory in e*bay for 20 (net in)

cost me $ 70 for this drive

you may want waiting for buy.com coupon for a while since rebate available until march.

Great drive at this price

 

[Quickfingerz]

Two Quantum LM (not AS) drives would be the fastest possible RAID array you can get. When dealing with RAID, you want the fastest possible access times because transfer rate never really reaches sustained max.

 

[LXi]

Quantum failing before IBM is a statement I'd like to see somebody back up. The Fireball Plus AS is not fast, I admit that, but it's a very decent drive, I got a 40GB for $115 after rebate and I'm thoroughly pleased with the purchase, I'd say go for it.

 

[GL]

I'd agree with the recommendation of two Quantum LMs. The only problem is the noise generated by this model. It is loud, but if you aren't bothered by this, it's a damn fast drive - I believe it's a SCSI drive that Quantum modified with an IDE interface.

-GL

 

[Informant X]

Talk about condesending a$$hole...*cough* *cough* *jacksh!t*

 

[AndyHui]

Although the AS model might not be as fast as the LM model, the overall performance is still VERY good...STR rates on the AS are much higher than the LM, but won't beat it on seek time. I fail to understand why people say that the AS is crap, simply because it can't keep up with the older LM in terms of seek times. Compared with the other drives of this generation, the AS is a top performer. If anything, the AS model is much quieter than the LM.

As said above, go check out Storage Review. While you are there, you might also want to chek up on the recent horror stories regarding the IBM 75GXP drives...here is one of several large threads.

 

[oldfart]

I have both a 75 GXP and a Quantum LM 30 gig. They are both very fast. The LM is VERY loud, but I hear the AS is not. I think all of the new drives from IBM, Quantum and Maxtor are very fast and of good quality. I don't think you would be disappointed with any of them. Get whichever one you can get the best deal on. I got the 30 Gig LM from Buy.com for $78 after coupon and rebate, which was a stellar deal (if the rebate ever gets here).

 

[Quickfingerz]

When 75GXP drives are being purchased more than any other drive there are always going to be horror stories. The 75GXP is a heat sensitive drive everyone with repeated problems seem to be due to heat. I've owned 5 75GXP drives and none of them failed on me.