Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > Need a new hard drive
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Rae88   01-02-2009 at 05:12:02 PM

I currently have a Seagate sata hard drive but am running out of room soon.
I wanted to get a new hard drive, with about 750 GB.

I was thinking of one with 1TB by Seagate, but I read a review by someone that it wasn't reliable enough to put their operating system on which discouraged me from going with it.

So can anyone recommend a good reliable hard drive model that is reliable enough for your operating system? (I use Windows xp)

thanks,

Rae

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
aevm   01-02-2009 at 05:51:16 PM
- 0 +

LOL, I hope we're not starting a flame war here. The two largest HDD manufacturers are Seagate and WD. Both have lots of fans. If you don't trust Seagate go with WD.

Here are some numbers from Newegg for example:

Seagate 1TB, 52% of reviewers gave it 5 eggs, 20% gave it one egg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148274

WD 1TB, 76% gave it 5 eggs, 4% gave it one egg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136284

That is, the WD disk made one reviewer in 25 hate it, while the Seagate disk made one reviewer in 5 hate it. Based on that, I'd say WD seems more reliable.

Reply to aevm
Rae88   01-02-2009 at 07:28:55 PM
- 0 +

What I am wondering is does it become less reliable when you get into the larger drives (1TB & on ) ?

I was looking at a 750 GB drive but noticed the model I was looking at was discontinued.

I just want a good reliable SATA hard drive, doesn't need to be 1TB but I would rather not buy a model that has been discontinued. Why do they discontinue some models? Seagate's website is confusing. I gave up on trying to use it.

Reply to Rae88
aevm   01-02-2009 at 07:46:42 PM
- 0 +

A larger drive will typically have more platters and more heads, i.e. more things that can go wrong. It also has more heat to dissipate somehow. Yeah, I guess bigger drives will be less reliable than smaller drives made by the same company in the same year.

Here's another good drive: WD 640GB, $75.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218

It's probably Newegg's best selling HDD drive, with 1092 reviews (82% great, 5% bad).

Reply to aevm
Rae88   01-04-2009 at 03:09:40 AM
- 0 +

Hi again Aevm. btw, I like that signature line, funny.

Do you happen to know if WD installs as easily as Seagate? Or if my computer would give me any grief because my other two drives are both Seagate? (I don't guess that should matter but what do I know?!)

Rae

Reply to Rae88
aevm   01-04-2009 at 04:27:58 AM
- 0 +

Yeah, just as easily. Two cables to connect, for power and data, then go to Device Manager to make a partition or two, etc. No difference I can think of.

Good point. Why mix software from WD and Seagate if you don't have to. You could get this Seagate 640GB, same price as the WD, same speed. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148335

The bad news is, Newegg is out of stock right now. The WD is out of stock too. That proves they're popular, I guess :)

Reply to aevm
aevm   01-04-2009 at 04:30:50 AM
- 0 +

LOL, I clicked my own link to check it and now the Seagate is in stock, I got "add to cart" instead of "auto-notify".

Reply to aevm
Rae88   01-04-2009 at 05:53:13 AM
- 0 +

chuckle....

Well thanks for that. I didn't know that the different software might be an issue. So I guess I will stick with the Seagate. I"m in no hurry if they're out because you got the last one in your cart. LOL>

But I hope I can find a retail version. Its harder and harder to find the retail version of these internal drives for some reason. I like to get the nice pretty box with the CDs and all. :)

Rae

BTW, my Bloodhound WOULD eat the styrofoam :lol:


Message edited by Rae88 on 01-04-2009 at 05:55:40 AM
Reply to Rae88
aevm   01-04-2009 at 06:14:19 AM
- 0 +

Don't let him, it's not very nutritious. That warning actually used to be printed on some boxes a long time ago. Scary, isn't it.

You can just download the software on those CDs.

I'm not sure if the retail products include SATA cables these days. I did get burned that way with my retail Plextor DVD drive - I got home and discovered I needed to make a second trip to buy a cable.

Some times OEM disks and retail disks have different warranties. No idea for these HDD models in particular. Some times the OEM has a longer warranty, which I found weird.

Reply to aevm
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > Need a new hard drive
Go to:

There are 1147 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.352 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
How do I win badges?