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Which of these 40GB 7200RPM ATA drive brand is better overall?




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tmlim   08-13-2003 at 04:41:28 PM

<b>Which of these 40GB 7200RPM ATA drive brand is better overall?</b>
Also, is it better to have 2 drives the same, or doesn't really matter at all?

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RobD   08-13-2003 at 05:28:58 PM
- 0 +

Seen far less Seagates fail than Maxtors, and those are the drives we have at work. Seagates are much better IMO.

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Reply to RobD
tmlim   08-13-2003 at 05:54:18 PM
- 0 +

When I talk to my friends, they are half and half. Some say Seagate always fails, other says Maxtor.

I guess in the end, they are probably both equal.

I've had several Maxtor drives, and have had no problems. And idea which has better performance?

Reply to tmlim
RobD   08-13-2003 at 05:59:09 PM
- 0 +

It's probably like you say, pretty much equal. I haven't seen any noticable difference between them, but my preference is for the Seagates. We had Maxtors for about 12-15 months and then for the last 6 months Seagates. On the whole I found Seagates more reliable.

<font color=blue>Shovel wielders don't get any</font color=blue>

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Spitfire_x86   08-13-2003 at 07:04:48 PM
- 0 +

But Maxtor sells much more hard drives than Seagate. It's very possible to see more Maxtor failure than Seagate failure.

My Maxtor D740X is doing a great job for me, so I like Maxtor

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RobD   08-13-2003 at 07:26:54 PM
- 0 +

Fair point, but over the last 12 months, where 6 were with Maxtor and 6 with Seagate, we've had a lot less failures with Seagate as opposed to Maxtor. We used to go through 10 drives every 2 weeks on Maxtors, now we see maybe 1 Seagate fail per week. Over the last 6 months we implemented 350 machines, and we've got another 200 due out in the next 2 months. Then again, could be a faulty batch (like the Fujitsu's). We have noticed a certain high failure rate around drives from November/December 2002. Who knows? Only time will tell really.

I'd certainly have no qualms installing a Seagate in my rig at home. It all boils down to preference at the end of the day. Everyone has their own experiences, like your Maxtor working a treat, and you'd probably buy Maxtor again based on that. We all tend to follow that pattern. If it works well for us, stick with it.

<font color=blue>Shovel wielders don't get any</font color=blue>

Reply to RobD
dhlucke   08-13-2003 at 09:33:33 PM
- 0 +

I don't know. Why aren't you considering Western Digital as well though?

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tmlim   08-13-2003 at 10:26:44 PM
- 0 +

Heard nothing but problems with them. Too noisy. Too slow. Plus my computer store doesn't sell them. :)

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Eden   08-13-2003 at 11:40:11 PM
- 0 +

Hmm, I have the new JB editions. They are silent, it's VERY hard to hear them. They are fast, the fastest in fact thanks to their 8MB.

Problem-wise, it's very true that old WDs were disasters. But mine is reliable so far.

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tmlim   08-14-2003 at 07:39:40 PM
- 0 +

It's hard to choose WD when there is so much bad talk about them. The new versions may be fine, but it's just hard to give them a chance after their reputation.

Reply to tmlim
Grub   08-14-2003 at 09:13:00 PM
- 0 +

WD's actually have a very good reputation. They are quiet, fast, reliable, and warrantied for three years (JB version).

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
tmlim   08-14-2003 at 11:12:38 PM
- 0 +

That's weird, cause I've heard the exact opposite about WD. Except the warranty thing.

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Zoron   08-14-2003 at 11:55:45 PM
- 0 +

Aye, I went for a WD JB drive when I built my new system, and I have yet to regret it. Very quiet drive... even when I'm thrashing it by doing a defrag I can't hear it.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

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jmecor   08-15-2003 at 12:55:45 AM
- 0 +

are they quieter than a 5400 rpm. seagate

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tmlim   08-15-2003 at 04:13:55 PM
- 0 +

I'll never hear my harddrive anyway, I suppose. The intake and exahust fans, plus my super loud CPU fan will drown out any sound that any harddrive would make.

Reply to tmlim
Grub   08-15-2003 at 05:13:18 PM
- 0 +

From what I can gather, I think MAxtor, Seagate, and WD are about the same. Some people are just "fans" of certain brands. I wouldn't hesitate to buy any of those brands. With hard drives, sometimes it seems to be luck of the draw.

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
shadus   08-15-2003 at 07:37:50 PM
- 0 +

No choice for buy a good drive?

Shadus

Reply to shadus
shadus   08-15-2003 at 07:48:22 PM
- 0 +

If you are using the Maxtor drives from back around decemeber and you are getting the smart hard drive failure goto maxtors site, there is a fix for a series of the drives that reported impending failure because of a bad number in their bios when they spun down.

Shadus

Reply to shadus
shadus   08-15-2003 at 07:55:29 PM
- 0 +

I personally have *never* had a single wd hard drive go bad in my personal computers and I've used wd since the 800mb drive days. Where I used to work we used wds in raid arrays and in all the personal computers (about 20 personal computers (some with 2 drives) + 20-30 drives in arrays) and the entire 4 years I worked there we lost a single drive (which I repaired using elite ninja impact mechanic techniques on it... aka I pounded it on the desk a few times... made this really loud clicking noise and the user didnt have a back up, figured it was worth a try and it did work.) I've personally had 2 maxtor drives go bad and where I work now uses maxtor drives and we estimated a full 7% of the drives in the field go belly up in the first 3 mo (this is estimated on the 1800 pcs we support) and another 4% within 6mo... however if they make it beyond the 6mo mark they seem to work pretty reliably pretty much forever (a lose of 2% after that.) Before maxtor we had alot of seagates and ibms, I'm STILL getting back early pentium computers with functional 1.2g seagates and ibms but I wasnt around when they were initially installed so i'm not really sure of the initial failure rate.

imho maxtor is crap. the only bitch i've ever had with wd is noise, some of the early wd drives i owned were pretty rude noise wise... and I hear the 10k raptors have a nasty whine.

Shadus

Reply to shadus
tmlim   08-15-2003 at 11:53:12 PM
- 0 +

The computer store I go to has great deals and they only sell Maxtor and Seagate. If they had WD, that would be on the list too.

Reply to tmlim
Eden   08-16-2003 at 03:21:58 AM
- 0 +

In such case I'd go for a Maxtor. They're definitely more recent, Seagate doesn't seem to give much of a hoot about the Desktop market.

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tmlim   08-17-2003 at 06:37:12 PM
- 0 +

I think I'm just going to get Maxtor.

Reply to tmlim
WingDing   08-20-2003 at 10:20:24 AM
- 0 +

I just ordered a Maxtor 120GB 7200 rpm 8MB cache S-ATA drive. Should perform better than my existing 13GM IBM ATA100 deskstar.

:eek: My CPU runs so hot it creates a quark-gluon plasma :eek:

Reply to WingDing
RobD   08-20-2003 at 10:44:24 AM
- 0 +

That's a quality drive, just been reading some good reviews of it. Plus, it comes with all the connectors required, something Seagate ommitted to ship with their drives.

Goddamn, that's gonna be a fine rig when you've finished.

<font color=blue>Shovel wielders don't get any</font color=blue>

Reply to RobD
WingDing   08-20-2003 at 03:02:52 PM
- 0 +

Yep, and I also ordered a black Antec file server case. I've nearly got my rig finished now, although I still need a good sound card and keyboard/mouse. And I don't have a CD-RW as yet.

:eek: My CPU runs so hot it creates a quark-gluon plasma :eek:

Reply to WingDing
RobD   08-20-2003 at 03:43:00 PM
- 0 +

Are you going for the Antec Sonata case? 'Tis a beauty. A lad at work has one and brought it in purely to show someone else, and it's a beast, with cooling to the max.
CDRW are so cheap now, if it were me I'd maybe consider one of the CDRW/DVD-ROM drives. Unless you already have one that is.

Keyboard I'd go for is a MS Multimedia keyboard. I have one at work, replacing a Cherry keyboard, and it's the best keyboard I've used. Combine that with an MS Intellimouse Explorer. Sound card? Maybe something from the Creative Audigy range, although I've not much experience with sound cards.

God, that rig's going to kick ass. What are you going to do with the Duron?

<font color=blue>Shovel wielders don't get any</font color=blue>

Reply to RobD
WingDing   08-20-2003 at 03:48:57 PM
- 0 +

It was my sister's PC that I borrowed, so I'm going to put her machine back together and return it to her. Damn, I forgot that I'm still using her 15" Sony Trinitron monitor, which is something I've still to upgrade for myself.

When I borrow the PC it had an AMD K6/2-500 MHz CPU and Socket 7 board, so I'll be giving her back a better machine anyway.

The Antec case I'm getting is the AMG1000 PlusView with a side window, you can see the exact case at: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acat [...] _160.html.

:eek: My CPU runs so hot it creates a quark-gluon plasma :eek:

Reply to WingDing
RobD   08-20-2003 at 04:08:17 PM
- 0 +

Beautiful cases, scratch like bastards though. Take your watch off when you assemble everything. And your Enermax PSU will go nicely. God, it'll be like a mini tornado with all the air being vented out of that bugger.

Gah, I've just remembered, you've got a R9700Pro as well haven't you?

Maybe a 15inch TFT to go with that sir? Round it off nicely.

<font color=blue>Shovel wielders don't get any</font color=blue>

Reply to RobD
tmlim   08-20-2003 at 04:15:25 PM
- 0 +

I ended up buying an 80GB Maxtor 7200rpm. Friend of mine pressured me into going for 80 instead of 40. He made reasoning that games are taking up gigs of space now, which was proven by Enter the Matrix which is over 3GB on the HD.

As for the talk about keyboards, I've had my Fujitsu keyboard for almost a decade now and it still works perfect. Now that I think about it, it's connected to it's 4th computer now. It doesn't even have the windows buttons on it! Good old 101 button keyboard. I'll only replace it if the standard changes or it breaks down. Mouse on the other hand, I went with the Logitech MX700! Changed the way I play 1st person shooters!

Reply to tmlim
rjwiley   08-20-2003 at 08:50:07 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

I ended up buying an 80GB Maxtor 7200rpm



Bummer. Personally, I swear by WD. I have for the last 8 years and I will from now until anybody else gets some good customer service.

8 years ago I worked for a computer store in Tacoma, WA, which every now and then had to contact drive manufacturers for replacements, or just to see or verify if the drive was still under warrenty. Western Digital was always the most helpful. In allot of cases the drive was actually out of warrenty, but they said they would replace it anyway. Quite a few times they didn't make the model we had so they'd change it with a newer model. As an example, one time we had a drive around 250MB which was out of warrenty and swapped out for a 540MB instead. I have also seen 540's swapped out with 1 GIG's. Granted this was 8 years ago and I no longer work for a computer store, but a computer service company and haven't had a need to contact WD in about 3 years, but unless they've changed their policies and how they treat their customers, then I'll always and forever be a WD customer.

These are the kinds of things I have never seen with Seagate or Maxtor. They keep things strictly to the warrenty and help you out as little as possible. I just don't see the "above and beyond" for their customers as I do with WD.

I have 2 WD 40GB 7200rpm drives on a RAID mirror in one system, a WD 8GB and 10GB in another system, and a 6 gig and a 10 gig in yet a third system. Not to mention a 2 gig, a 1 gig, and a bunch of old 420MB drives laying around the house that are all still functional (excluding a few seagates that are dead.)

Basically, what this all boils down to is that every HD manufacturer has good drives and bad drives, it's what they're willing to do about it that determines which is the better company to buy from.

One last note, you said, "my computer store doesn't stock WD." Well, too bad for them, they sure wouldn't get my business. I'm not dedicated to a store, I'm dedicated to the product, in this case WD hard drives. Since this is what I want, I will go out of my way to get it. But it's really simple actually. www.pricewatch.com and find the cheapest of what I'm looking for.

Take Care,
RJ

Reply to rjwiley
dhlucke   08-20-2003 at 08:58:45 PM
- 0 +

From what you said I get the impression that you are mixing up IBM's reputation with Western Digital's.

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tmlim   08-20-2003 at 09:27:08 PM
- 0 +

From what I've heard, if there was WD, I would have gotten it. But I got Maxtor instead, and it may die next month. But everyone is swearing by different brands. Again, I've had several Maxtor drives and have had no problems with them, and that's why I have no problem staying with them. I'm not putting down any other brand, just sticking with what I have had good experience with, which is what a lot of you are doing whether it be WD, Seagate, or god forgive, Fujitsu. :)

But, what's done is done, there is no refund for the OEM drive that I bought, and if it fails, I'll let you know so you can give me the "I told you so!" :)

I thank you all for your experienced input.

Reply to tmlim
dhlucke   08-20-2003 at 09:36:11 PM
- 0 +

Maxtor is good too.

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rjwiley   08-22-2003 at 06:25:43 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

From what you said I get the impression that you are mixing up IBM's reputation with Western Digital's.



IBM's reputation, HAHAHAHAHAHA. Now THAT is a funny one. Granted, all companies can change, but I haven't seen that yet with IBM. They are better than they use to be, but nowhere near the caliper of WD.

When Dell first started using IBM drives we had nothing but call after call after call to replace IBM drives. Dell does use WD also and we had probably 20 to 1 ratio of IBM replacements to WD.

I can't really blame IBM too much, they just bought out some rinky dink operation and put their label on it.

At least when WD was having that kind of fallout with their 6.5 and 13 gig drives they did a major recall on the product. IBM, on the other hand, just fixed them as they broke and if they happened to last past the warrenty period then yer screwed.

I equate IBM to that of Fugitsu. They're both pieces of krap. Shoot, I think I'd buy a Seagate before IBM, and I haven't had too much luck with Seagate at all.

Take Care,
RJ

Reply to rjwiley
RobD   08-22-2003 at 06:35:56 PM
- 0 +

What he meant was confusing IBM's piss poor reputation with WD's highly regarded status. Not the other way round.

<font color=blue>Shovel wielders don't get any</font color=blue>

Reply to RobD
rjwiley   08-22-2003 at 07:30:31 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

What he meant was confusing IBM's piss poor reputation with WD's highly regarded status. Not the other way round.



Oops, I'm sorry, your right, I didn't look at the "re:" I'm use to another forum where quoting is the norm. I wish more people would do it here.

Take Care,
RJ

Reply to rjwiley
Grub   08-22-2003 at 07:56:35 PM
- 0 +

DIE NEWBIE DIE!!!

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
rjwiley   08-22-2003 at 08:11:08 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

DIE NEWBIE DIE!!!


Excuse me. You obviously do not know me, so I'll excuse that ignorance, but I do not apprciate being called the "N" word. :)



Take Care,
RJ

Reply to rjwiley
Grub   08-22-2003 at 08:16:22 PM
- 0 +

Die "N" word DIE!!!

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
Auburn9698   08-22-2003 at 08:20:40 PM
- 0 +

STFU, cracker.

8 days and counting.....
<font color=blue>War</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Eagle</font color=orange>

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Grub   08-22-2003 at 08:30:11 PM
- 0 +

[Eden voice] I am not knowing what a cracker is....

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

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Grub   08-22-2003 at 08:30:48 PM
- 0 +

You take that uberhick slang back to the plantation where it belongs Mississippi Queen!!!

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
Auburn9698   08-22-2003 at 08:33:44 PM
- 0 +

Wasn't it scamtron that didn't know what a cracker was? Or was it both?

8 days and counting.....
<font color=blue>War</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Eagle</font color=orange>

Reply to Auburn9698
Grub   08-22-2003 at 08:47:54 PM
- 0 +

Both probably....

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
Eden   08-22-2003 at 11:06:07 PM
- 0 +

I didn't know first but I didn't ask as well, so ya can't use me! :tongue:

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Auburn9698   08-23-2003 at 05:39:18 AM
- 0 +

When it comes to "using somebody", we'll use a woman.

Thanks for playing. Buh-bye.

8 days and counting.....
<font color=blue>War</font color=blue> <font color=orange>Eagle</font color=orange>

Reply to Auburn9698
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