Maxtor vs. Barracuda (HDD recommendation)

[Akaz1976]

One (Maxtor) has 8ms seek time vs 8.9ms for the other (Barracuda).
While the Barracuda has 8MB Cache while Maxtor has only 2MB cache.

Could some explain what each of these feature does? Barracuda is a bit cheaper at 106 vs 120 for the maxtor so i am leaning towards it but am still unsure.

Also noise is really not a concern for me as my system is plenty loud right now.

Thanx

Akaz

 

[Akaz1976]

Anyone?

Akaz

 

[Lucky]

Get the 'cuda.

 

[kgraeme]

I have both in my system. I just disabled the Maxtor because it whined too loud for my tastes.

 

[ojai00]

I have two Seagate drives and one Western Digital drive in my rig and the Seagates are unbelievably quiet. However, some benchmarks have pointed out that the Seagate drives are slower. I'm not sure how the 8MB cache Seagate drive compares to the 2MB cache Seagate drive, but it should be faster. I'd say go with the Barracuda also.

 

[Rhombuss]

Hmm...I'm pretty sure the Barracuda IV's only have 2MB cache like all the other IDE drives with exception of the JB series for WD.

As far as my recommendation:

Maxtor drives have slower mininum transfer rates, but faster maximum transfer rates than the Seagate. So technically speaking, the Seagate Barracuda's have a smaller margin of speed differential, whereas the Maxtor's have a wider gap. When you look at the average speeds though, they're very similar. But if you go with Seagate, you're guaranted fluid bearing drives, whereas with the Maxtor drives, some have normal bearing, others have fluid bearing if you're lucky.

 

[ojai00]

Oh yea, now that Maxtor has bought Quantum, you might get Quantum drives instead of Maxtor drive and those drives are not fluid bearing. I've also read posts that those drives have died out fairly quickly

 

[Akaz1976]

Hmm...I'm pretty sure the Barracuda IV's only have 2MB cache like all the other IDE drives with exception of the JB series for WD.

your dead on sir. Apparently i screwed up. I intended to seek advice regarding choice between the maxtor and WD800JB but mixed it up with the 'cuda.

Since almost everyone here has dismissed the maxtor in favour of seagate, i was wondering how would u compare between seagate and the WD800JB?

Thanx and sorry for the mix up

Akaz

 

[dew042]

Originally posted by: Akaz1976

Hmm...I'm pretty sure the Barracuda IV's only have 2MB cache like all the other IDE drives with exception of the JB series for WD.

your dead on sir. Apparently i screwed up. I intended to seek advice regarding choice between the maxtor and WD800JB but mixed it up with the 'cuda.

Since almost everyone here has dismissed the maxtor in favour of seagate, i was wondering how would u compare between seagate and the WD800JB?

Thanx and sorry for the mix up

Akaz

the 'cuda V (due out soon) will be the first non-WD 8mb cache drive.... can't wait. it will be s-ata.

as far as the cudas IV drives are concerned their slow seek and access times are a big drawback for me. they will not be as snappy as maxtors. that turns me off....

8.0ms and 8.9ms seek times are theorectical and meaningless.

Cuda seek times w/Automatic Acoustic Management 14.8ms or 13.9ms without

Maxtor D740x is 12.2ms


when it comes down to it for $105 from newegg.com you should get the WD 80GB 7200rpm SE hdd with 8mb cache that is faster than both of them....

dew.

 

[Chang10is]

WD SE drives do have the best performance, but I think they're also the loudest, rating in the mid-30 decibel area. Seagate is the quietest but slower (when you compare a 2 MB buffer drive to other 2 MB buffer), and Maxtor seems to be in the middle for sound acoustics and performance. However, an 8 MB buffer on the Baraccuda should make up for some of the performance deficit, so this would probably be the best combo of performance/acoustics.

 

[Chang10is]

Originally posted by: Akaz1976


Could some explain what each of these feature does? Barracuda is a bit cheaper at 106 vs 120 for the maxtor so i am leaning towards it but am still unsure.

I'm not totally clear on what the buffer does, but I think I remember seeing storagereview.com making some comments on the SE drives that WD puts out b/c of the 8 MB buffer. Check that website if you haven't found the answer to this question yet.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Chang10is
WD SE drives do have the best performance, but I think they're also the loudest, rating in the mid-30 decibel area. Seagate is the quietest but slower (when you compare a 2 MB buffer drive to other 2 MB buffer), and Maxtor seems to be in the middle for sound acoustics and performance. However, an 8 MB buffer on the Baraccuda should make up for some of the performance deficit, so this would probably be the best combo of performance/acoustics.

I read the review last night of the WD800JB at www.storagereview.com and they had this drive faster than any other 80 GB IDE drive, which shouldn't surprise anybody. On the acoustics tests they had it quieter than any other drive in the review with the exception of the Barracuda IV. It's apparently about 2.4 times as loud. However, it's quieter than the Maxtor and IBM. For me it was between the Barracuda and the WD SE - performance vs. acoustics and I decided for performance. I didn't know Seagate was coming out with an 8 MB cache 80 GB drive. I might be best not go get it out of the chute, anyway. I figure that's living too dangerously.

 

[Daedalus12]

Yea I think you should go for the Western Digital drive.

 

[340mopar]

I have 3 WD800JB in the house and 2 Barracuda IV's.
Get the WD800JB
The seagate's ARE dead silent, but the WD800JB is very close.
You won't know it's there.
WD800JB is faster. I can see it just by exploring files.
Geo

 

[BZeto]

Get the cuda... they are so quiet...

 

[Fallengod]

Reading your guys posts is funny. The first person say Seagate, the next says WD, and rinse and repeat. Anyways, I just bought 2 WDSE 80gb drives at CC for $74 each out the door. Go to circuit city and pricematch to compusa. You get them for $74! That beats newegg by far considering newegg are oem and still cost more, and these are Retailboxed.

Or you could wait for seagate 8mb cache drive but, chances are its not going to kill any of the drives in performance. Im sure it will be around par with the WD. When it comes down to it, those milliseconds dont really matter.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: modempower
Reading your guys posts is funny. The first person say Seagate, the next says WD, and rinse and repeat. Anyways, I just bought 2 WDSE 80gb drives at CC for $74 each out the door. Go to circuit city and pricematch to compusa. You get them for $74! That beats newegg by far considering newegg are oem and still cost more, and these are Retailboxed.

Or you could wait for seagate 8mb cache drive but, chances are its not going to kill any of the drives in performance. Im sure it will be around par with the WD. When it comes down to it, those milliseconds dont really matter.

Dang! I just bought two WDSE's 800JB today online, $222.60 shipped. I'd seen some posts yesterday about the CompUSA deal but a poster said the rebate offer ended 10/5. Guess I missed out on that one. I got the best deal I could find at PriceWatch.

 

[farmercal]

I don't understand all this talk about one drive being soooo much faster than another drive or if the difference in speed can really be noticed. I have a Barricuda IV 60 GB and it is quiet but whenever I save or load anything we are only talking 2 to 3 seconds for process to complete. So if my "cuda" saves/loads in 3 seconds and a WD (for example) saves/loads in 2 seconds.....is that really that big a deal? I mean 1 second is THAT important or is just for the bragging rights to say your computer is so much faster than computer B?

 

[Fallengod]

Cancel your order muse if you can. Go to CC and get them for $74 each. Also, the rebate did end on 10/5, but another one just started at COmpusa For the 80gb JB which is $40. Started 10/6. So you can get the drive at CC for $74 after pricematch to compusa or go to Crapusa and get them for $80 after rebate.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: Lucky
Get the 'cuda.

 

[slicksilver]

Don't know abt the performance....but I can tell you that Seagate is the best when it comes to quality.........they are the biggest when it comes to worldwide sales........and yes, they are the quitest drives out there IMO

Raj

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: modempower
Cancel your order muse if you can. Go to CC and get them for $74 each. Also, the rebate did end on 10/5, but another one just started at COmpusa For the 80gb JB which is $40. Started 10/6. So you can get the drive at CC for $74 after pricematch to compusa or go to Crapusa and get them for $80 after rebate.

Man, I must be a REAL dummy. I didn't think I could cancel but the idea "dawned" on my, yes, when I woke up a few minutes ago (about dawn). I looked at their email confirmation (Monarch Computers) and it says I have to cancel within same business day or 12 hours or else 15% restocking fee. I sent them a cancellation email anyway to the cancel link. I figure, assuming I can get the drives at CC or CUSA, that I will still save money that way. I don't really like the idea of buying HDs online, anyway - shipping shock is an issue. Maybe I should call them up. The cancellation language seems to refer to systems... it's unclear. The shipping confirmation came yesterday afternoon real soon after I placed the order (which was after 1 PM PDT) from Fed Ex, complete with tracking number. I guess it's still possible it hasn't left the packing facility - it's Fed Ex Ground. I'm calling the 800 number... Money's money.

Edit: Oh, Jeez... my main drive, IBM 60GXP 60 GB looks to have just gone belly up. My last backup of stuff I really care about was 3 weeks ago. I should have realized yesterday when the drive was not recognized on one boot. May never be able to read that data again. Woops. I did cancel my order. Fact is, I could use those HDs before late next week. Guess I'm hopping on my bike this morning...

 

[Muse]

Looks like I'm lucky - Let the system cool down (HD!) and switched on and it's recognized. Yep, I was hearing some weird clicks before when it was failing. I'm in Win2k and I'm furiously backing up everything I can think of that I care about to my 40 GB "2nd" drive... Off to CC later with ad in hand.

 

[Daedalus12]

Originally posted by: Muse

Originally posted by: modempower
Reading your guys posts is funny. The first person say Seagate, the next says WD, and rinse and repeat. Anyways, I just bought 2 WDSE 80gb drives at CC for $74 each out the door. Go to circuit city and pricematch to compusa. You get them for $74! That beats newegg by far considering newegg are oem and still cost more, and these are Retailboxed.

Or you could wait for seagate 8mb cache drive but, chances are its not going to kill any of the drives in performance. Im sure it will be around par with the WD. When it comes down to it, those milliseconds dont really matter.

Dang! I just bought two WDSE's 800JB today online, $222.60 shipped. I'd seen some posts yesterday about the CompUSA deal but a poster said the rebate offer ended 10/5. Guess I missed out on that one. I got the best deal I could find at PriceWatch.

Yea its important because when you are transporting a large video file it good to have the fastest drive.

 

[Muse]

[q-snip-
Yea its important because when you are transporting a large video file it good to have the fastest drive.[/quote]The 2nd system I just built (soon to by #1, maybe sooner than I think...) currently has my old HDs - IBM Deathstar 8.4 GB and Maxtor 2.7 GB (replacement for an RMAed 2.0 that started having bad sectors around 6 months after purchase - I paid an extra $100 to get that .7 GB extra!!). One of both of those drives makes a lot of bothersome noise and they're both slow as molasses in January. I'm putting them out to pasture ASAP. I just don't have the experience to know about the tradeoff of performance for quiet with the 800JB vs. Barracuda IV, but I think I'm probably opting for performance, particularly if I can get a real good deal on the WDs.