Reliable 80gb drives

[Clive]

I thinking of getting one of Netgears SC101 Home storage.

I looking for reliable 80gb drives for 24/7 use -not too bothered about
performance

Clive

 

[Ralph Wade Phillips]

Howdy!

I thinking of getting one of Netgears SC101 Home storage.

I looking for reliable 80gb drives for 24/7 use -not too bothered about
performance

Seagate with the 5 year warranty. But go ahead and get larger
....there's not much increase in price to about 200G or so.

RwP

 

[Jim]

Reliable you say? Reliable?

The standard IDE and SATA HD technology today is fundamentally flawed, it's
like anything else with so many moving parts and close tolerances -- it
takes very little to cause damage and ruin your day. Frankly, there's
hardly a manufacturer for whom someone, somewhere will not have a horror
story. After reading these horror stories over MANY years, I've come to the
conclusion that generally speaking (there's always exceptions), the problem
is NOT the manufacturer, it's the technology. Eventually it will be
replaced w/ a much better technology in the future, one that is solid-state
and much less vulnerable to failure.

That said, I has some generally applicable advice. In my experience, I've
had the best luck w/ Seagate, although even so, I just started getting lots
of bad sectors on a 300GB IDE drive I purchased only back in the Spring.
Looks like I'll be RMA'ing it soon. I'd place Western Digital second,
although their HDs tend to be a little more noisy. Then bringing up the
rear is Maxtor (their support for acoustic management gives them the edge
for Tivo's, HTPC, etc., where silent running is critical). In all cases, I
believe it's imperative to keep the HDs in a cool place, w/ constant temp
and humidity. And running 24/7 is preferred unless you really only use it
sporadically. While 24/7 does impact overall longevity, I've found that
this is less of a problem than the constant start-up and shutdown associated
w/ on-demand usage. Ever notice a light bulb always seems to go out when
you turn it on?! Granted, it's anecdotal, but there's little else to go on,
few of us every really determine WHY a HD failed, it just does, and we
replace it.

That why, in the end, it's actually more important to consider the warranty
than wasting too much time debating this model vs. the other. The
peformance differences are, despite all the benchmarking hoopla, so neglible
in real world applications as to be irrelevant. They're all pretty much the
same. Reliability assessment, again, is very ancedotal. But if I was
FORCED to choose based on this ancedotal evidence, I'd say Maxtor was more
problematic, Seagate and WD are probably a toss up. The problem drives are
always hard to spot, the good warranties are not. Seagate's 5 yr warranty
places it FAR ahead of its competitors, most of whom limit you to 1 yr (WD
usually let's you extend it for two more yrs fort $15, I don't think Maxtor
offers any extensions).

Jim

 

[John Doe]

Reliable you say? Reliable?

That's what he said.

Seagate's 5 yr warranty
places it FAR ahead of its competitors, most of whom limit you to
1 yr (WD usually let's you extend it for two more yrs fort $15,

My Western Digital Raptor 10,000 rpm hard drive has a five-year
warranty. They have a 74GB version for $160, but the original poster
said he's not interested in performance so I figured he wouldn't
want to pay that much. But there is a difference, by the way.

 

[Jim]

Since the Netgear SC101 does not support SATA, the point is interesting, but
irrelevant, which is why I excluded it (I'm well aware of the differences w/
the Raptors).

http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101554.asp

Jim

 

[John Doe]

Since the Netgear SC101 does not support SATA,

I wish I had known that sooner.

the point is interesting, but irrelevant, which is why I excluded
it

Baloney. Your reply started with this:
"The standard IDE and SATA HD technology today is fundamentally
flawed..."
Then you made no distinction between IDE and SATA when
you were talking about warranties.

(I'm well aware of the differences w/ the Raptors).

If only I could read your mind.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101554.asp

You were talking about "IDE and SATA" hard drives and I was just
following your lead.

I'll be more careful.

 

[Jim]

Happy Holidays!

Jim

I wish I had known that sooner.


Baloney. Your reply started with this:
"The standard IDE and SATA HD technology today is fundamentally
flawed..."
Then you made no distinction between IDE and SATA when
you were talking about warranties.


If only I could read your mind.


You were talking about "IDE and SATA" hard drives and I was just
following your lead.

I'll be more careful.




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