Is it *really* worth to buy an "expensive" harddisk? Please read

[ndee]

OK, sooner or later, I have to buy a new harddisk. My burning question is, is it *really* worth to buy a fast harddisk? I could buy a Fujistu Picobird SilentDrive 40GB for 2/3, then a IBM GXP60 40GB harddisk. What would be the real disadvantages of a slower Harddisk? The stuff wouldn't load as quick, right, what else? I mean the games don't run faster if it doesn't swap, right? So what else, next to brag, would be a real advantage of such an "expensive" harddisk? Cuz I really want a silent PC....

I'm open for any opinion

 

[morriswindgate]

What ever you do, DON'T BUY THE FUJITSU, THEY ARE SLOW PIECES OF JUNK USED ON REALLY LOW END COMPUTERS. BUy the IBM, remember you get what you pay for and this is very true with computer parts.

 

[Tsaico]

I found that IBMs can be a little on the loud side, but I think that varies between drive speed and model, (i have one that is nearly silent and then there is one that is nealry as loud as my case fans) If you want a balance between cheap and disk speed, I found the Maxtors are decent in both, (avoid their smaller 5400 series though) And load times are really objective, I find that i need a really fast boot of win98se, like <1 min from bios post to hourglass going away, and to do that I need the 7200RPM. I do use a 5400 on my file server, and it lags behind by 10-15%. But whether or not it matters is up to you. And as far as quality, I feel that if they will stand behind their product for three years, it is a good company. Really, three years in the tech industry might as well be a life time warranty. Good luck.

 

[ndee]

My main concern actually is, that I really want a silent harddrive... It's not particularly the Fujitsu drive, but just from what I've heard, it's really quiet. My current an old-school 14.4GB, 7200rpm, DTLA-whatever is &quot;very&quot; loud IMHO when I access it. I just want a quiet harddisk. That's all.

 

[bacillus]

personally, I found the IBM quiet. there is even an acoustic utility to make it even quieter at the expence os slower seek times!

 

[xtreme2k]

60GXPs are MUCH MORE quieter than the 75GXP. I didnt believe it at first, but it REALLY is. Most of us thought the 75GXP are quiet enough. But the 60GXP amazed me.

On a scale of 10 being the loudest. I would say
34GXP - 7
75GXP - 4
60GXP - 3

For the acousitic utility, I dont know why pay for a high end drive, but use it at an low end speed. You better off getting a 5400rpm drive if you want it to be really quiet.

 

[MWink]

I have found Maxtor drives to be extremely quiet. I would highly recommend them.

 

[Andy22]

Maxtor drives are fairly quiet and you can get 5400 ATA100 30 gig for $82. With that low of a price there is no reason to buy a lowend HD like Fujitsu. for only $18 more you can get the DiamindMax60 7200rpm.

One of the reasons people build\upgraded their own PC's is to control the quality of componenets that go into the system.

 

[crzyc]

everyone is really concerned with things being quiet lately

 

[ndee]

Well of course I only want quality components, that's why I build my own computers, but at the moment, my prefrence is on anything quiet. Quiet HSF, Quiet HD. If there wouldn't be a harddrive, I wouldn't notice that my rig is runnin'. I want a high-quality-low-noise harddisk, that's all quiet != low-quality IMHO

 

[Andy22]

You mentioned Fujitsu as the one you were looking at and Fujitsu does = low quality.

 

[bigbootydaddy]

whats with the big deal on being quiet??

you say you want performance, go scsi...but sorry, it will most likely wake you up.

 

[loosbrew]

i have a 20 gig 60 gxp and it much quieter than my maxtor. maybe it has all that acoustic stuff set?

loosbrew

 

[julianf]

i have a 10gig ibm ultrastar and one 40gig ultrastar and a 40gig 60gxp sitting inside the computer and a few in a hdcab. all the scsi drives go 10000rpm's and the 60gxp goes 7500rpm's my cpu and cab fans make more noise than those... i would say the ibm disks are pretty quiet...

 

[ndee]

julianf:
how can you say that the GXP60 are quiet, when the case fans are louder than any of your harddisks? Well, I belive you guys that the GXP60 is quiet, just wanted to do a little bit of smart-assing, cuz I'm tooooo tired at the moment... sorry....

 

[julianf]

well the fans doesn't make alot of noise, actually they are pretty quiet aswell... the only drive i hear is the 40gig ultrastar when it's playing all 64 audiotracks (continious data stream of about 20-30mb/s- depends on how many plugins you use, the files are processed realtime)
64 is the highest i've gotten too... Nuendo supports up to 200 tracks... i would need raid..

 

[Burn]

Why are you all saying the fujitsu is low quality? That may have been true in the past, but at the store I work at they have lower RMA rates than maxtor.

 

[bjc112]

go maxtor,

those are almost SILENT, and are very fast also...

Bryan

 

[Andy22]

What store is that Burn...Fujitsu-R-Us?

 

[ukDave]

get an enclosure for your new hard disk drive (IBM 60GXP). then there will be on average a 90% drop in noise.

 

[Burn]

Hehe, funny Andy22. It is just a mom and pop store. But I am dead serious we sell fujistus and maxtors in about a 50/50 split. We have a much higher return rate on the maxtors. Remember I am talking about new drives. The older maxtors and fujistus both sucked bad.

 

[gogeeta13]

i swear by maxtor. i am using dual 40gig dm60's in raid0 now, and they rock, a little noisy on the seeking, but its a whisper compared to the delta38, lol. I also have a 20gig 5400 that is DEAD silent and a 30gig 7200 which is nearly inaudible as well. the maxtor's are the best choice IMHO

 

[novice]

<< Hehe, funny Andy22. It is just a mom and pop store. But I am dead serious we sell fujistus and maxtors in about a 50/50 split. We have a much higher return rate on the maxtors. Remember I am talking about new drives. The older maxtors and fujistus both sucked bad. >>



Interesting, perhaps it would suggest that people who go for Fujitsu drives don't stress their systems as much as the people who insist on the higher performing Maxtors. I am currently running 4 different Maxtor drives in 3 different systems and so far they have been excellent. I hope to continue using Maxtor for all my hard drive needs. I haven't ever tried a Fujitsu, but I can't imagine they are much worse than the Western Digital Caviar line.
Chuck

 

[Soccerman]

lol, guys he's asking whether or not faster hard drives are worth it..

so, on that Topic, yes, they are becuase they are some of the slowest components of a computer.

If I had the money, I would go buy SCSI (but I don't have the money :-( maybe after summer? ).. those 10K RPM drives look sweet, and even the 15K RPM drives might come down in price by the time I have money!

 

[Phiberoptix]

After reading all these posts in this quests, I can only say : quieteness is in the ear of the beholder.