Purchasing a Harddrive

PhuckFonix · 08-13-2004, 10:22 AM

I want to purchase a new harddrive that is at least 40 gigs in space, is quite, and has a long life. What do you recommend? Where should I purchase it?

DiZi · 08-13-2004, 10:32 AM

Since i dont live where you live. I cant say where to buy it. But i personally like Seagate alot, really quite, always worked good for me

Even my old disks :P

mikedeatworld · 08-13-2004, 01:24 PM

www.pricewatch.com

Skyline · 08-13-2004, 01:42 PM

Not as quite as a Seagate, but Western Digital drives are good - good prices on 120gb drives at the moment - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...aA==&cat_uid=4

jomen · 08-13-2004, 02:17 PM

I'd give Samsung drives my vote - they are (where I live) among the cheaper ones and are really quiet!
I have a SAMSUNG SP1203N - 120 GB
All I can hear while my machine is running is the CPU-fan - and maybe the one from power-supply...
and this is no tuned machine (like with sound-absorbing materials inside the case) - like some people do it...

Electro · 08-13-2004, 03:01 PM

Seagate hard drives are slow. Look at either IBM/Hitachi or Western Digital. If you have a bunch of fans, using quiet hard drives will be irrelevant. Mounting hard drives on metal creates the noise you are talking about. Get hard drive sound absorbent mounting device but you have to mount it a 5.25 inch drive bay.

Genesee · 08-13-2004, 03:37 PM

I have never had a problem with western dig. drives, myself.

there are tons of comparison-shop sites online - I'd recommend you visit many of them before purchasing, as prices can vary wildly. here is one for example:

http://www.bizrate.com/buy/browse__cat_id--410.html

(and don't forget the HCL here at LQ, as well

)

SBing · 08-13-2004, 03:49 PM

I'm going to plug WD as well, I (and many computer literate friends) have WD on IDE or SATA with 8MB caches, the drives that we seem to end up with are called "Caviar, Special Edition", I guess because of the 8MB cache over the standard 2MB cache - it seems to make a difference in speed, but I only have anecdotal evidence.

Hard drive prices seem to be always falling, the 120GB one I have is about the same price as a 200GB a year later - oh well :)

PhuckFonix · 08-13-2004, 04:32 PM

Thanks for all the suggestions Western Digital and Hitachi have been recommended to me before. I will look into those two. I have IDE cables, my hds are /dev/hdx

Serial ATA and SCSI is not what I"m looking for? Just ULTRA DMA/ATA?

darin3200 · 08-13-2004, 04:34 PM

I have two Maxtor drives that I got at staples and they have worked just fine for me.

PhuckFonix · 08-13-2004, 05:02 PM

I looked through a combination of pricewatch, bizrate, and newegg here is what I chose from WD vs Hitachi with the size I just about want:
http://www.bizrate.com/marketplace/s...8,sort--6.html

I am thinking about getting the $59 one from the one with 100k reviews.

Electro · 08-14-2004, 03:37 AM

If you do not mind spending a little more. You can get the model with 8 megabyte of cache if you are using it as an OS hard drive.

To make the hard drive last a long time. Do ground shipping (much lower G forces than shipping it by air), wait an hour before installing it, and be very careful while handling and mounting it.