Hard Drive Decision

[shanna1017]

I just recently built a DAW and I'm in the market for a hard drive to go along with my 80GB maxtor and 40GB WD hard drives. I was at Best Buy yesterday just to buy a cable and I saw the Western Digital 160GB ATA drive (WD1600JBRT) on sale for $39.99 after rebates! Well I wasn't planning on purchasing the drive without looking into it first but this was too good of a deal to pass up.
So when I got home I started trying to find reviews on the drive to see if it was good for my needs and then I saw a thread where somebody pointed out you can get a Seagate 160GB SATA drive for $69.99 after rebates from outpost.com.
So my questions are

1) Is SATA faster than ATA?
2) Is Seagate a better brand than Western Digital?
3) Is it worth it to return the WD and spend the extra $30 to get the Seagate SATA?

Thanks!

 

[Rugger]

My question to you: Is the Seagate from Outpost a 7200.7/8 HDD?

1. SATA is faster than ATA, but current HDDs cannot use the extra speed.
2. IMO yes Seagate is better. The 7200.7/8 drives are the most quiet drives right now and they come with a 5yr warranty. WD has a 1yr warranty.
3. Based on what I told you, is is worth it to YOU?

__________________________________________________
<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

 

[sjonnie]

1) No, the interface is faster, the drive is identical

2) There are no "better" brands, just different. The WD Caviars are very fast drives but older. The Seagates 7200.7 are newer and faster than the old Barracudas, but still slower than the WD Caviars <A HREF="http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark/compare_rtg_2001.php?typeID=10&testbedID=3&osID=4&raidconfigID=1&numDrives=1&devID_0=218&devID_1=261&devCnt=2" target="_new">compare</A>

3)Not in my opinion, you got yourself a deal.

 

[shanna1017]

Thank you both for your advice. I decided to just keep my WD.