Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 vs. Maxtor Diamondmax 10

[Penoir]

Does anyone know how these two hard drives compare? These are the newest desktop lines from seagate and maxtor. I have a 7200.7 seagate barracuda in my system now which I like, and I would prefer the seagate all things being equal, but do these actually perform equally?

The Maxtor has a 16mb cache while it seems the new barracudas will only have 8. Also, the pricing on the barracudas is quite a bit higher for now. And don't maxtors have a reputation for failing often? How much of a difference will a 16mb cache make vs. the 8mb cache?

 

[tjaisv]

i remember the press release for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 mentioned that it has 16MB cache...but now looking at vendor sites they show it as 8MB

 

[Auric]

Seagate has higher density 133 vs 100GB platters and a longer warranty 5 vs 3 or 1. Maxtor has AAM and, as said, a lower price. I remember the 16MB cache too... mayhaps those are still forthcoming. But the cache size prolly won't make a significant difference for average usage but just specific same disk to disk ops.

 

[InlineFive]

Not to mention that 16MB of cache has a higher possibility of data loss when shutting the computer down.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go w/the seagate regardless of how the trashtor performs, but that's just me

 

[JediJeb]

There is a mention of these at StorageReview Comparo along with a writeup about the Maxtor which is based on it's enterprise model the MaXLine series. Details on Maxtor

 

[gobucks]

I used to have a DM 10, and it was fast, but it stopped getting detected by BIOS. I never figured out whether it was a HDD or mobo problem, but i decided to return it. I've never heard anyone else having the problem, though, and based on the speed I had with mine, I'd still recommend it. As for the 7200.8s, the ones out now have 8MB buffer, and future ones will have 16MB. I might grab one when i can get a big 16MB one, but the 8mb ones aren't worth it. The NCQ is nice, but doesn't make a huge difference. Given the choice of a DM10 and a 16MB 7200.8, i'd like to see some benchmarks, but based on seagate's reputation and advertised seek times (like 8ms vs 9.3 for the maxtor) I'd probably take the barracuda. I just don't see the point in getting an 8mb one, since the only difference is NCQ.