Western Digital 500GB drives ?

[Soulkeeper]

My last 2 drive purchases have been western digital (80gb se 8mb, and 74gb 10k raptor) and i have been very pleased with both drives.
I just need more storage and was thinking i would throw down 200 bucks for a 500GB drive.
i noticed on newegg tho that a lot of people were saying they had DOA wd 500/400 drives and/or drives that would go out in a week or so of use

are these drives really as bad as the user reviews lead you to believe ?

is now even the right time to purchase a 500GB drive or are they still working out some major kinks ?

anyone own a 500GB wd drive ?


thanks for any comments

 

[GrammatonJP]

they been buying wrong type of drives.. most people buy stuff with like 50% duty cycle and leave the pc on 24/7 and bitch about it.... it doesn't mean that these wont fail.. these are made to last longer and run longer.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=2

Raptor & RE2 1.2 million hours @ 100% duty cycle..
even their RE is only rated 80% @ 1 million...

or get Barracuda ES, not the regular.. 2nd page, .73% reliability at full 24/7 operation

http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/marketing/po_barracuda_es.pdf

regular barracuda 750 page 27
(at nominal voltage and temperature, with 60 cycles per hour and a 50% duty cycle)

 

[Soulkeeper]

yeah my system pretty much is on 24/7
it's a server and often hits 30-100 days uptime between reboots/power-outtages

i'm kinda thinking it would be better for me to get 2 320GB drives and just throw them in raid 1 (mirrored mode)
cause i don't wanna lose my 6 or 7 years worth of data to a faulty drive like that
the 2 320GB drives would also cost about the same as 1 500GB drive

 

[SnoMunke]

I have 5 WD 500GB RE2 HDDs in RAID-5. I haven't had a single failure. I did have a WD 400 GB RE2 HDD fail on me though...WD's RMA procedure is very very quick...

I highly recommend WD...

 

[V00D00]

Shouldn't matter too much, it comes with a warranty.

Anyone with critical information, especially a computer savvy guy such as yourself, should know the HIGH IMPORTANCE associated with regular backups.

I run a RAID 1 for my boot drive and a RAID 5 for my data, as well as monthly backups.

 

[GrammatonJP]

Originally posted by: SnoMunke
I have 5 WD 500GB RE2 HDDs in RAID-5. I haven't had a single failure. I did have a WD 400 GB RE2 HDD fail on me though...WD's RMA procedure is very very quick...

I highly recommend WD...

I have both re2 & 750gb es... I also highly recommend the drives that made for 24/7 operation...

 

[Soulkeeper]

What do you think about 2 of these in raid 1 ?

 

[cubby1223]

It's one of those situations where the people most likely to post a review are those who had a bad experience. You don't hear anything from many who buy the drives and they work great, and they don't bother to go back to post a positive review.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The RE2s are damn reliable. The best way to check reliability is via StorageReview's reliability index.

Actually while the Egg is not 100% accurate in reviews, if you see an alarming # of failure claims, that's bad too. Do you see people b!tching about their Raptors on NewEgg? Nope. Makes you wonder right?

 

[Soulkeeper]

ok thanks guys
i think i'll go with the 2x 320GB drives next week
some people i talked to pretty much got me thinking bout raid1
even if i get 1/3rd less space than with the single 500GB atleast my mp3's will be safe

 

[Geekwannab]

R u very particular about WD. How about 2 of this in raid 1

 

[Soulkeeper]

well i've had good experience with wd and mixed to bad experience with maxtor
as far as seagate goes i've only owned a 1gb seagate drive and it still works...
not too sure if this perpendicular recording is even worth it but the price difference between the wd and seagate is neglegible
thought i saw lackluster benchmarks with this new perpendicular recording

 

[angelic9144]

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