Verify Maxtor Rumour?

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Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
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Im sitting next to a Maxtor made 16/8/97 and it still works perfectly. Im a WD man these days but Im still impressed that a drive is fine after 7 years.
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
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Originally posted by: apoppin
jeeze :p

no 'maybes' . . . the :thumbsup: was NOT forgotton . . . . i posted it in the message rating.
:roll:

anything else?
:shocked:

Ah yes, so you did :p
Could I get a :beer: while you're there? :D
 

baumerz

Banned
May 17, 2004
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I personally have 3 Maxtors the newest being about 4 years old. They have been rock solid. The last couple years I have heard alot of complaints from friends who have had Maxtors fail. A PC builder in town has quit using Maxtors because of failures. Bestbuy seems to sell out of WDs and Seagates first. Someone who worked for Dell posted a reply to me a few months ago that he thought Maxtors were the most reliable. SO.....When I read the link at the begining of this thread, I was hoping someone at Dell knew what the deal was. If it's true and matches everything else I have heard then there must be something to it. If Maxtor has been flooding the market with cheap low quality drives it hurts the entire industry. Since I started working for Seagate that is all I buy of course. I also have 2 older WD that have been solid. I don't hear many complaints about WDs. I think their quality is better than the current Maxtor drives out there. I don't hear much about Hitachi, Samsung or Fujitsu drives.
 

flexy

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
8,464
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Originally posted by: Paulson
I don't use too many maxtor drives... It's all about western digital for me.

I guess I have to count the hitachi drive in my labtop, but that's about it.



WD...yeah if you want it 10db louder than the others then go WD :) (Not that i say their drives are bad..have one right now too..)
 

arsbanned

Banned
Dec 12, 2003
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I like Maxtor drives. I have used every brand and thet don't seem any more pre-disposed to failure than any other brand. I'm using a brand new Maxtor 80 gig SATA in this Dell 8400 right now. It is quiet (can;t detect any sound from it) and fast.
VirtualLarry, thanks for the heads up on the bias of the OP.
 

Tom

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
13,293
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Originally posted by: BaumerX
Quote:
=============================================================================
I appreciate a Seagate employee bringing up that news, without full-disclosure, thanks. Good to see that american business ethics are alive and well in this country.
=============================================================================

What does "disclosure" have to do with the issue. You seem a little biased. I am just asking if anyone knows anything about the supplied links. Don't be so paranoid.


Are you an empoyee of Seagate ? Neither one of those articles says anything about Dell.

So your statement you're just asking about those "links"doesn't make sense.

 

tfinch2

Lifer
Feb 3, 2004
22,114
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I've had a Maxtor and a WD 40 gig 7200 rpms. I got both of them when 40-60 gigs was a lot of space. The Maxtor chugs on while the WD died about a year ago.
 

gobucks

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
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I know I've been wary of Maxtor's drives in the past. However, lately, they have seemed to turn things around. Tripling their warranty, 3 years to the previous 1, is a big step in the right direction. Also, the new Diamondmax 10 drives are getting great reviews with their NCQ and 16MB buffer. I'm probably gonna get one of these new drives, since I think they are a good mix between a raptor and a regular 7200RPM drive, fast speed and high capacity at a decent price point. As for the rest of the SATA drives with 8MB buffers and such, I'd say go with whichever one you find a sweet deal on, with rebates and such. If the price was exactly equal, I'd probably go with seagate because of their 5 year warranty, but other than that, it doesn't matter too much. I'm sure you'll be happy with any of the big 3 companies, and if anything bad happens, they all have at least a 3 year warranty, and that's long enough to last through most people's upgrade cycles.
 

baumerz

Banned
May 17, 2004
105
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Hmmmm. Your right. Thats the right website but that's not the article I read. I did a search and found nothing on the Dell thing. But I'm not making this stuff up Sooo... Here is another one:

Maxtor announced the layoff of around 450 employees in July and was forced to re-qualify drives with Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL - message board) because of production issues in the second quarter (see FCC Probe Pops Primus). And its problems are far from over. Maxtor expects to lose another $45 million to $55 million this quarter.

http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=61516
 

baumerz

Banned
May 17, 2004
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And more from the same.....

?We expect it may be a number of quarters before Maxtor finds its footing," Piper Jaffray analyst Les Santiago wrote in a research note today. ?We don?t expect the re-qualification effort at Dell to reach a resolution until the first quarter of 2005, and even then it is unclear how much share Maxtor will be able to regain.?

http://www.byteandswitch.com/document.asp?doc_id=61516
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
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Maxtor is losing money right now, yes, but they are far from dead.

They still have 500Mil in the bank, which is more than WD, though their debt is considerably higher than WD.

It's too early to count MXO out, though they are definitey going through a rough spot in hiring a CFO earlier this year only to have him suddenly resign recently... that can't be good.

Every MFR has rough times with specific OEMs. No MFR has been immune.

BTW I work for Seagate also, but these are my own words, not my employers; and my words are not really influenced by my working at Seagate, except that I pay more attention to the financials of the HDD manufacturers.
 

baumerz

Banned
May 17, 2004
105
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and we also have...

However, all three companies are still far below their opening prices for the year: Maxtor, which lost some of its lucrative Dell (DELL:Nasdaq - news - research) business, at least temporarily, is off by about 50%, Seagate is off by about 26% and Western Digital is off by about 20%.

http://www.thestreet.com/tech/billsnyder/10187175.html

Just so you know I'm not making this stuff up.......there is problems with Dell accepting Maxtor's HDs
 

Subhuman25

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
370
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OMG, 3 threads regarding Maxtors on the same page.This will be my 3rd post regarding Maxtor.
Bottom line:I think they really suck and wil never buy one again for the rest of my life.A plegde I made after several early normal usage failures over 15 years of building computers.My extensive experiences with Maxtor,Quantum,IBM & Fujitsu HD's have nothing but rotten.

Only HD's I'd ever rely on and choose for performance are Seagate & WD.Anything else is basically wasted money.
I don't work for any computer related company at all.I'm an avid computer builder,15+ years,and medical by trade.
I've never had a problem with any Seagates,ever!WD comes in 2nd place.The rest are plain junk in my book!
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
Probably not a good year for a lot of technology products, especially hard drives since there isn't a lot of "new" out there. I do know that Staples, the largest office supply chain in the country (I work for Staples) sells Maxtor hard drives exclusively, and with 1500 stores, that is good company for maxtor to be in with. Personally, I don't think any drive is going to last forever, so when a person speaks up and says "I had a Maxtor/IBM/Seatate/WD go bad once" I don't diss the drive because 1 person had a drive go bad (it may not even be the drive's fault.)

Everybody goes through hard times, and I feel it is way to early to speculate anything.
 

Subhuman25

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
370
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Probably not a good year for a lot of technology products, especially hard drives since there isn't a lot of "new" out there. I do know that Staples, the largest office supply chain in the country (I work for Staples) sells Maxtor hard drives exclusively, and with 1500 stores, that is good company for maxtor to be in with. Personally, I don't think any drive is going to last forever, so when a person speaks up and says "I had a Maxtor/IBM/Seatate/WD go bad once" I don't diss the drive because 1 person had a drive go bad (it may not even be the drive's fault.)



OK,I guess Maxtor is good because Staples exclusively sells them.Riiiiiiiight.
Are you off your rocker man?Talk about biased.

I'm talking from real life experiences with many of them,not just one or 2.My hard earned cash forked over for them.Not just some store clerks opinion of a product he sells.
And if you did your research,you'd find a general consensus of Maxtor being an unreliable,medicore performing HD manufacturer.
According to your statement,Maxtor must really fkn suck beyond belief though ... since Dell,the world's largest computer retailer!, has dissed Maxtor!! LMAO

 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,559
248
106
Originally posted by: Subhuman25

OK,I guess Maxtor is good because Staples exclusively sells them.Riiiiiiiight.
Are you off your rocker man?Talk about biased.

I'm talking from real life experiences with many of them,not just one or 2.My hard earned cash forked over for them.Not just some store clerks opinion of a product he sells.
And if you did your research,you'd find a general consensus of Maxtor being an unreliable,medicore performing HD manufacturer.
According to your statement,Maxtor must really fkn suck beyond belief though ... since Dell,the world's largest computer retailer!, has dissed Maxtor!! LMAO

Ha Ha, I think you are confusing Maxtor with Western Digital.

What is this biased BS? Is everybody who has a job biased? Why would you fork over your money for me?

Man dude, cool your jets and READ. Being alligned with Staples puts Maxtor in a good financial position. Dell won't use AMD processors, but I don't see AMD losing their head over it! I am sorry that not having Dell's blessing makes you cringe. O, I see you are running an AMD. You had better run the other way before it explodes. Dell doesn't use AMD, you know.

As for real life experiences, we sell hard drives every day. Do you know how many hard drives come back? 0 in the past year.
 

BaumerX

Banned
Jul 1, 2004
53
0
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Of course.....In Smalltown USA you probably sell what? 3 a year. That's hardly a sampling. I don't see Staples stores in any Major cities. Bestbuy employees here claim (rumor) that they get way more Maxtors back than WD or Seagates and that Maxtors are usually the last drives to leave the shelf.

Brings up another question. How many Maxtors vs Seagates vs WDs does Bestbuy move?
 

Pariah

Elite Member
Apr 16, 2000
7,357
20
81
Originally posted by: BaumerX
Of course.....In Smalltown USA you probably sell what? 3 a year. That's hardly a sampling. I don't see Staples stores in any Major cities. Bestbuy employees here claim (rumor) that they get way more Maxtors back than WD or Seagates and that Maxtors are usually the last drives to leave the shelf.

Brings up another question. How many Maxtors vs Seagates vs WDs does Bestbuy move?

Not proof of anything. Could just mean they sell a whole lot more Maxtors than Seagates or WD's. I'm sure they do sell a whole lot more Maxtor's and WD's than Seagates since Seagate is pretty new to the retail market. I had a friend who was the return's guy at the CompUSA here and he said at the time that probably more than 9 out of every 10 items they got back worked fine, and were usually customer error or cluelessness.
 

Dennis Travis

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,076
1
81
No Staples in a Major City? Is San Francisco and San Jose with 1 Million population or more in each not major city's? Both have Staples. My city is 225k people and we have 2 Staples here.
 

Subhuman25

Senior member
Aug 22, 2004
370
0
0
Originally posted by: ketchup79
Originally posted by: Subhuman25

OK,I guess Maxtor is good because Staples exclusively sells them.Riiiiiiiight.
Are you off your rocker man?Talk about biased.

I'm talking from real life experiences with many of them,not just one or 2.My hard earned cash forked over for them.Not just some store clerks opinion of a product he sells.
And if you did your research,you'd find a general consensus of Maxtor being an unreliable,medicore performing HD manufacturer.
According to your statement,Maxtor must really fkn suck beyond belief though ... since Dell,the world's largest computer retailer!, has dissed Maxtor!! LMAO

Ha Ha, I think you are confusing Maxtor with Western Digital.

What is this biased BS? Is everybody who has a job biased? Why would you fork over your money for me?

Man dude, cool your jets and READ. Being alligned with Staples puts Maxtor in a good financial position. Dell won't use AMD processors, but I don't see AMD losing their head over it! I am sorry that not having Dell's blessing makes you cringe. O, I see you are running an AMD. You had better run the other way before it explodes. Dell doesn't use AMD, you know.

As for real life experiences, we sell hard drives every day. Do you know how many hard drives come back? 0 in the past year.


Is this guy for real?

Works for Staples,endorses Maxtor because his employer exclusively carries them and claims no returns on them and states he is not biased?wich those of us that have been around long enough know can't be true.
Besides that he claims Staples is the largest office supply chain in the US.Seems to me he's trying impress everyone and endorse his employers choice of product and further endorses my suspicion of his biasing.
I myself have never seen a Staples store.Only heard of them online here and there.And you know what,I live in the Seattle/Tacoma area,a huge metropolis.Here there are an abundance of Office Depots & Office Max's,but no Staples.Both Office Max & Office Depot have about 1,000 stores each and several of each in the greater Puget Sound area.Not to mention all the other stores i.e. CompUSA,BestBuy etc.
I highly doubt that a single office supply chain' choice of carrying a single brand hard drive is going to anything much for that hard drive manufacturer when there are an incredible abundance of office supply stores other than Staples that carry a broad array of HD brands.
Seasoned computer enthusiasts usually buy online nowadays also.Wich further negates your assumption that Staples will make a difference.
Add to all that the fact that "word of mouth" recommendations by computer enthusiasts carries a lot a weight! For example take me,I'd never recommend a Maxtor HD to any of my coworkers,freinds & family.I'm fairly respected for my knowledge concerning computers.My word is taken to heart and that word is spread by all my family,friends & coworkers who have come to me for advise.As you can see that really multipies.
Not to mention online forums such as AT,where people can read about a manufacturers reputation and performance and customer service.
Combine all that and I think the "Staples Factor" becomes quite moot in Maxtor' promotion.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
Originally posted by: BaumerX
Quote:
=============================================================================
I appreciate a Seagate employee bringing up that news, without full-disclosure, thanks. Good to see that american business ethics are alive and well in this country.
=============================================================================

What does "disclosure" have to do with the issue. You seem a little biased. I am just asking if anyone knows anything about the supplied links. Don't be so paranoid.

You come here and (apparently?) shill for your employer, on these non-commercial forums, and then accuse me of bias, when I point it out publically? :roll: (I don't even work in the storage industry, so how I can be biased in this regard? You on the other hand, unless things have changed, do.)

If this was the first time that you did this, I might give it the benefit of the doubt, but it hasn't been, so now I've been convinced. I've also spoken out against it before, so please don't try to play "innocent".

If you want the AT readership to read Seagate press-releases, please don't post them here verbatim, send them to the site to be distributed as a news item. That's my theory, anyways. If every company that had a new product or development in the tech industry did that, these forums would be unreadable. I'm just trying to head-off any possible spam at the pass, really.

If you are going to post something that is FUD or otherwise could negatively affect their stock price here on AT, at least disclose that you work for a competitor, that's all I'm really asking.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,587
10,225
126
Originally posted by: BaumerX
quote:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: Dopefiend
I've never had any problems with Maxtor drives (here we go...) myself; never had one die. I hope they stick around, we need as much competition as possible.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Competition is great as long as it's profitable for all of the competitors. If it's not, everyone cuts costs which affects quality warranties and R&D for the future. If customers want better and better drives, drive companies have to make money.

Almost by definition the presence of competition reduces profitability, because it limits how much one producer can charge in the market for a product, lest the consumers choose an alternative producer to maximize their purchase power, but at the same time it acts as the primary catalyst for efficiency in the market, to allow/force reduction of costs while still maintaining profitability.

Competition doesn't eliminate profitability, only inefficient companies do. If they die because of it, then they deserved to do so. The marked deemed them evolutionarily unfit. Pretty simple, really.
 

baumerz

Banned
May 17, 2004
105
0
0
Let me give you simple...

Maxtor cuts costs by making low quality drives and dropping the warranty period to one year. Selling these drives at a loss (they have had alot of losing quarters over the last few years) they sell alot of cheap drives to unknowing consumers. Competitors, in order to sell drives, also are forced to compete. They do this by cutting back on research and development and employees AND warranties. HD innovation slows down because of the cuts. Meanwhile (as we have seen in many posts throughout the board) we see consumers start to realize that their Maxtor drives fail more often. But the damage has been done to the competitors AN the consumer. What if the competition to your company sold subpar goods at a loss? You have to think about this to realize that this type of competition is a cancer to the industry.