Dead Men Walking

I'm in the need of a bigger IDE drive for my PC that will do me until my upgrade in March.

Which are better quality drives?:

Maxtor
WD
Hitachi

Thanks,

NF

IMHO avoid Maxtor.  Both Maxtor drives I've owned have expired before their time.  Don't think Norm likes 'em either.

Hitachi bought the IBM drive business, and they used to make the infamous DeskStars (aka DeathStar).  I believe you do at least get a decent warranty with them though.

WD always seem to have a good reputation for speed, but I've never used them.

Have you also considered the Samsung SpinPoint drives?  I do have one of these at the moment and can't fault it.

Agree with Cadavar, one of my maxtors went kaput after a short time.

I've just bought two WD Raptors which have very fast response times 10000rpm, expensive though, but good for getting in BF2 first  :D  I'd definitely go for WD, I've only heard good things about them.

really odd with the maxtors. I've had loads of maxtor drives and never had a problem with them. But they are slightly more noisy than other makes.

Also agree with the WD. Very nice HDD. Have two striped in my work machine at the moment. Nice and quiet too.

Samsung Spinpoints are superb drives and extremely quiet too :D

Well XTPC is in its third year,and Maxtor have been withdrawn from my inventory.Every make has duds now and again but Maxtor just dont have the legs if my track record with them is anything to go by.I still have the old silver body maxtors running in some rigs which are 6+ years old but the later ones are terrible imho.WD,Seagate and Hitachi are the ones used by XTPC.

go for:

wd
seagate

avoid:

maxtor

yea, had bad experience with maxtor drives, cheap but not worth the hassle.
seagate and wd make the quiestest drives imo and really reliable..

i don't think wd does the raptors for ide though ;)

Thanks Folks..

I think I'll give WD and Samsung a looksee..

I have two Maxtor Drives and after two years one of them is giving me constant headache (of course that's my main HDD!!)

I'll let you know what I go for..

NF

If you're replacing your current op system drive there's a nifty little program which will mirror image your existing HDD so you don't have to reinstall everything. If that's any good give me a holler.

PEN

PS. Someone told me to go for the Western Digital Caviar drives - i've used a few of them and they seem fine

I've recently started using the Samsungs and find them excellent - really quiet :)

I've been using Seagate Barracudas for quite a while now (IDE variants in the old machine and SATA ones in the new box) and have found them to be pretty good. Anyone else got any comments on the Seagates? As various people have already said, IBM/Hitachi drives used to be called DeathStars for a reason, but I think that's been cleared up there days. I still don't trust Maxtors though.

QuoteOriginally posted by ThePENDRAGON@Nov 29 2005, 09:28 AM
If you're replacing your current op system drive there's a nifty little program which will mirror image your existing HDD so you don't have to reinstall everything. If that's any good give me a holler.

PEN

PS. Someone told me to go for the Western Digital Caviar drives - i've used a few of them and they seem fine

[post=103160]Quoted post[/post]

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Thanks Pen. My IT guys have hooked me up with a copy of Ghost.. Is your product similar / better?

QuoteOriginally posted by Carr0t@Nov 29 2005, 11:32 AM
I've been using Seagate Barracudas for quite a while now (IDE variants in the old machine and SATA ones in the new box) and have found them to be pretty good. Anyone else got any comments on the Seagates? As various people have already said, IBM/Hitachi drives used to be called DeathStars for a reason, but I think that's been cleared up there days. I still don't trust Maxtors though.

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i have a 10gb seagate somewhere that dates back a few years and still works, so theres reliability :P
that 10gb was like 160gb is now when i got it

Thanks for the advice fellas.. I've gone for one of these:

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 300GB 3000JB ATA-100 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-035-WD)

Should be good enough.

Dan

I've been using vinyl and a turntable. Cant beat analog data storage..  :blink:

QuoteOriginally posted by A Twig@Dec 1 2005, 02:56 PM
I've been using vinyl and a turntable. Cant beat analog data storage.. :blink:

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Too true.

PS anyone wanna buy a Linn Sondek?

You mean the LP12?

QuoteOriginally posted by A Twig@Dec 1 2005, 05:13 PM
You mean the LP12?

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Yup

I would, but its belt driven, and I really couldn't justify buying another as I have three turntables already....

QuoteOriginally posted by A Twig@Dec 1 2005, 05:23 PM
I would, but its belt driven, and I really couldn't justify buying another as I have three turntables already....

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LOL, you do mixing then?

yeah, a little bit, the odd stuff every now and then!

Nothing like what GFK does, just the odd party every now and then.

QuoteOriginally posted by A Twig@Dec 1 2005, 02:56 PM
Cant beat analog data storage.. :blink:

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analog?, jeez, but isn't that like....well like as old as Ron <_<  :D

I know maxtor has already been ruled out, but i wanted to add that I have had 2 maxtor drives die in the space of 9 months. 1 IDE and 1 SATA, both 120gig varieties. Both bought brand new.

The only good thing is there warrenty/replacement is really good and I've had no problems getting replacements. Its just a shame I still have the worry that the replacements will also eventually die.

James

2 maxtors have borked on me :angry:

NOT impressed :eyebrow:

QuoteOriginally posted by Dingo@Dec 1 2005, 09:12 PM
analog?, jeez, but isn't that like....well like as old as Ron <_< :D

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Indeed, photo evidence of Ron with the first mobile gramophone  ;)  :P Here cos it won't let me put it in properly (http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/pr/769766883/Science_&_Society_Picture_Library_10428491.jpg)

QuoteOriginally posted by Blunt@Dec 1 2005, 10:32 PM
2 maxtors have borked on me :angry:

NOT impressed :eyebrow:

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Had the same with two maxtors in my bought (Mesh) system.......that's two in 18 months...not happy!! :ranting:

Hello Folks,

Just to let you know that I'm happily running on my new WD 300gb drive at the moment.

I tried in vane to use Ghost but as I don't have a floppy on my rig I decided to look around at other alternatives. I found a prog called True Image by Acronis (http://www.acronis.com/) that was super easy to use.

I just downloaded the demo and installed it and away I went. It automatically recognized my new drive (still not formatted) and showed me that it would not only clone my old drive but also extend the partition to take into account for the new space I had.

I set it to run overnight and when I checked this morning it was all done.. Quick re-boot and a few checks and voilla!

I'm a happy camper at the moment. Just as a percaution I won't be reformatting the old HDD for a week but all's good so far.. The WD is quiet and much faster than my Maxtor (could be the 8mb buffer?).

Thanks for all the help folks...

QuoteOriginally posted by Ninja_Freak@Dec 4 2005, 05:28 PM
The WD is quiet and much faster than my Maxtor (could be the 8mb buffer?).

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Nope its faster  because its a WD and the Maxtor is a.......Maxtor. ;)

QuoteOriginally posted by Norm@Dec 4 2005, 05:57 PM
Nope its faster because its a WD and the Maxtor is a.......Maxtor. ;)

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ditto  :lmfao:

Western Digital Specials gets my vote.

Fast, quiet and good value.  The Raptors are more expensive, but they don't half load the games a damn sight quicker :D

TL.

QuoteOriginally posted by TeaLeaf@Dec 5 2005, 05:19 PM
Western Digital Specials gets my vote.

Fast, quiet and good value. The Raptors are more expensive, but they don't half load the games a damn sight quicker :D

TL.

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 :withstupid:  very impressed with my 38GB raptor, so I bought another 74GB one.

QuoteOriginally posted by BlastUK@Nov 28 2005, 10:32 PM
go for:

wd
seagate

avoid:

maxtor

http://www.betanews.com/article/Seagate_Bu...lion/1135181344 (http://www.betanews.com/article/Seagate_Buys_Maxtor_for_19_Billion/1135181344)

 :lmfao:
 :blink:

Lets just hope they just want shot of some competition and not a re-branding exercise. <_<

QuoteOriginally posted by Ninja_Freak@Nov 29 2005, 11:41 AM
Thanks Pen. My IT guys have hooked me up with a copy of Ghost.. Is your product similar / better?

[post=103189]Quoted post[/post]

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I was going to suggest Acronis True Image - imho it's superior and takes into accounts partitions..... but I see you telepathically got that message and started to use it....  :D

PEN

QuoteOriginally posted by Rabbi Bob@Dec 21 2005, 05:14 PM
http://www.betanews.com/article/Seagate_Bu...lion/1135181344 (http://www.betanews.com/article/Seagate_Buys_Maxtor_for_19_Billion/1135181344)

 :lmfao:
 :blink:

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i saw the news aswell, though i go for wd atm, i had a bad experience with maxtor and i happen to own an old seagate that still works *shrug*