Seagate 250 mb SATA2 HD w/8 mb buffer vs Maxtor 300 mb SATA w/16 mb buffer?

[rs]

Frys.com has the Maxtor L01F300 300 gb SATA HD with 16 mb buffer for around $75 shipped. It is apparantly SATA, not SATA 2.

Buy.com had the
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3250824AS 250 gb SATA II HD with 8 mb buffer for $62 shipped. (Now $10 higher - I ordered it when cheaper - but it seems to fluxuate.)

I'm having a hard time deciding if I should cancel my Seagate order and go with the Maxtor.

Maxtor advantages:

50 gb more storage (70 gb more if you get one with the rumored "free extra 20 gb" sticker)
16 mb buffer versus 8 mb
Made by Seagate? Maybe; supposedly newer Maxtors are Seagate production, but is this one?
But... 1 yr vs 5 yr warranty, and no SATA2 from what I can tell)


Seagate advantages:

SATA2
5 year warranty
(but only 8 mb, and less storage of course)

Both seem like good deals. But can anyone provide feedback on which is the better choice? My gut feeling is that the Maxtor's 16 mb buffer would offset its lack of SATA2 (and I suppose, NCQ), but I'm a relative novice so I may be way off-base. (I have a Dell XPS410 dual-core Pentium which supports SATA2 but doesn't have a raid controller. I do a fair amount of multitasking, such as running backups, virus scans, etc. while checking email or using spreadsheets.)

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[herbiehancock]

Your answer is:

Seagate >>>>>> Maxtor

 

[ch33zw1z]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

 

[ForumMaster]

Seagate without a doubt. SATA2 is better and just the warranty is worth it.

 

[corkyg]

Seagate trumps Maxtor these days - no contest.

 

[stevty2889]

Defintatly go with the seagate. Seagate litteraly owns maxtor now, but the maxtor branded drives are not as good as the seagate branded drives.