:-( I need quick a quick recommendation on a new hard drive

[Gerbil333]

:frown: My Western Digital 40gb 8mb cache hd just died. I'm not gonna go into details, but I was using Windows, I heard some strange noises, and a little bit later, no more hd :frown:

I'm going to RMA it (Newegg), but I was looking for a quieter, possibly SATA drive anyway. What's the best, most RELIABLE, and fast drive out right now? I'm interested in SATA, and I only need about 40-80gb. I was hardly using 20gb on this one. I don't think I want another WD.....

Im gonna see if I can recover my data now :disgust:

 

[Ionizer86]

If price is not an issue, WD Raptor 72GB is the best drive you can get. It has a 5 year warranty: longer than anything else out there. It should be reliable.

 

[Gerbil333]

Oh yea...I need to spend < $100.

And on a positive note: I remembered I had everything still backed up on my downstairs computer (I did a format when I got my 9800 Pro). So, I have everything on my hard drive as of Dec 31, 2003....that's only a month's worth of data lost, and my girlfriend has a good portion of those recent files on a CD-R (mostly pictures)

 

[Ionizer86]

The fastest drives from Hitachi and WD are also very big drives. It seems that these companies don't produce drives with similar performance at smaller sizes. So if you want a fast drive at smaller sizes that are cheaper, the Seagate 7200.7 line and the Maxtor DM9+ line are some of the best.

I personally find the Seagate better because it's a lot quieter. If you slow down the Maxtor to make it quieter, it becomes a big slower than the Seagate. With that said, you can get a 80GB for $50 from Compusa this week, a 120GB for $60 from Best Buy (see Hot Deals), and a 160GB for $90 from Compusa. The 120GB looks like the best deal

 

[Gerbil333]

Do SATA drives come with power connector adapters?

I have a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 40gb, 2mb cache, ATA100 hd in my computer downstairs and love it, but it's slow compared to this WD 8mb cache drive that just died...would a Seagate Barracuda, 8mb cache, SATA drive be comparible, in terms of performance, as my dead WD?

 

[Ionizer86]

The SATA would be a tad faster but also louder. Also, you may want to rebenchmark. The 7200.7 is actually pretty fast against WD drives about 160GB and smaller (The 200GB and 250GB are faster because WD's fastest products are the largest).

 

[Gerbil333]

I never benchmarked them, actually. I was just going by how the computers "felt"...then again, it was a:

2500+, Corsair XMS3200LLPT @ 2-2-2-5, and the WD 8mb cache hd

vs

1700+, Crucial PC2100 @ 2.5-3-3-6, and the Barracuda 2mb cache

 

[Achilles97]

I just got a Seagate Baraccuda, 80gig, 7200rpm, 8mb cache, and I love it. It runs very quiet compared to my old 10 gig WD.

I picked it up from Compusa a few months ago for $90 with a $50 rebate (which I got quickly got). I think they have a similar deal going on right now.

 

[Farmer]

Originally posted by: Gerbil333
Do SATA drives come with power connector adapters...

I believe Hitachi and Western Digital drives come with both SATA and traditional 4-pin MOLEX power connectors on the drive. I don't know about Seagate, but I would believe they do too.

As far as I know, Hitachi's 80GB 7K250 SATA comes in under $100 (all Hitachi 7K250 come with 8meg cache standard). I bet you could find a non-Raptor WD 8MB SATA for the same price.

 

[Gerbil333]

I'm still not sure what to get. I'm actually writing this post from my computer with the dying WD hd. After I let it rest for an hour, it came back to life, and I was able to back up all my stuff. It's still running fine so far.

 

[EeyoreX]

SATA drives, being new, will cost a bit more (generally) than their ATA breathren. If you don't need gobs of space, want a fast drive, and don't mind going a tad over $100, then this is really your best choice.

\Dan

 

[Gerbil333]

I filled out the RMA request on WD's site and they're going to be shipping me a replacement drive. I opted for them to ship first, so I'll see what I get....I may sell the replacement and then buy a nicer drive.

I can't decide if I should go SATA or not. I have rounded cables, so it's not like the cabling is that much different. I may just stick with ATA drives since I can get twice the space for the same price as a SATA drive.