extra HDD

Neshi · Nov 15, 2006, 05:43 PM

Im looking for a new hard disk, somewhere around 400~500GB.
now there are a few things confusing me.. I dont know the top brands for HDD's, are there really any?
Are there brands i should avoid.. I saw Hitachi, Seagate (barracuda), WD, Maxtor...
And whats the difference between SATA I and SATA II.

saw the WD5000KS, looks very interesting...
ive got one 200gb in there now, would it be wise to swap that out and put the 500gb in, or can i have both?

[hobo]eclipse · Nov 15, 2006, 09:32 PM

Sata I is the older 1.5 Gps while Sata II is the newer 3.0 Gps standard. Im pretty sure all, and i know that most newer SATA HDDs come with a jumper to set to SATA I/II.

If all you've got is one HDD and a ROM or 2 then no doubt you can hook it up. Is your currant drive SATA or IDE? You could pretty much put any SATA I/II or IDE drive in there along with your current one.

I just picked up this Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM Drive. I got the SATA version and the IDE one for a friend, it had 6 bucks shipping and the SATA one's was free. The 320 GB models seem the best bang for the buck as of now size wise.

As far an brands go i now own 3 seagates and 2 maxtors, all serving well. the 30 gig maxtor is old from an HP, its only 5400 RPM and still kickin'.(

knocks on wood

)

Tipstaff · Nov 16, 2006, 02:20 AM

The top 2 companies for hard drives right now would be Seagate, and Western Digital. Personally, I would go with Seagate as they are the most reliable. However, Western Digital has a line of drives called the "Raptor", which is a 10,000 RPM drive. This drive is perfect for to use as a main drive to put your OS and programs onto. The perfect setup would be to have a WD Raptor drive as your main drive, and use a Seagate drive for storage.

In either case be sure to get drives that have a long warranty on them. Even though both companies tout that they have a 5 year warranty on their drives not every reseller gets the drives with a 5 year warranty. Most get them with 3 years, some even 1 year, so be sure to check out your drive by going to Seagates or WDs site, and checking out how many years are left on the warranty. If it has less than 5 years, take it back. Also, double check the drives before you leave the store, and make sure that no where on them do they say "refurbished" (Seagates refurb labels are white with a green strip around the edge of the label). Now, there is nothing wrong with refurb drives as they usually have at least 3 years left on them, but if you pay top dollar for them, the same price as a new drive, then you're being had. This is currently a big scam going on by some smaller mom and pop shops.

Also, both companies have what they call Enterprise drives (Seagate has the ES line, and Western Digital has the Enterprise line). In particular, you can get the WD Raptor in an Enterprise version. They usually cost about $50-100 dollars more, but their touted to have better reliability, are better built, and so on, and so on. The biggest deal with these is reliabiltiy, so if that's the most important thing to you, than these drives would be perfect for storage. Also, the default warranty on them is 5 years.

Last thing, drives to stay away from: Samsung, or anything that says "Platinum" on it as these are no-name drives that WILL crap out after one year.

Neshi · Nov 16, 2006, 04:54 AM

think im gonna do 2x 320gb seagate.. they cost me 100 euro each.
then im gonna sell my 200gb from Western Digital..

Seagate 320GB SataII 16MB ST3320620AS
that one any good?

PangingJr · Nov 16, 2006, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neshi

Seagate 320GB SataII 16MB ST3320620AS
that one any good?

the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA model number "ST3320620AS" is good.
be careful, make sure that you're buying and getting this model number.

IF the retailer says they don't have this model, but the other one which is model number "ST3320820AS "
do not buy it and wait for the "ST3320620AS".

both drives the "ST3320620AS" and "ST3320820AS " are having the same specs, except the "ST3320820AS " only have the "multisegmented cache" spec of 8 MB, while the "ST3320620AS" has 16 MB.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Nov 16, 2006, 04:52 PM

About the brands.... it used to be that Maxtor was for all out speed, WDs were nice and quiet, and Seagates were the Volvo's of the bunch

Now WD IMO is more a balanced drive manufacturer.... quiet, high performing drives, and reliable enough.

Seagate is the 1000 pound gorilla now, but I find them to be quite reliable all the same. I use Seagates for my backup drives. (The 5 year warranty which no one else offers also helps

)

Neshi · Nov 16, 2006, 05:52 PM

this isnt really helping.. i want the best thing for the money.. what should i get then? i want at least an extra 300gb or more storage..
should i get those 2 seagates, or should i put my money with WD? (or maxtor..)

H3X4D3C1M4L · Nov 16, 2006, 06:30 PM

Best bang for the buck? Any Maxtor's you can find, they're on clearance now that Seagate owns Maxtor

BlueMak · Nov 16, 2006, 06:35 PM

I am using Maxtor for the last 11 months now and very happy with them. I have great experience with Hitachi drives and no complains with them.

I avoid Seagate after having 2 of their drives failing on me the last 8 years.

Tipstaff · Nov 18, 2006, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neshi

this isnt really helping.. i want the best thing for the money.. what should i get then? i want at least an extra 300gb or more storage..
should i get those 2 seagates, or should i put my money with WD? (or maxtor..)

Seagate is your best bet. Trust me on this. I sell Seagate and WD drives all the time, and the drives I see come back the most out of the 2 are WDs (again, ones to stay away from are Samsung, and Platinum drives). That's not to say they are bad drives, but if reliability is your biggest concern, then WDs are not exactly my first choice. Maxtors are also "ok" for general work, but I used to have these die more than Seagate or WD.

BTW, there is one exception when it comes to Seagate vs Western Digital, and that is in the 2.5" laptop drive market. WDs laptop drives are simply outstanding. Since it's a new market they are getting into they are putting a lot of effort into making a name for themselves in that market, and they are doing that by making top rate drives.

***temeteus82*** · Nov 18, 2006, 06:51 AM

just got my self barracuda 7900.10 320 gb works fine...

Zelig · Nov 18, 2006, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueMak

I avoid Seagate after having 2 of their drives failing on me the last 8 years.

Personal experience with drive reliability isn't that great unless you have a real large pool of drives to draw upon. I've had Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, Hitachi and IBM drives fail on me, but I still don't see enough hard drives to make a good assessment of which ones are more reliable. I think the only drive manufacturer I've used drives of that haven't failed is Fujitsu, I've still got a 13GB Fujitsu drive running as a back-up for some stuff in one of my servers.

CDsDontBurn · Nov 18, 2006, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueMak

I avoid Seagate after having 2 of their drives failing on me the last 8 years.

two drives failing in a period of 8 years comes out to one drive every 4 years. Not bad IMO.

Back when i used to work at PC Club, i saw more WDs come back, but that is also because we sold alot more WDs than any other brand HDD. Seriously, for every 100 WDs i would sell, i would sell about 10 Seagates and about 2 or 3 Maxtor drives.

However, the return rate (return rate based on a failed drive, not return because the customer didn't need it or couldn't figure out how to install it) was about 5 for every 100 WD drives. Pretty good IMO

.

as far as a good deal on a drive, the WD 320Gb 16Mb cache is going for $100 before rebate on newegg

. the 400Gb 16Mb cache drives start at $140. Good deal IMO

.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Nov 19, 2006, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

two drives failing in a period of 8 years comes out to one drive every 4 years. Not bad IMO.

Back when i used to work at PC Club, i saw more WDs come back, but that is also because we sold alot more WDs than any other brand HDD. Seriously, for every 100 WDs i would sell, i would sell about 10 Seagates and about 2 or 3 Maxtor drives.

However, the return rate (return rate based on a failed drive, not return because the customer didn't need it or couldn't figure out how to install it) was about 5 for every 100 WD drives. Pretty good IMO

.

as far as a good deal on a drive, the WD 320Gb 16Mb cache is going for $100 before rebate on newegg

. the 400Gb 16Mb cache drives start at $140. Good deal IMO

.

Actually I've seen 300GB Maxtor drives for as low as $99 before tax CANADIAN locally so I can't see going wrong with that kind of bargain!

CDsDontBurn · Nov 19, 2006, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H3X4D3C1M4L

Actually I've seen 300GB Maxtor drives for as low as $99 before tax CANADIAN locally so I can't see going wrong with that kind of bargain!

yea, but that's a maxtor still

.

cheap price = cheap parts

.

despite maxtor having been bought out by seagate, as long as the drive carries the maxtor logo, it's still a maxtor to me.

H3X4D3C1M4L · Nov 19, 2006, 04:49 PM

Cheap parts nothing, it uses magnetic platters that spin and a drive head read/write assembly just the same as a Seagate or a WD.

The parts aren't inferior to WD or Seagate, it just happens that Seagate is liquidating good parts to continue their takeover of Maxtor

CDsDontBurn · Nov 19, 2006, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H3X4D3C1M4L

it just happens that Seagate is liquidating good parts to continue their takeover of Maxtor

w00t w00t~! Seagate FTW!!!!111

lol. ok, i'll stop now

H3X4D3C1M4L · Nov 19, 2006, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

w00t w00t~! Seagate FTW!!!!111

lol. ok, i'll stop now

Jealousy is so unbecoming of you, you know, NO ONE said you couldn't partake in the bargain storage glory!

Neshi · Nov 19, 2006, 05:34 PM

if i buy a seagate or a maxtor, prices here in holland are 100 euro, and thats for a 320gb drive.. doesnt matter what brand i take..
let's see if i can find a bargain store anywhere in this country..
i would love to take 2 drives, but i dont think i have the money for such plans... pity

CDsDontBurn · Nov 19, 2006, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neshi

if i buy a seagate or a maxtor, prices here in holland are 100 euro, and thats for a 320gb drive.. doesnt matter what brand i take..
let's see if i can find a bargain store anywhere in this country..
i would love to take 2 drives, but i dont think i have the money for such plans... pity

just make sure that if you do get two drives, it's best to have them matched when speaking in terms of raiding the drives together. other wise, it doesn't matter if they're the same or not.

Neshi · Nov 20, 2006, 04:11 AM

just ordered meself 2 times the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB.
hope it will serve me good