Best current HD manufacturer

edited May 2006 in Hardware
A bit of an ambigous question but out of the big three: Maxtor, Seagate and Western Digital, which one has the best 250GB hard drive? I've been researching but cant seem to find much between their current versions so this this would be a good place to ask about the amount of problems/ heat/ noise assosiated with each manufacturers HD.

Any advice apreciated

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Worthy question, but I'm afraid it will elicit three competing viewpoints - one proponent view for each manufacturer you mentioned.

    If you include my laptop, I'm currently running WD, Maxtor, Hitachi (DeskStar), and Samsung (laptop), and Seagate. I've had bad experiences with Maxtor over the years. I am very impressed with the Hitachi DeskStar and the newer Seagates. The DeskStars are fast, quiet, and relatively cool running...but so are the Seagates...but then, the newer WD are also very fast and quiet.


    I JUST DON'T KNOW! :eek: :bawling: I can't call a "best" or favorite. My research and buying tactics for the last three years has been to buy the drive (but not Maxtor) that has the best rebate. My drives are all P-ATA.

    BTW, please don't confuse IBM DeskStar with Hitachi's version. When Hitachi bought IBM's hard drive division, they did change the technology.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2006
    Check out tomshardware's interactice hd charts found here
    http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage.html
  • EssoEsso Stockholm, Sweden
    edited May 2006
    Yes Leo you're right.
    I had one IBM hard disk that failed, but after RMA is just ticking on.
    One thing with the Hitachi disks, is that they are having faster access time, then the Seagate disks.
    Hitachi (~12.9 ms) and Seagate 7200.8 (~15.5 ms)

    But Seagates carries 5 years limit warranty, Hitachi 3 years.

    Seagate and Maxtor has merged together, making the largest HDD manufacturer in the world.
    http://news.digitaltrends.com/article9114.html

    My SATA-300 Hitachi 250 GB TK750 hard disk will do 215 MB/s in burst speed , and 55.8 MB/s in average.

    Seagate is about to deliver new hard disk drives with pendicular technology.
    It going to be very interesting to see the test result on one of those HDD's
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited May 2006
    Right now there are no real "stinkers" out there. The only thing that you should worry about (honestly) is

    1) the cost (SlickDeals always find the hottest deals)
    2) the rebate (Seagate 5, WD 3, Maxtor retail 1/oem 3. I think. Honestly though, 5 years down the road, will you even WANT another 500gb harddrive when tens of terabytes is standard (I'm serious)).

    Esso:
    http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=AA46350

    I want this SO BAD, just to say I have 750gb in one drive. Amazing. Can't justify it, though, just bought a 500gb for $229... I imagine that it'll cost less than $150 in no time now, though :(. I read on [H] that the "theoretical" maximum densities for perpendicular recording is 3tb / sq. inch. SQUARE INCH! 3 TERABITS (~375 gigabytes)!

    /me 's brain melts
  • edited May 2006
    www.storagereview.com has a lot of great reviews which compare cost, speed, noise/heat, and reliability across many drives.
  • mmonninmmonnin Centreville, VA
    edited May 2006
    I like the warrantee. Seagate seems to be tops in that category atm.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited May 2006
    mmonnin wrote:
    I like the warrantee. Seagate seems to be tops in that category atm.
    Exactly my thinking. :cheers:

    Unless you're going for pure performance (and have the money to do it), you're not likely to beat Seagate's five-year warranty. Their drives are decent performers as well. :)
  • edited May 2006
    Some people are anti-maxtor, and some people are anti Western Digital.

    Now, the last bunch of hard drives that went bad on me were some 15 GB Maxtor drives over 6 or 7 years ago. Since then I've been buying mostly WD drives, and have been happy up until last week when one of the drives on my array kicked the bucket. Now I'm going to replace it with a 300 GB Maxtor (no more array for now) and see how things go, but I understand their quality has picked up a whole lot in the past few years, and as 300 GB drives go they have the best performer.
  • edited May 2006
    mmonnin wrote:
    I like the warrantee. Seagate seems to be tops in that category atm.

    Thanks for the advice all... will follow up on the links provided, but i guess your right with the warantee. People generally dont seem to have as many complaints about Seagate compared to Maxtor and W.Digital


    Anyways, if my new one does have any problems (Whichever one i choose) I guess if it has problems these forums will be the first to know when i ask for help! :wink:
  • EssoEsso Stockholm, Sweden
    edited May 2006
    Please read the Seagate warranty, it states limit warranty.
    They don't fully compensate you after the 3'rd year.

    The first 3 month is the most critical time for the hard disk, if it survives this first time it usually lives on and on.
    And if cooled down with a fan, it's gonna be there for many years.
    Until you get tired of it and replace it with one 3 TB hard disk drive, lets say 4 years from now.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Warranty or not, Seagate drives have been by far the most reliable drives I have used as well as top the list I must find in that respect. After that WD Raptors for best seek time and Hitachi drives for best STR.
  • gtghmgtghm New
    edited May 2006
    How about 2 of theses baby's in Raid 0 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA44740


    A terrabite in Raid 0 woa :hair:
  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited May 2006
    me thinks its all matter of opinion, and what good experiances you've had. Im a Maxtor guy, i have 8 in my machine right now all chugging along. ive only had like 2 maxtors die on me.

    but for some reason every WD i get seems to have problems, at work we use Hitachi deskstars in the lappy's and they are just plain brutalized. me working on the back end i see all of the dead drives come and go. some worse than others but if i were in the market for a 2.5' drive i could go for 1.

    seagates OK in my book, only had a few drives from them and no failures, i got an 80 SATA when they first camer out, a tad on the loud side and a tad hot, but nothing unbearable.

    remember Seagate is buying Maxtor. and Maxtor is the leading drive manufacturer when it comes to patents. im sure thants why Seagate wants them, Maxtor has a huge stockpile of patents for drive technology. so int eh future Seagate is going to have monster drives.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    i've had nothing but bad experiences with maxtors... i currently have 3 of them in my pc...don't know HOW...but i ended up with 3 of them...yet again... no clue on how it exactly happened..i think i returned an OEM and then bought a new one or something to that effect...but at any rate...it has always given me problems...it clicks...i must have sent like 3 of them back...but keep in mind this was like around 4-5 yrs ago... lol
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited May 2006
    I had a run of bad 80GB Maxtors a few years ago. On the WD side, my dad and daughter have both been through a pair of them over the last three years.

    Don't get me started about my six IBM DeathStars... :grumble:
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    yup those 80 gig maxtors are the worse
  • edited May 2006
    I had good and bad experience with maxtor , seagate , IBM , fujitsue

    I think 5 years warrenty should be the go.
    From my experience from the past (seagate , fujituse, IBM), when they discontinue the model of your HDD, and you send it to repair. They will send you the newer model.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    .....when they discontinue the model of your HDD, and you send it to repair. They will send you the newer model.
    That should be the standard for any decent company!
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