Which HDD brand (120 GB) to get?

[ANTant]

I have been out of the loop lately with computer hardware. I am trying
to buy a new HDD to add to my current HDDs (not replace). I can get:

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)
Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache; 7200rpm)

Which brand should I get? You can see my primary computer system on:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt ... This will
mainly be for Windows XP. I am NOT moving any current drives (up to G:
for HDDs) and hoping to add H: and I: drives (split the new HDD in half
for two partitions).

Thank you in advance.
--
"Lay a stick of bubble gum on an anthill for instant Siamese Ant
Twins." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Ant @ The Ant Farm: http://antfarm.ma.cx
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\ _ / Remove ANT if replying by e-mail from a newsgroup.
( )

 

[Rod Speed]

I have been out of the loop lately with computer hardware. I am trying
to buy a new HDD to add to my current HDDs (not replace). I can get:

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)
Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache; 7200rpm)

Which brand should I get?

I'd get the WD myself.

You can see my primary computer system on:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt ...
This will mainly be for Windows XP. I am NOT
moving any current drives (up to G: for HDDs)

You should. The new drive will have significantly higher
performance than the current rather elderly boot drive
and you'll get a noticeable improvement in performance
making it the boot drive, with that being quite easy to do.

and hoping to add H: and I: drives
(split the new HDD in half for two partitions).

Why ?

 

[ANTant]

I'd get the WD myself.

You should. The new drive will have significantly higher
performance than the current rather elderly boot drive
and you'll get a noticeable improvement in performance
making it the boot drive, with that being quite easy to do.

Why ?

The problem is how I setup Linux and NTFS partitions. I do not want to
reinstall everything. I will have to reconfigure Grub on the HDD changes
as well.
--
"Lay a stick of bubble gum on an anthill for instant Siamese Ant
Twins." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Ant @ The Ant Farm: http://antfarm.ma.cx
| |o o| | E-mail: (e-mail address removed) or (e-mail address removed)
\ _ / Remove ANT if replying by e-mail from a newsgroup.
( )

 

[CJT]

I have been out of the loop lately with computer hardware. I am trying
to buy a new HDD to add to my current HDDs (not replace). I can get:

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)
Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache; 7200rpm)

Which brand should I get? You can see my primary computer system on:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt ... This will
mainly be for Windows XP. I am NOT moving any current drives (up to G:
for HDDs) and hoping to add H: and I: drives (split the new HDD in half
for two partitions).

Thank you in advance.

FWIW, I've recently bought a Maxtor 120 and a WD 120 (although I have no
idea whether they're the same drives you contemplate buying), and I've
noticed that the Maxtors take about half again as much power as the WDs
(and hence generate about half again as much heat).

Of course, one of the things I liked about the IBMs when they first
came out was their relatively low power consumption, and that ended
in disaster +/-.

 

[Rod Speed]

The problem is how I setup Linux and NTFS partitions.

Ghost and Drive image can clone the current boot drive and
say expand the current NTFS boot partition in the process.

I do not want to reinstall everything. I will have to
reconfigure Grub on the HDD changes as well.

Sure, but thats still doable.

 

[Wayne Youngman]

I have been out of the loop lately with computer hardware. I am trying
to buy a new HDD to add to my current HDDs (not replace). I can get:

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)
Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache; 7200rpm)

Which brand should I get? You can see my primary computer system on:
http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/about/computers.txt ... This will
mainly be for Windows XP. I am NOT moving any current drives (up to G:
for HDDs) and hoping to add H: and I: drives (split the new HDD in half
for two partitions).

Hi,

I say the Western-Digital SE

Wayne ][

 

[Will Dormann]

I have been out of the loop lately with computer hardware. I am trying
to buy a new HDD to add to my current HDDs (not replace). I can get:

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)
Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache; 7200rpm)

WD



-WD

 

[ANTant]

I say the Western-Digital SE

Wayne, what's so special about SE compared to the regular one?
--
"Lay a stick of bubble gum on an anthill for instant Siamese Ant
Twins." --unknown
/\___/\
/ /\ /\ \ Ant @ The Ant Farm: http://antfarm.ma.cx
| |o o| | E-mail: (e-mail address removed) or (e-mail address removed)
\ _ / Remove ANT if replying by e-mail from a newsgroup.
( )

 

[David Chien]

I say the Western-Digital SE

Wayne, what's so special about SE compared to the regular one?

8MB cache vs. 2MB

www.storagereview.com for benchmarks on HDs.

 

[larrymoencurly]

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)
Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache; 7200rpm)

Which brand should I get?

Maxtor advertises 20% faster operation for their HDs when the cache is
8MB instead of 2MB, but an independent review said that the
improvement was more like 15%.

I compared 80GB and 120GB Maxtor, WD, and Seagate 7200 RPM drives and
found that the WDs spin noticeably louder than the others, although
they were still fairly quiet, while the Seagate was definitely the
quietest. Both the Maxtor and Seagate were inaudible during seeks.
OTOH when all the drives were placed about 0.5" above on a table in
25C surrounding air and allowed to idle, the Seagate reached 46C
(thermometer in screw holes), compared to 42C for the others. I'm
sure the Seagate ran hotter because its PC board was covered with a
piece of metal and foam acoustical insulation.

 

[Salvatore]

3 yr Warranty on the retail SE

8MB cache vs. 2MB

www.storagereview.com for benchmarks on HDs.

 

[Barry OGrady]

Maxtor advertises 20% faster operation for their HDs when the cache is
8MB instead of 2MB, but an independent review said that the
improvement was more like 15%.

I compared 80GB and 120GB Maxtor, WD, and Seagate 7200 RPM drives and
found that the WDs spin noticeably louder than the others, although
they were still fairly quiet, while the Seagate was definitely the
quietest. Both the Maxtor and Seagate were inaudible during seeks.
OTOH when all the drives were placed about 0.5" above on a table in
25C surrounding air and allowed to idle, the Seagate reached 46C
(thermometer in screw holes), compared to 42C for the others. I'm
sure the Seagate ran hotter because its PC board was covered with a
piece of metal and foam acoustical insulation.

The newer WD 120 gig drives are claimed to run cooler because they have two
platters where the earlier ones have three.


-Barry
========
Web page: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~barry.og
Atheist, radio scanner, LIPD information.
Voicemail/fax number +14136227640

 

[Scott Alfter]

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what's so special about SE compared to the regular one?

8 megs of cache and a 3-year warranty for not much more than the regular
model (for instance, at Fry's the difference between the 800JB (SE) and
800BB (regular) was only $10).

_/_ Scott Alfter
/ v \ (e-mail address removed)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us Top-posting!
\_^_/ pkill -9 /bin/laden >What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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[Louise]

Maxtor advertises 20% faster operation for their HDs when the cache is
8MB instead of 2MB, but an independent review said that the
improvement was more like 15%.

I compared 80GB and 120GB Maxtor, WD, and Seagate 7200 RPM drives and
found that the WDs spin noticeably louder than the others, although
they were still fairly quiet, while the Seagate was definitely the
quietest. Both the Maxtor and Seagate were inaudible during seeks.
OTOH when all the drives were placed about 0.5" above on a table in
25C surrounding air and allowed to idle, the Seagate reached 46C
(thermometer in screw holes), compared to 42C for the others. I'm
sure the Seagate ran hotter because its PC board was covered with a
piece of metal and foam acoustical insulation.

I'm sure that's true; however, I have a Barracuda IV which
is extremely quiet and although it does seem to run a
little hot, I have not had any problems.

A little voice is saying that I shouldn't even write this
in a newsgroup just in case the drive hears me

Louise

 

[Charlie]

Western Digital 120 GB (8 MB cache; 7200rpm)

Just added one of these yesterday I got at OfficeMax for $159. Works fine as
the slave to my WD 40g c: drive.

Charlie

 

[Colin Watters]

I normally swear by WD, but about four hours ago my WD 100G 8M had a head
crash and the drive is toast after 18 months use.... I'll probably replace
it with a WD 120G though!

 

[Rod Speed]

I normally swear by WD, but about four hours ago my WD 100G
8M had a head crash and the drive is toast after 18 months use....
I'll probably replace it with a WD 120G though!

In that situation you're sposed to swear AT WD, even if you do replace it with another.

Why arent you making a warranty claim ? The 8MB cache versions have 3 year warrantys.

 

[a user]

In that situation you're sposed to swear AT WD, even if you do replace it with another.

Why arent you making a warranty claim ? The 8MB cache versions have 3 year warrantys.

The costs of sending the drive back (including packaging by the UPS mailer)
is not much lower than a new drive?

Picked up a wd 160 gig (jb ver, 8MB cache) for $167 but had 2 rebates:
$50 & $20 for net price of $97 (presuming the rebates are honored).
Fry's will last date for 1 of the rebates is dec 16 & the other is dec 23.

 

[Rod Speed]

The costs of sending the drive back (including packaging
by the UPS mailer) is not much lower than a new drive?

Picked up a wd 160 gig (jb ver, 8MB cache) for $167 but had 2 rebates:
$50 & $20 for net price of $97 (presuming the rebates are honored).

Unlikely to cost that much to return it.