Which hard drive?

[S.Boardman]

I was all set for a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80Gb 8 Mb cache (three
actually - 2 for RAID 1 plus a spare) because the 120Gb got good reviews in
my brother's magazine (PCPro or Internet I think). Then I look in my
Computer Shopper magazine and it gets really rubbish reviews.

I'm not bothered about upgrading to SATA. I can't see another another drive
that is 80Gb with an 8Mb cache. Do I need an 8Mb cache? I don't do video
editing, just websites and games (Doom3/Half Life 2, anyone?). Also in the
list I have in front of me, only Maxtor seem to do UDMA133 drives...
Any experiences of the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus drives please?

 

[nightic]

I was all set for a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80Gb 8 Mb cache (three
actually - 2 for RAID 1 plus a spare) because the 120Gb got good reviews in
my brother's magazine (PCPro or Internet I think). Then I look in my
Computer Shopper magazine and it gets really rubbish reviews.

I'm not bothered about upgrading to SATA. I can't see another another drive
that is 80Gb with an 8Mb cache. Do I need an 8Mb cache? I don't do video
editing, just websites and games (Doom3/Half Life 2, anyone?). Also in the
list I have in front of me, only Maxtor seem to do UDMA133 drives...
Any experiences of the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus drives please?

Been very impressed by the new Hitachi 7K250 range - running faster, quieter
& cooler than my Maxtor DM+ 9 & Maxline II drives.

Storage review seem to agree:

http://tinyurl.com/u19w

 

[stacey]

S.Boardman wrote:

I'm not bothered about upgrading to SATA. I can't see another another
drive that is 80Gb with an 8Mb cache. Do I need an 8Mb cache? I don't do
video editing, just websites and games (Doom3/Half Life 2, anyone?).

The 8 meg drives ussually have a much longer warranty as well. Something to
look into.. I'm happy with the WD 8meg 7200RPM 80 gig drives I've used.

 

[Carl Buckley]

I bought a Maxtor Diamond Max 9 200GB drive last week and i have found it to
be fantastic, it is almost silent running and doesnt seem to generate as
much heat as other 7200rpm drives ive had in the past. the 8mb cache does
make a big difference when transfering data about and a little bit in games
that access drive a lot, i noticed a bigger difference this way than when i
tested a serial ata drive which i found performance to be a bit poor.

 

[S.Boardman]

I bought a Maxtor Diamond Max 9 200GB drive last week and i have found it to
be fantastic, it is almost silent running and doesnt seem to generate as
much heat as other 7200rpm drives ive had in the past. the 8mb cache does
make a big difference when transfering data about and a little bit in games
that access drive a lot, i noticed a bigger difference this way than when i
tested a serial ata drive which i found performance to be a bit poor.

Great, thanks. I think I'll go ahead with the Maxtor ones then. Wish they
had a longer warranty though.

 

[Carl Buckley]

3 years is good for a warranty, a lot of drives only come with 12 months

 

[Mike]

I have the Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm 133Mhz 8MB cache drive. The end cost was only
$55 (retail boxed). Thats a lot of bang for your buck. Maxtor is one of the
only few companies that honor their rebates. Its gonna take 10 weeks to get
it though, Maxtor adds 2 weeks to the date they actually receive it.