Whats a good hard drive?

[sihuda]

hey guys, whats good and fast(see below)?
Do brands really make a diff?
How's seagate hds?

Maxtor Ultra 120.0GB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive

IDE Controller Speed Serial ATA/150
Rotation Speed 7200 rpm
Data Transfer Rate to/from Interface 150MB/sec.
Average Seek Time 9.3 ms
Cache Buffer Size 8MB

Western Digital 120.0GB Internal Hard Drive

IDE Controller Speed Ultra ATA/100
Rotation Speed 7200 rpm
Data Transfer Rate to/from Interface 100MB/sec.
Average Seek Time 8.9 ms
Cache Buffer Size 8MB
Average Latency 4.2 ms

 

[Ioo]

I would take the WD over the Maxtor. I have always had good luck with WD. Seagate makes some of the best drives though.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Do brands really make a diff?

I dont really think so. I have had all major brands fail on me. But invariably each person on here has had one bad experience with a certain brand and will go out of their way to convince you they are horrible. Just back everything up

How's seagate hds?

Very good. I believe they offer longer warrantys as well, which is a good selling point.

Maxtor Ultra 120.0GB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive

IDE Controller Speed Serial ATA/150
Rotation Speed 7200 rpm
Data Transfer Rate to/from Interface 150MB/sec.
Average Seek Time 9.3 ms
Cache Buffer Size 8MB

Western Digital 120.0GB Internal Hard Drive

IDE Controller Speed Ultra ATA/100
Rotation Speed 7200 rpm
Data Transfer Rate to/from Interface 100MB/sec.
Average Seek Time 8.9 ms
Cache Buffer Size 8MB
Average Latency 4.2 ms

Of those 2, the WD is probably a bit faster due to the faster seek time (average time to get to a point on the disk). They both spin at the same rate, so they transfer at close to the same speed. 150 compared to 100 is meaningless because that number is just the possible bandwidth of the IDE channel, not the actual transfer speed. The acutal speed is much lower and doesnt come close to saturating the channel.

General rules of thumb:
Faster RPM is better
Lower seek time is better
Bigger cache is better
Longer warranty is better

The first drive you listed is definitely serial ATA, im not sure about the other. If you are buying serial ATA, I recommend a WD raptor drive. They operate at 10,000 RPM and are faster than 7200 RPM drives.

 

[calyco]

From my own experiences I would take Seagate over Maxtor. Seagates are fast and quiet. Maxtors warranty is unbeatable, I had a defective drive from them once and got a replacement within three days. They will take down your credit card #, send the new drive to you first and then you ship them back the defective one. Western Digitals are loud imo, no good for htpc use.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: deviant03
Maxtors warranty is unbeatable, I had a defective drive from them once and got a replacement within three days. They will take down your credit card #, send the new drive to you first and then you ship them back the defective one.

I can tell you from personal experience that Seagate is just as good at this. I just had to have one of my hard drives replaced by them, and I got my replacement in 3 days. here's my thread in OT about Seagate's return policy. The only annoying (but understandable) catch is that you have to package the stuff in the approved method, but you could always wait until you get your replacement and then put the defective drive in there.

 

[Icepick]

I swear by my Samsung hard drive. It's quiet, fast and less expensive than the Seagate hard drive.

 

[Tarrant64]

I agree with deviant on the WD being loud. I have 2 raptors...and when their reading or seeking or whatever, their loud. i mean 'really' loud. however. they run great and i don't mind the noise over my venus 12 when it's turned up all the way. i have owned 1 seagate(actually, my dad's...i put it in the dell after the 20gig died) and it was awesome. fast and quiet. i recommend that if you can get it. The one maxtor i owned died once, but i did get a replacement in a few days(just like deviant said...they ship one out and i send one back and good to go). Maxtor has a great warranty. However, i have been skeptical about their drives lately. One failure is enough to make me think twice about getting another one.

Seagate or WD.

 

[daveshel]

WD has a 3 year warranty on their 'special edition' (8mb cache) drives, where Maxtor has only 1 year.

 

[Kishan]

seagate all the way.