Author Topic: Good hard drive brands? (Read 394 times)

Octavius · « **on:** September 01, 2002, 09:36:59 PM »

I am currently in search of a larger and faster HD (5400 rpm 8gb HD stinks). I haven't purchased or installed a new HD yet and I have a few questions.

1) What needs to be done prior to installing the new hard drive? (does this mean a clean format of the old one and total reinstall on the newer?)

2) Is it possible to install a new HD with a master/slave setup for data transfer to the new one? If not, can I transfer the old HD data to the new one without networking two comps together?

3) Which brand would you suggest and why? (I'm currently looking at a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus D740X 6L080J4 80GB Ultra ATA/133 at 7200 rpm)

Thanks in advance,

oct

Eagler · « **Reply #1 on:** September 01, 2002, 10:35:04 PM »

Oct
I've had the best luck with Western Digital hard drives. Maxtor is good too. I currently have 100GB ATA100 7200 WD drive and two 80 gig ATA100 5400 Maxtor drives in my computer. I like both better than the last IBM I had.

To install a new one, my suggestion would be to set it as master and the old one as slave. Re-install everything from scratch on the new one. Then go and copy and data you need from the old drive to the new one. That way the new drive is lean and mean.

good luck

Animal · « **Reply #2 on:** September 01, 2002, 10:44:30 PM »

Your best choice right now for IDE should be the Western Digital Special Editions, as they have 8mb of cache. They go for about $115 for 80GB. Excellent drives.

Pfunk · « **Reply #3 on:** September 02, 2002, 12:05:53 PM »

Maxtor is crapola, buy either a WD special edition or a Seagate Barracuda.

Octavius · « **Reply #4 on:** September 02, 2002, 02:04:14 PM »

Thanks guys

oct out

bloom25 · « **Reply #5 on:** September 02, 2002, 06:40:19 PM »

I used to like Western Digital drives, but in the last 6 months I've had 4 of them die on me (1 WD200 20GB, 1 WD204 20 GB, 2 WD400 40 GB drives). I'm now trying Seagate drives to see if they are any better. I had bad luck with Maxtor a couple years ago, so I don't like to use them either.

The special edition Western Digitals look fast, but considering 4 of the 9 WD drives I've used recently have died (one of the 20 GB drives was just last week) I won't touch them again.

Animal · « **Reply #6 on:** September 02, 2002, 09:15:12 PM »

Well bloom I'm hearing rave reviews from the Special Editions you are the first person I read having problems with them.

My black list for hard disks is IBM, because I had a 60GXP die on me, and because of their reputation for the 75GXP

Octavius · « **Reply #7 on:** September 02, 2002, 11:56:52 PM »

"Died" as in kaput? HD no worky? I hope there was some sort of replacement warranty... ?

bloom25 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 03, 2002, 06:04:51 PM »

The first 20 GB WD200 model drive lasted 9 days. The system started blue screening (Windows 2000 = not good if it blue screens). Chkdsk reported 19 bad clusters. A day later the drive would no longer spin up. I sent the drive in to WD and received a WD 204 model 20 GB drive. This one lasted 9 months before problems started appearing. Chkdsk reported 59 bad clusters and a day later the system was totally non functional. The first 40 GB drive didn't last a day before it sounded like marbles bouncing around inside of it. The other was dead out of the box.

I have 2 more 20 GB WD204 drives in systems I've built, so I hope this isn't a flaw with their design.

The funny thing is I have an early production IBM 75GXP 45 GB drive that I've used in my own personal system for 18 months now and it still works great. I think IBM drives dropped a lot in quality when Fujitsu started making most of them.

I think HD manufacturers all go through periods where their drives are good and then periods where they are unreliable. Since I haven't had a SE Western Digital die, they might be OK. They certainly are fast. I personally think IBM got a bad reputation from a defective batch of 75GXP series drives and the failure to admit to the problem and replace the drives.

Starbird · « **Reply #9 on:** September 05, 2002, 06:09:30 PM »

I've had good luck with maxtor and WD. The IBM and seagate drives I've had died (1 of each).

I have a bunch of maxtors and WD's that have been going good for years almost nonstop.

Chairboy · « **Reply #10 on:** September 05, 2002, 06:27:58 PM »

I use Maxtors exclusively now. I've had great quality with them, but even if there's a problem, Maxtor has a super customer service policy.

A friend of mine got a hand-me-down system with a bad 9 gig SCSI drive. He checked and was amazed to find that it was still under warranty. He contacted Maxtor, and they sent him a new drive and told him to send the bad one back in the postage paid box they sent the new one in.

Most hard drive companies force you to send them the HD first before they'll get around to mailing you a replacement. I think Maxtor's service is a real win and a reason why I buy their products.

Animal · « **Reply #11 on:** September 05, 2002, 07:41:54 PM »

I got my Western Digital SE 100GB yesterday and so far, so good. Very fast, quiet, and... big.

I hope its as durable as my old WD 9GB wich lasted around 4 years and went thru hell. Its still alive in my sisters computer.

funkedup · « **Reply #12 on:** September 05, 2002, 09:19:14 PM »

My experience (good = no failures, bad = lots of failures)
Western Digital Bad
IBM OK
Maxtor Good

capt. apathy · « **Reply #13 on:** September 06, 2002, 07:07:10 AM »

I've had 2 WDs die on me (I've owned 2), one lasted 1 year the other about 9 months. both started showing small sectors of bad disk area on defrag within the first couple months.

I've had 2 IBM's, the 80 gig for about 1 year and the 20 gig for about 4 years. no bad sectors or problems with either yet