Maxtor ata133 controller card or promise?

[LegionX]

hi
i am still looking for the best solution for my system. i can get the maxtor through a employee discount at London drugs (canada0 for about 30 bucks less than the promise card. i can also get a generic promise card for 40-50 bucks (canadian) but worry abolut generic products.

how does the maxtor compare to promise? i am currently using a maxtor drive but if i choose say western digital next will the maxtor card say it doesnt like other brands and act starange or will it be completely compatiple? or should i just buy a actual promise brand card - i think it is the fast track tx2 or something like that.

thanks in advance for any help

 

[techfuzz]

I'd take the Promise Technology card over a Maxtor just about every time. I don't forsee any kind of issue where one card doesn't like another brand hard drive.

techfuzz

 

[dmhinz]

I have never been a big fan of Promise products - they have always given me dissapointing benchmarks. They are however, one of the largest, most reliable manufacturers of IDE controllers/RAID. I would be very surprised if you had compatibility problems w/ the Maxtor controller later on but, I have never used one so this is just my opinion. My advise is to buy the cheaper, Maxtor controller. I suggest checking driver support @ the Maxtor site to make sure you won't be left high and dry however.

-D

 

[Pariah]

The Maxtor card is a Promise card with a Maxtor sticker on it. For awhile, Maxtor didn't even bother taking the Promise sticker off and putting theirs on. So unless you want to pay $30 for the Promise sticker, I would go with the Maxtor.

Edit: I just dug up one of my Maxtor ATA cards, and it still has Promise silkscreened on the PCB with Promise stamped on the controller chip. The only Maxtor marking on the card is a sticker on the BIOS chip.

 

[Don66]

The Maxtor card is a Promise card with a Maxtor sticker on it. For awhile, Maxtor didn't even bother taking the Promise sticker off and putting theirs on. So unless you want to pay $30 for the Promise sticker, I would go with the Maxtor.

What Pariah said..

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: Don66

The Maxtor card is a Promise card with a Maxtor sticker on it. For awhile, Maxtor didn't even bother taking the Promise sticker off and putting theirs on. So unless you want to pay $30 for the Promise sticker, I would go with the Maxtor.

What Pariah said..

Yep.. what he ^^ said.

 

[LegionX]

thanks guys

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: SuperSix

Originally posted by: Don66

The Maxtor card is a Promise card with a Maxtor sticker on it. For awhile, Maxtor didn't even bother taking the Promise sticker off and putting theirs on. So unless you want to pay $30 for the Promise sticker, I would go with the Maxtor.

What Pariah said..

Yep.. what he ^^ said.

Ah, I didn't know that. Nice to learn something new today.

techfuzz

 

[bacillus]

I remember in the old days you could flash the maxtor ultra100 ATA PCI card bios with the promise bios to make it a "full promise card!

 

[billandopus]

Another option is to see if you store or other LD's still have the Maxtor 80gig 7200 retail box HDD since it comes with the Maxtor (Promise) ata133 card included as well as a 3yr warranty. If you can get an employee discount and you need another HDD then this would a good way to go.