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Storage: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by Sfrnkn - 11/4/04 1:42 AMI have worked on system after system and spent more time than i care to admit doing research. I am putting together my own system now and have one question. Is there any one out there who can tell me is there a "best" hard drive manufacturer or not. I havent had bad luck with Seagate, Western Digital or Maxtor yet i have heard "horror stories about all 3. Any REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE or KNOWLEDGE would be greatly apreciated.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by R. Proffitt
- 11/4/04 5:10 AM
In reply to: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by Sfrnkn
No clear winner. If there was, then we could still find horror stories since underneath it all are these truths.
1. Consumer drives will last about 5 years.
2. Few consumers backup what they can't lose.
3. Consumers rarely understand why they must backup until they lose it all.
4. Some must lose it all multiple times.
5. Not all losses are hard drive failures.
Best of luck,
bob
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by shadowdr - 11/8/04 11:10 AM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by R. Proffitt
Any component is only as good as the length of the warranty.Hard drives will fail, this you can count on.If you have a good backup strategy then an advance replacement is not a problem for you.The fluid dynamic bearings are the best option on any drive.Make sure you get them,after that warranty and cost is your major concern.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by cncguy - 11/18/04 11:12 PM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by shadowdrI have always had good luck with Western Digital 120 Gig. Special Edition Drives, I am running 3 right now... SE drives have 8Meg Cache, and 3 year Warrentee. Regulars have 2 Meg Cache and 1 Year. as far as EIDE drives go anyways... Good Luck.
only wimps use tape backups
by amarillo - 11/20/04 6:12 AM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by R. Proffitt
linus torvald said "only wimps use tape backups, real men upload their stuff on ftp and let the rest of the world mirror it"
I personally have found it easier than going through the hassle of spending money on a new backup drive.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by Muttrose - 11/18/04 11:48 PM In reply to: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by SfrnknI have worked in the computer field since mid 1970's. Believe it or not I have Seagate and Maxtor hard drives that are 10 years old. Maxtor used to have the best warranty for their drives, now days it is a toss-up. The best drives in my opinion are either Seagate and Maxtor in first place and Western Digital second. Take your pick. Most other drives only last 2 or 3 years. Yes, by all means - back up your data, regularly,in todays day and age, on DVD-RW or CD-RW.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by kscherry2000 - 11/19/04 1:10 PM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by MuttroseI agree. I have a PC that is 10 years old and I added a Maxtor 3.5GB (it used to be alot of space) about 1 year into owning it and I have not had any problems with it. The research I did suggested Maxtor or Seagate as the best, but Western Digital is a very close second.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by bighorn60 - 11/19/04 9:42 PM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by MuttroseI have had 2 Seagates die on me, both by bad vectors at first, then gradually getting worse until the final death throes. My favorite is Maxtor, tho I am using a WD 160 and am satisfied so far. Back up is most important no matter which you use.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by Bbrook5828 - 11/19/04 2:03 AM In reply to: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by SfrnknI have used all three drives at one time or another, but I've used mostly Maxtor and Western Digital drives recently. I bought a Maxtor drive in 2003 and it failed within a year. The Western Digital drive I bought new from Sam's Club in 1998 still works.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by mvarela - 11/19/04 5:41 AM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by Bbrook5828I had the same experience. Back in around 1998 I used to assemble PCs for several companies and individuals. 8 out every 10 Maxtor HDs I used failed within a year of use, with at least 1 in those 10 failing within hours from installation. Try to explain that to an irrate, not technically oriented customer. Then I switched to Western Digital with excellent results. Not one failure in the next three years that I know of. But, who knows, maybe Maxtor has improved its reliability since then. My experience with them is from six years ago. I am just not risking it.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by Pinebelt2k - 11/20/04 9:18 AM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by Bbrook5828Maxtor basically sucks and with POOR RMA support.
My Maxtor 20GB drive died within in two years. They refused to accept the RMA when RMA that I had created expired. There is clause for this in their "Terms and Conditions." Maxtor is product and support is UNRELIABLE.
Once in a while, I still use my really old 2GB Western Digital Caviar for storing software images.
Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by Damon101 - 3/31/05 4:43 AM In reply to: Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by Bbrook5828I was wondering PBrook, if you had intermixed WD and Maxtor to smoke them...that was my experience, so I stick with ALL Maxtor or ALL WD...presently stuck with 4 year old WD using 10G out of 30Gb drive. So you can see I prefer Maxtor over WD. Both work fine.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by cheopitrinche - 11/19/04 2:46 AM In reply to: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by SfrnknMAXTOR DIAMOND PLUS 9
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by skon - 11/19/04 2:48 AM In reply to: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by Sfrnkn15 years experiance running a local computer shop that does new systems, repair, local school builds, networks etc. Western digital, IBM, Seagate are the best. Don't even touch Maxtor if you value your data. 6 out of 10 Maxtors I have bought over the years have failed right out of the box. It got to the point where I would not even qoute a Maxtor if a customer requested it. I was doing a build of over 100 machines for a local school district and 87 of them failed right out of the box. I sent all of them back. All were replaced but out of the replacements had a 75% failure rate with Maxtor. After that (1997)I never used a Maxtor again. All of the ones I had out in the field ended up being replaced under warrinty. The only good thing I can say about Maxtor is that there warrinty is good. However this does not help if you loose all of your data.
Re: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader???
by drykert - 11/19/04 3:12 AM In reply to: Hard Disk Drives: Is there a clear Leader??? by SfrnknI have used all three, W.D., Seagate, & Maxtor. All have failed on me sometimes while under warrantee and sometimes just after warranty ended. I don't see any being better than another. These were larger 80 to 120 gig drives. I build my own systems and believe I care for and keep system clean and running cool so it will last long time but I still get bit. Goodluck. Del
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