hard drive recommendation

[Dutch Mafia-boy.]

What type of hard drives do you guys use in your machines? Western Digital, Seagate? I need to replace a hard drive and a few sources say that Seagate is the way to go b/c they just think they are better and better warranty (5 years)...but I also hear from all the computer shop guys that Western Digital are better b/c they are reliable, and not as up and down in quality as some of the other drive manuafacturers - maxtor, seagate, etc.

suggestions?

Thanks.

[pyavitz]

i prefer Western Digital

for the reasons you listed above...

[hard candy]

Depends on whether you are asking about PATA, SATA, or SCSI?
1. PATA- probably Western Digital for the price/quality ratio.
2. SATA- the newer version SATA2 drives from Seagate are IMHO the better of the 3 major brands. Although the newer Western Digital Raptor is very nice.l
3. SCSI- again Seagate.

If I were not concerned with the price:
Raptor with the window (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136011) just so I could look at the hard drive spinning. :)

[loopback48]

I've got three WD drives, IDE. Not a bit of problems with them. Using them on my three Linux machines. And at a good price - 60 bucks for an 80Gb HD.

[Dutch Mafia-boy.]

I've always found WD good too....but these people I know swear by Seagate....I'm giving them an ear b/c this is for my church's server - the treasurer's son runs a computer consulting/support company (a direct competitor to me) and he's says that Seagate is better (probaly b/c of his son) and a guy/friend/aquantence at my church also recommends Seagate b/c "they have a 5 year warranty!".....he runs the A/V at our church....and he works as the Network Admin at a local bank...he knows his stuff too....I run the network and server operation at the church (on my own time), but these guys have both their hands in it just a little, even though I have the final say.
This is for a PATA setup on a Promise Fastrak tx2000 card (mirror)...it already has a seagate drive (80 gb) in it...the other seagate drive (80 gb) that was the original started to report errors on that channel on the promise card...I assumed the drive on that channel was dying...so I replaced it with a WD 160 gb - now whenever, the Promise card does a sync of the 2 drives, the same channel, 2 comes up saying the array is in critical...so I'm starting to think it is the card that is acting up on that channel....I am going to call Promise today....but, I know in the back of the 2 guys, I know, the reason its now acting up is b/c I put a WD on that 2nd channel....

Thanks for input.

[celticgeek]

I have used both Seagate and WD drives for IDE and SATA, no problems with either brand in several years. I tend to prefer WD, but that's just personal prejudice, I think.

[rocketpcguy]

If I were not concerned with the price:
Raptor with the window just so I could look at the hard drive spinning.

if you were really not concerned with the price, buy 3 harddisks from 3 manufactures and have them mirrored :)

[mrrangerman43]

I have two WD raptors in my gamer raid 0 and have been very pleased with them. I had an old 4.3gig WD a while back that started to fail just before the warranty ran out(3yr warrenty at that time) I called WD up and they sent me a new drive no questions asked. The raptor has a 5yr warranty. I've only had a couple seagates in my life one worked good the other not so good, but they were both used when I got them.

My linux boxes have scsi in them ibm and compaq they seem to be doing good, but then again they're used and I'm not sure how old they are. For speed stay with sata unless you have money to burn, if so scsi U320 15000rpm with a LSI scsi/raid card. But now we are talking big money the drive alone for a new 36gig is 200-300 so for that price you can buy a couple 200+gig sata drives and have all kinds of storage.

[GliderMike]

I've always run into a higher failure rate with Western Digitals. I prefer Maxtor and Seagate personally.

[Piko]

I've owned many harddrives in my life. Seagates have always been there for me. They rarely break down, if ever.

Maxtor are good, and so are Western Digitals. Though they aren't perfect, but if you want to go cheap, and not buy crap, Maxtor, and Wester Digital are always good. Though there was a time Maxtor was seen as the far better then Wester Digital, but not anymore.

Anything made my Fujitsu (spelling?) shouldn't be touch with a 6 foot pole. Fujitsu's are crap, I bought 3 Fujitsu harddrives, a 60GB, a 80GB, and another 80GB. They all broke down in just 6 months, luckly I was able to return them, and get my money back. I've worked on many computers, and when ever it's a hard drive failure, it always seems to be a Fujitsu.

Right now I own, and are working:
1 x 200GB IDE Wester Digital
3 x 120GB IDE Wester Digitals
2 x 20GB SCSI Seagates
1 x 80GB IDE Seagate
2 x 40GB IDE Maxtors
8 x 4GB SCSI Seagates (8 Years old, and still no problems)

[IsaacKuo]

I've had bad luck with Western Digitals and Maxtors in particular--but that was before I learned the most important thing about 3.5" hard drives. Keep them cool! Ever since I started purposefully designing airflow to bring fresh air to cool the hard drives, I haven't had a single one fail.

I currently use Samsungs, Seagates, Western Digitals, and Maxtors--and ALL of them have been perfectly reliable since I started keeping them cool.

[EnigmaOne]

Desktop/Server:
PATA/EIDE - Maxtor
SCSI/Others - Seagate or Maxtor

Laptop/Notebook:
Fujitsu, Maxtor or Seagate

I avoid WD like the plague. (Never seen one last beyond 3 years.)

I've had excellent luck with Maxtors...still have a 130MB drive and a 212MB drive that run daily. Only lost one Maxtor drive--ever. A 30GB drive that was DOA on install. It was replaced on the spot.

In terms of reliability (EIDE) Seagate comes-in second for me. For SCSI, Segate takes a 1st-place ribbon for reliability/longevity.

[flcpge]

I have Western Digital and Seagate hard drives. Both are reliable so far. However, the WD drives thrash loudly compared to the Seagates.

[m3rlin]

i would recomend WD or Maxtor, the have good hard-drives now.

I had Seagate but the all broken down, due heat. They are fast but they heat up very fast as well, so due the heat the hard-drive after quite some time start's failling.

[Sepero]

If the other guys say to get Seagate, that is what I'd get. That way, if something goes wrong, you've got someone to blame. (Sorry to be harsh, but fair_is_fair.):)

[m3rlin]

i will never gonna buy barracuda series again from seagate, it sucks, i had 4 broken drives, luckly i managed to recover all the info from my last broken drive.

[ladoga]

Samsung.

It's a quite new player in HD market, but i really like their products. Very low noise compared to all other HDs i've used. Barely audible if i put my ear next to case.

I've had worst experiences with Maxtor drives. Of 3 that i had 2 have failed. In my experience WD, Maxtor and Hitachi drives make lot of noise. Seagates i don't have, so don't know about them.

[m3rlin]

yes in fact the do alot of noise, but i don't like samsung on hard-drive, but they are good on monitors :)

about the noise, there are several components to isolate the noise, so that's not really a problem

[Dutch Mafia-boy.]

I'm going to go with Seagate - simply b/c the other drive is a Seagate and I want them to be the same...the Promise guy said that's what he recommended too b/c the algorithms are probaly different between a WD and a Seagate...
Thanks....

Adrian

[EnigmaOne]

In that vein, you just reminded me that WD's have been the worst performers in terms of mixing drive brands in the same box.

Seagates & Maxtors mix just fine.

At any rate, since Seagate bought Maxtor, you just chose both. ;)

[rdeschene2]

This is what I'm currently using.

IDE 2.5": Toshiba (I've had two Hitachi laptop HDs fail)

IDE 3.5": Samsung (40GB quiet too), Maxtor (120GB remanufactured unit), Fujitsu (9GB)

[stingfunfun]

I prefer the Seagate. I'm using the Seagate 250GB 7200RPM which can be used with external enclosure, working well to me .

[m3rlin]

im not quite a fan of Samsung.... i guess Maxtor would be a good choise or hitatchi