seagate HD questions

[w33bo]

well im getting sick of reading reviews, i must have spent at least a total of 20 hours setting up a new system, but its come down to 2 for the HD's

80 gig WD SE for 70 bucks
80 gig Seagate SATA for 80 bucks

im leaning for the seagate, because its SATA, but im wondering about the noise

also i have read that you need a different driver/floppy if you want a clean install with like xp pro and an SATA drive, which is what ill be doing, anyone here have the floppyable driver for it and could email it to me? the asus website is screwy right now and i cant find it on there, or is there another download place for it???

many thanks
Daniel

also, ill be getting the asus a7n8x-e deluxe, does it come with at least 1 sata power or data cable? or should i order an extra of each? Link a7n8x-e deluxe

if the power cable does not come with the mobo, will it come with the case im getting? Link for Antec Case

 

[GRIFFIN1]

Seagate is MUCH quiter thand Western Digital. I will not buy another WD drive unless they stop making those things so loud.

This is the SATA driver you will need.


I haven't done this myself, but I think all you have to do is copy the contents of this file to a floppy disk. When you boot off the windows XP cd to install windows, it will ask you to press a key if you have any third party SCSI drivers. Press the key and let it load the drivers off the disk.

The case you linked to isn't the one I would choose. This is the one I would get. I have a Sonata, and this case looks like a cheaper version (not glossy black) of the Sonata. The only real problem I can see with the case you are looking at is that it uses 80mm fans, and it cost about the same as the Sonata.

While you are ordering parts, you might as well order the SATA power adapter. The picture of the motherboard at newegg shows that it comes with two SATA cables, so the only thing you will have to worry about is the power.

 

[Gerbil333]

Look in the Newegg pics...that board comes with 2 SATA data cables, and what I think is a SATA power adapter. My A7N8X Deluxe 2.0 came with 2 SATA data cables, but no power adapters of any kind, so I'm guessing the new -E version supplies one of those.

The board should come with the SATA drivers. Mine did. If not, there are plenty of places you can download them.

As for the noise, I have no idea about Seagate's 80gb SATA 8mb cache hd, but I know this:

I have a Western Digital WD400JB in my main computer, which is a 40gb 8mb cache hd -- it's the same as the 80gb SE, but half the size (I don't need lots of space). It's loud and on the annoying side. However, it's the fastest drive I have, so I've held on to it.

In my third computer, I have a Seagate 40gb 7200.7 2mb cache hd, and it's QUIET. I can't hear it at all. If it was as fast as my WD 8mb cache, I'd replace the hd in my main computer.

I've read that the WDxxxJB series (8mb cache drives) all sound about the same, so I'd expect the WD 80gb cache to be an annoying drive. Then again, I've read that the Seagate SATA's weren't designed to be quiet like their Barracuda's and 7200.7's were.

 

[nick1985]

i vote for seagate

 

[w33bo]

would you guys get ide over sata just for the sound advantage???, or is the extra speed worth it?

do you think an sata power cable would be included with the case i mentioned above? i dont really know what one would look like just from the picture

thanks

 

[GRIFFIN1]

Originally posted by: w33bo
would you guys get ide over sata just for the sound advantage???, or is the extra speed worth it?

do you think an sata power cable would be included with the case i mentioned above? i dont really know what one would look like just from the picture

thanks

How loud the drive is going to be doesn't have anything to with it being SATA or IDE. It just depends on how the drive is made. Anything Seagate will not be as loud as anything from Western Digital.

Check Compusa.com for some good deals on Seagate drives. You can get either a 160 gig SATA or a 200 gig IDE for $99 after a rebate. If you want to keep things simple, then just get the 200 gig and then you will not have to worry about the SATA power connection, but seeing as how SATA is the future, you might want to go for that just so you will know that you can move the hard drive to your next computer if you want to.

Some antec power supplies have the SATA plugs, and some don't. The sonata I bought doesn't have them, but I've heard that some of the newer ones do have them.

I need to change the case I suggested. This is the one I was really thinking about.

 

[MickDD]

Originally posted by: GRIFFIN1
Seagate is MUCH quiter thand Western Digital. I will not buy another WD drive unless they stop making those things so loud.

This is the SATA driver you will need.


I haven't done this myself, but I think all you have to do is copy the contents of this file to a floppy disk. When you boot off the windows XP cd to install windows, it will ask you to press a key if you have any third party SCSI drivers. Press the key and let it load the drivers off the disk.

The case you linked to isn't the one I would choose. This is the one I would get. I have a Sonata, and this case looks like a cheaper version (not glossy black) of the Sonata. The only real problem I can see with the case you are looking at is that it uses 80mm fans, and it cost about the same as the Sonata.

While you are ordering parts, you might as well order the SATA power adapter. The picture of the motherboard at newegg shows that it comes with two SATA cables, so the only thing you will have to worry about is the power.

Back when I built my first machine.....about a year ago I opted for Seagate Sata with a SINXP-1394. During the windows install it will ask for the floppy with the driver on it....pretty simple really, however throw out the Seagate disk and let windows setup the drive I could never get my Seagate software to work. My drive is really quiet in my Sonata unless I put my ear next to it with the side off Take care and good luck with whatever you choose!!!