Hitachi or Seagate?

[Frodo]

I'm looking at getting a hard drive for storage and there are two choices.
Both drives are SATA-II & 16MBs of cache, retail box, at a local Fry's
Electronics.
Hitachi 500GB for $169 (-40 mail in rebate) $129, 3 year warranty
Seagate 400GB, in store price $119, 5 year warranty
So, what would be the better choice?

 

[CJT]

I'm looking at getting a hard drive for storage and there are two choices.
Both drives are SATA-II & 16MBs of cache, retail box, at a local Fry's
Electronics.
Hitachi 500GB for $169 (-40 mail in rebate) $129, 3 year warranty
Seagate 400GB, in store price $119, 5 year warranty
So, what would be the better choice?

FWIW, I'd choose the Seagate.

 

[Rod Speed]

I'm looking at getting a hard drive for storage and there are two choices. Both drives are SATA-II
& 16MBs of cache, retail box, at a local Fry's Electronics.
Hitachi 500GB for $169 (-40 mail in rebate) $129, 3 year warranty
Seagate 400GB, in store price $119, 5 year warranty
So, what would be the better choice?

There's bugger all in it. The Hitachi is better $/GB but has the hassle of a rebate.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

I'm looking at getting a hard drive for storage and there are two choices.
Both drives are SATA-II & 16MBs of cache, retail box, at a local Fry's
Electronics.
Hitachi 500GB for $169 (-40 mail in rebate) $129, 3 year warranty
Seagate 400GB, in store price $119, 5 year warranty
So, what would be the better choice?

Read the reviews.
There has been an issue with Seagate not supporting Acoustic Management.
Maybe it is an issue of the past but worth investigating if loud seeks bother you.

 

[Frodo]

I'm currently using two Seagate 7200.9 300GB SATA-II in my computer right
now.
They were noticeable during the first few weeks, but now I can not even hear
them.
So I've got no problems with the noise level of Seagates.

 

[Frodo]

Think I'll wait for the next sale, really do not need the extra storage
space right now.

 

[Curious George]

If the Seagate is a Barracuda ES or NL35 Series I'd definitely go with
that.

Read the reviews.
There has been an issue with Seagate not supporting Acoustic Management.
Maybe it is an issue of the past but worth investigating if loud seeks bother you.

At least in older generations the AAM was locked, tuned for
"performance" for the SATA models while the PATAs were tuned for
"silence". There is also an idle diagnostic routine that some ppl
don't seem to like. Not sure if the current generation is the same
though. Honestly, I think the "issue" is & was over-hyped.

 

[drdoom]

I'm looking at getting a hard drive for storage and there are two choices.
Both drives are SATA-II & 16MBs of cache, retail box, at a local Fry's
Electronics.
Hitachi 500GB for $169 (-40 mail in rebate) $129, 3 year warranty
Seagate 400GB, in store price $119, 5 year warranty
So, what would be the better choice?

Seagate.

5 year warranty on all their drives.

 

[Achim Metzen]

Seagate 400GB, in store price $119, 5 year warranty

So, what would be the better choice?

I had a Seagate 2.5'' 5400.3 80GB for 3 month. It took Seagate 6 weeks
to return a new 5400.2 100GB (80GB 5400.3 was not in stock?!) drive
which was defective on arrival. So, I have to wait again. ("normally we
will return in 4-7 business days, but if we do not have stock....")

Result:
3 month working
3 (? will see) month service time

What is 5 Years warranty worth ???

 

[Curious George]

I had a Seagate 2.5'' 5400.3 80GB for 3 month. It took Seagate 6 weeks
to return a new 5400.2 100GB (80GB 5400.3 was not in stock?!) drive
which was defective on arrival. So, I have to wait again. ("normally we
will return in 4-7 business days, but if we do not have stock....")

Result:
3 month working
3 (? will see) month service time

What is 5 Years warranty worth ???

You have 5 years from purchase to get a replacement you can eBay for a
few pennies. Given the limited level of diagnostics and repair of
"refurbs" I generally don't bother with 'em, from any manufacturer.