Recommendation for a new hard disk (IDE:ATA100)

[lokem]

Hi all,

My 20GB hard disk (Maxtor) just gave up on me yesterday and I'm forced to get a new one (duh).

Can someone be kind enuf to advise me on what hard disk to get? I'm leaning towards the 40-60Gigers..

TIA.

 

[Didou]

I wouldn't really recommend IBM, they've had too many failures in the past couple of years. Maxtor is pretty good allthough not the fastest but they have a very good return policy. To me the best would be Western Digital but they are not the cheapest. Seagate is pretty good to but they seem to focuss on the high end SCSI drives these days.

 

[Phantasm66]

I've been using all Maxtors recently since IBM's fall from grace....

On average I'd say a 40GB 7200rpm model would be best.

 

[uncleel]

IBM's failure rate is the same statistiscally as all modern 7200rpm HD's; which generate alot of heat.

 

[Phantasm66]

Which is a good argument for good cooling and / or a nice roomy, well ventilated case.

 

[Rick]

My 40gb Maxtor 7200 RPM has been faithful for over 2 years.. It's gets used nearly 24x7 and hasn't shown any signs of wear. I've also had good experiences with other Maxtors.

I suggest you get an RMA request for that bad hard disk (Usually good for 3 years) and get it replaced. I strongly URGE you not to use an RMA drive for your main drive (or to keep important things on). Just use it as a backup or temporary storage because they have extreme failure rates.

You can pick up a 40gb Maxtor dirt cheap at www.newegg.com . Also, check out 3DS' price guide.

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by Rick
I strongly URGE you not to use an RMA drive for your main drive (or to keep important things on). Just use it as a backup or temporary storage because they have extreme failure rates.

Why?

 

[SNGX1275]

Strongly advise against IBM. I've had 3 failures out of 2 Deskstars (RMA'd one starting to die too). I just got a Maxtor 80Gig 7200 RPM - don't know whether its my fresh install of XP or what but my favorites menu and start menu excessivly lag my computer (mouse gets real jerky and all). Hope I didn't get a lemon Maxtor 80gig.

Specs: Asus A7V - T-Bird 1.0Ghz - XP Pro - 512 Cas2 Crucial

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by SNGX1275
Strongly advise against IBM. I've had 3 failures out of 2 Deskstars (RMA'd one starting to die too). I just got a Maxtor 80Gig 7200 RPM - don't know whether its my fresh install of XP or what but my favorites menu and start menu excessivly lag my computer (mouse gets real jerky and all). Hope I didn't get a lemon Maxtor 80gig.

Specs: Asus A7V - T-Bird 1.0Ghz - XP Pro - 512 Cas2 Crucial

XP just seems to do something a bit like that from time to time. Its the crap shell I think.

 

[StormBringer]

Well, all I use is Maxtor, they are the only ones that I have never had a problem with. I have a 6.4GB Maxtor that is over five years old in a system I built out of spare parts for my son to play old games.

 

[Phantasm66]

Maxtor seem VERY fast returning disk RMA. I think my last lot came back in like 7 days.

What I do.... And don't tell anyone hehehehe.... Is use my Maxtor HDD for a few months, then swap data around using drive image, then send the oldest disk back to Maxtor with RMA, claiming that its defective when in fact its fine.

This way, I get my HDDs checked out by the manufacturer every few months or so. Heheheh.

I like to replace things before they break down....



1)Athlon C 1.33 GHz
2)400 W Macron AMD Approved PSU
3)IWILL KA-266R Motherboard
4)512 MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM
5)4 x MAXTOR 40 GB HDD
6)1 x IBM Deskstar IDE 76 GB Hard Drive 75GXP 7200 RPM
7)1 x PIONEER SCSI DVD-DRIVE
8)1 x PLEXTOR SCSI 12/10/32 CD-RW DRIVE
9)1 x PLEXTOR UltraPLEX SCSI 40 MAX CD-ROM DRIVE
10)Geforce 2 ULTRA DDR-SDRAM 64 MB Graphics card
11)Sigma Designs Hollywood Plus Mpeg-2 Decoder Board
12)SoundBlaster Platinum 5.1 sound card
13)SMC Network Card (connects to 512kbps Cable Modem connection)
14)3Com Network Card (machine acts as NAT server)
14)Adaptec AHA-2940 SCSI Controller
15)Sound card connected to yamaha AV RX-V396RDS hi-fi amplifier, 5 speakers...
16)IIyama 22' Visionmaster Pro 510 AG201 Monitor
17)Remote keyboard, mouse, etc... Headphones, mic, blah blah...

Installed operating systems:

1)Windows 98 SE
2)Windows .Net Enterprise Server
3)Windows XP Professional
4)Redhat Linux 7.3
5)Mandrake Linux 8.2




Anyways, Maxtor seem to never have had a problem with this.

I was also using IBM in this process as well, but they were not as co-operative at this...

I am gonna loose that Deskstar at some point soon.

 

[lokem]

I think I'll try RMA-ing the hard drive since it's not that old. Somehow I do not have any luck with new hard drives. They always die on me. Even this 20Giger is a replacement for a 5GB that died last time {g} Could the lack of power cause the hard disks to die so often?

Anyway, what does everyone think about Seagate harddrives? Especially the Barracuda series.

 

[Didou]

I haven't used Seagate HDDs recently but in the past they have proven to be very reliable. I still have a 1.7GB Seagate HDD installed in a few machines that still work.:grinthumb

I'm pretty sure that at this performance level, all company are worth one another ( at least performance wise ). What you need to really consider is price & RMA politic.

 

[bigstusexy]

Are you guys kidding? The MFG making the most noise and doing to best work (to my standards) is Western Digital. if you are going to spend a good about of money and need huge space look at the 1000 bb sepcial edition its fast and it large and dosen't have a grand fail rate. As for maxtor they are slow and their rma policy use to be misleading (repair or replace) I have a 17 gig which was a rma return that died 2 weeks after getting it and they would try swapping the platter just replaceing the drive. This is the case with all MFGs I know but at least they just say replace. Give WD a try I find the much faster than any maxtor I have and they have good working time and reputation.

Also if you are just stuck on maxtor try to get any maxtor dirve that is a dirve type made from quamtum

 

[StormBringer]

Originally posted by bigstusexy
Are you guys kidding? The MFG making the most noise and doing to best work (to my standards) is Western Digital. if you are going to spend a good about of money and need huge space look at the 1000 bb sepcial edition its fast and it large and dosen't have a grand fail rate. As for maxtor they are slow and their rma policy use to be misleading (repair or replace) I have a 17 gig which was a rma return that died 2 weeks after getting it and they would try swapping the platter just replaceing the drive. This is the case with all MFGs I know but at least they just say replace. Give WD a try I find the much faster than any maxtor I have and they have good working time and reputation.

Also if you are just stuck on maxtor try to get any maxtor dirve that is a dirve type made from quamtum

I don't want to turn this in to a HDD brand debate but I have owned two WD drives, one died a few days after I installed it, the replacement drive died literally the day after the warranty ran out and the other drive, bought a couple of years later, died after three months. I have had the occasional problem from other manufacturers but the only one I have never had a problem with is Maxtor. I own 11 Maxtor drives of varying size and age and they all still run like the day I purchased them.

 

[Rick]

Originally posted by Phantasm66
Why?

Why should you avoid using RMA drives as important backup devices, you ask? Well, allow me to share my experiences.

1.) I bought a Western Digital 6.4gb (retail).. It just happened to be missing an IDE pin (for some odd reason), so it didn't work properly. I RMAed it and when I got the RMA back, it worked for 3 months and died. I RMAed that one, the new one died in 3 weeks (!). I RMAed again, the next one died in a few months as well. I then sent it to PCguide.com to be a test subject because I didn't want to waste my breath on the phone.

2.) I bought a 13gb Western Digital (OEM). Sadly, it died in 1 year. I sent it back (Oh my god!) and recieved the RMA drive. It died around 2 months after I got it. I RMAed it again.. It died 1 week afterward!! I then RMAed it again and sold the RMA to a friend for 20 bucks. It died on him 6 months afterward!! hehe! :dead:

3.) My friend bought a Maxtor 30gb. It died about 1 year after he had it. He has RMAed it a totaly of 4 times, and every single time the drive has died in less than 3 months, usually only a few weeks of operation.

4.) Need I go on?

I have had simliar experiences with other people's computers that I've "fixed". There's been at least 2 instances I remember that the RMAed drive died prematurely. This time with an IBM and another Western Digital.


As a matter of fact, I have never seen (in person) an RMA drive that still exists to this day (With the exception of 1 which is a fairly recent IBM 30gb). I know they are out there... Perhaps you have some.. But in person, I've never seen it.



And that is why I do not trust RMAed drives. This is too much to be a coincidence.

 

[bigstusexy]

About the WD dieing on you I'd say this, WD has cleaned up their rep and their drive use to die alot (older smaller drive for me) but in the past 3 years I'd used em with no sweat. Also things to note if dirves die alot around you.

Static shock (an oldie but it will kill anything)
Bad PSU
Bad grounding of other connections (some cable runs used in cable modems are just not grounded - mine isn't !
Shock

 

[StormBringer]

Originally posted by bigstusexy
About the WD dieing on you I'd say this, WD has cleaned up their rep and their drive use to die alot (older smaller drive for me) but in the past 3 years I'd used em with no sweat. Also things to note if dirves die alot around you.

Static shock (an oldie but it will kill anything)
Bad PSU
Bad grounding of other connections (some cable runs used in cable modems are just not grounded - mine isn't !
Shock

As a Technician, I'm familiar with those and have been for over ten years, aside from the cable modems, as the few I have encountered have been, but you get my drift. The problem wasn't ignorance, it was low quality.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I've had zero problems with (don't laugh) Samsung hdds. While they're not the fastest ones, they're quiet and cheap. Cheap doesn't mean bad quality.