WD 250GB vs Seagate 250gb EDIT: or Maxtor?

[ksherman]

I am between these two drives, and havent been able to find any evidence for one, over the other...

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB

or

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB

EDIT: I guess this one could be added too:

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB

so, is more cache and fast transfer better than a drive with NCQ? I am using a DFI nF4 Ultr-D

EDIT: One of my main concerns is noise. My hard drives are BY FAR the noisiest part of my computer... quieter the better...

thanks all!

 

[cw42]

Your questions are answered here...

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2396&p=1

They don't compare the WD 16mb cache, but they do with the Maxtor. You get the idea though.

Personally, I like the Seagate because of the longer warranty, and them generally being quiet HDs. I havn't had experience with any of the newer WD's, so I can't comment on thier noise.

 

[imported_Phil]

I'd have the Seagate, personally.

The extra cache will make a small difference at best, and the increased interface speed won't make a blind bit of difference, as the media transfer rate is somewhere between 60MB/sec and 70MB/sec. Nowhere near even a SATA-1 interface limit.

 

[duckdown]

I'd also go Seagate

 

[wpshooter]

Live confidently with Seagate, but WD ain't bad !!!

 

[suicidalpigeon]

seagate.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Seagate, but it's not fast. Maxtor and WD will rape. I think you should also consider a Hitachi T7K250. I saw benchmarks of that stuff raping WD and Seagate.

I have a 7200.8 250GB on a DFI ULtra-D also. I love the drive. It's very quiet (but maybe cuz my fans are loud).. I prefer reliability over a slightly faster drive, so I went 7200.8. Make sure oyu grab the 250gb one because its based on 133gb platters

 

[mrichardson2]

I have the 160gb (8MB cache) version of the WD and am very happy with it. Fast and quiet. Never been able to compared it noise-wise to Seagates though. I don't think you can go wrong either way. Warranty is in favor of Seagate.