whcih harddrive to get

DisvengeanceDisvengeance
edited July 2003 in Hardware
hey, im looking for 2 identical harddrives for my new rig im building, and i was wondering if there are any certain brands that outperform other ones, im looking for either 2 80 gb harddrives, or 2 120 gb harddrives....thanks

Comments

  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    i;m assuming you want IDE harddrives, and if yuo are, then there are no others better than the Westerndigital Special edition hdd with 8mb cache.

    i'm sure many will agree.
  • DisvengeanceDisvengeance
    edited July 2003
    yeah i am looking for ide, i was either gonna go with what u mentioned, or a maxtor
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited July 2003
    deskstar 180gxp's out perform se's but you have to ask yourself if ibm's history of faulty drives is really worth that little bit of performance.
  • DisvengeanceDisvengeance
    edited July 2003
    but the thing is, i noticed this,

    -Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 120.0GB

    7200 rpm for fast read/write capabilities
    Ultra ATA/100 interface
    Up to 100MB/sec. data transfer rate
    8MB cache buffer
    8.9 ms average seek time


    -Maxtor 120.0GB

    Up to 120.0GB capacity
    Ultra ATA data transfer speeds up to 133MB/sec.
    7200 rpm for fast read/write capabilities
    <9 ms average seek time
    8MB cache buffer


    to me the maxtor looks better, although it is more expensive, but im not sure how the western digital actually performs
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited July 2003
    Just so you know ata 133 is a marketing campaign. Doesn't improve scores at all. Most drives operate at best ~60. Se's outperform maxtor's but also maxtor's seem to be well built and rarely die.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited July 2003
    For high capacity performance drives, look no further than Western Digital's "Caviar Special Edition" drives, sporting an 8 MB buffer, a 7200 RPM spindle rotation speed and one of the fastest seek times available on a mainstream performance hard disk.

    I utilize 4 Western Digital hard disks in my PC (check sig), all under an extreme stress load and I can say that without a doubt, I entrust my data to Western Digital.

    If you want ultra reliability, performance and quietness, take a look at Seagate's line of IDE & SATA hard disks.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2003
    The Maxtors are outstanding drives. They're faster than the WD's afaik too. They also have FDB motors, while the WDs are still using ball bearings as I recall. I've got 6 Maxtor IDE drives, 2 of them currently in use- 2 80GBs and 4 160GBs, all DiamondMax 9 ATA-133 8MB/7200RPM drives. The 4 160s are sitting in a drawer because I need a RAID card for them and haven't gotten around to ordering one just yet... I have however benchmarked the 80s and one of the 160s... take a look @ the results for the 160:
    ide.jpg 56.3K
  • PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Yeah, the 133MB spec is a burst transfer rate limit and NOT a constant. I'm no hard drive or RAID expert, but I've never heard of any EIDE drives from any manufacturer performing anywhere near the ATA-100 spec, much less the ATA-133. I think it was mostly a gimick by Maxtor that will die out with the advent of Serial ATA. It isn’t worth it IMHO; the difference in performance is almost not measurable.

    Forgot to mention...my personal preference is the WD JB series.
  • tychotycho Santa Barbara, California!
    edited July 2003
    Now i don't have any fancy technical proof about which one is better, but i have used both western digital and maxtor drives and i have had much better results with the WD drive
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited July 2003
    I dropped a Maxtor drive and it still spun fine. No clicks or anything. Not that you'd be dropped your HDDs alot, but just to give you an idea on how durable they are. I'd personally get the Maxtor. I don't get any gripes from them. This Seagate I have right now is about to bite it though.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Western Digital all the way for me. I have nothing substantially bad to say about Maxtor, but I haven't got anything good to say about them either. However a Maxtor drive would be a fair choice, if it wasn't for WD being around that is.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    I have had 2 maxtors and both got a "clonkety-clonk" after only 2 weeks of usage. Changed to WD and i will never regret it. STAY AWAY from Ibm/Hitachi.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited July 2003
    God damnit, mack change your post to "STAY AWAY FROM Drives released before 120GXP's."

    The 180gxp's have been proven to be as stable as wd's. They are not nearly as faulty as the 60gxp's.

    Saying ibm's recent drives are faulty is like saying athlon's run really really hot.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    How about 3 drives from the GXP 75 family? 1 drive from the GXP 60 family? 3 SCSI drives? The 3 GXP 75 i had was still under warranty, it took them 4 months to send me the first replacement, another 2 for the second and only one and a half for the third. The SOB´es even had the courage to try to say, HEY it´s oem so you´re stuck to me. Why even bother then? Thats my 2 cents and im sticking with it. As you can see in my rig, i have 1 GXP left, which i had to fix myself and the only things i have on it, is temp, temp internet, swapfile etc. No bible stuff there, to precious to me.
  • leishi85leishi85 Grand Rapids, MI Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Well depends on what Athlon u are talking about!!!

    haha
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    Al_Capown said
    The 180gxp's have been proven to be as stable as wd's. They are not nearly as faulty as the 60gxp's.

    I wouldn't disagree with that, as I have a few 180GXP's and 120GXP's which do and have been running fine. However, I think what Mack' is saying is that the fact that whether or not the newer IBM/HITACHI drives are reliable or not, is irrellevant to him, because of his past experiences with IBM. A sentiment I also share, IBM may now make drives as good as WD, but the reason to still stick with WD, is simply because they don't have a tarnished track record, where IBM do. Which as a whole indicates that WD is more reliable than IBM, in the grand scale of things.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited July 2003
    So why can't he explain that out? I just didn't like it how he simply put. O ya NEVER BUY IBM/Hitachi. It's important to go into detail.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    me abnd my friends have stayed in the WD/Maxtor...mostly WD's...i like those drives..leshi is right...go for the 8mb cache...if u have extra money though...seagate is pretty good
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    Al_Capown said
    So why can't he explain that out? I just didn't like it how he simply put. O ya NEVER BUY IBM/Hitachi. It's important to go into detail.

    I just did, didnt i?

    Doesnt matter if they areequal as fast or faster than WD, im just not using them. I have had over 100 gigs of lost data thanks to IBM, and its not fun at all. When you are trying to quote me, please do it right. I said STAY away from them, not NEVER BUY.

    Capish?
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited July 2003
    I meant to explain it in your original post, not when you have been provoked to do so. blah, forget it
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2003
    Four out of four dead in the last year. It's a fair point to say that the newer drives are OK (though let's ask that question again in a year). I am through with IBM for two major reasons:

    1) After four dead drives I am just fed up. Yeah, maybe it's like the crook that really has gone straight. So what. You still have to pay for your past misdeeds.

    2) Every stinking RMA they send me the same junk. Just received drive number five (can anyone spell e-b-a-y?). When drive number six gets here, it'll be the same. If they would just take pity on those who have been through the mill and send them something of quality, instead of a refurbished instant replay of the same nightmare, I might forgive them sooner. As it is, they seem to just be trying to wait me out and hope I'll give up.

    Craps, I'd rather have my old Conner back.


    Prof
    (Who can out-stubborn a mule:p )
  • DisvengeanceDisvengeance
    edited July 2003
    well guys, thanks for the advice, i just ordered 2 120 gb western digital caviar special edition drives, and they should be here on friday, once again, thanks
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