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Whats a good hard drive?

Nerwin

By Nerwin
in Hard Drive and Removable Media

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DL.

DL.

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Posted

A friend of mine had two brand new Maxtors die on him in just a few months time.

I use only Maxtor, and I've never had any problems. However I did notice the 120GB DiamondMax Plus 9 (ATA133, 6Y120P0) getting almost too hot to touch, even though i had it outside of the case. None of my two 300GB DiamondMax 10:s (SATA, 6B300S0) come close in terms of temperature.

Does anyone have any experience with the MaxLine-series? Is there any difference in terms of temperature and/or reliability compared to the DiamondMax-series?

My experience with older drives (from the mid-90:s that are still in use or are still available for usage) is that Maxtor, Quantum and Seagate appear to be working ok, while WD often crashes/fails. Also a few years ago (around 2002 i think) there where some major compatibility issues with the WD-drives. Most (if not all) manufacturers have had some issues at some point in history.

As of today there seem to be no clear and undisputed leader in terms of reliability.

From what I've read lately very few people have had any problems with newer drives from Seagate and Samsung. So my recommendation is to pick up any of those.

Always use fans to keep your drives cool, it may/will extend their lifetime!

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Porn Loader

Porn Loader

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Posted
However I did notice the 120GB DiamondMax Plus 9 (ATA133, 6Y120P0) getting almost too hot to touch, even though i had it outside of the case.

Does anyone have any experience with the MaxLine-series? Is there any difference in terms of temperature and/or reliability compared to the DiamondMax-series?

hard drives need to be cooled. out of the case, no air flow.

as for the diamondmax vs maxline... initially they were designed on the same specs, but some of the mateials on the diamax were oof lessor quality. supposedly any diamax manufactured after 3/05 or 4/05 are pretty much identical o the maxline minus the warrantee.

as for what do i use? im pretty hard on hdd's ive got 3 longhair cats, and i am a heavy smoker. ive had quite a few drives die on me. 2 wd, 3 maxtor, 2 deathstars (out of 3 'puters in the same room). i went with the diamondmax 10 300gig sata cause it was dirt cheap (four months ago) i paid like $128us shipped.

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DarkShadows

DarkShadows

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Hi!

Which is the best (fast) hard drive that i could buy today?

What should i look for, the greates RPM or transfer rate ?(SCSi,SATA it doesn't matter )

I'm also looking for small capacity but it doesn't matter too much.

What you need is a measure of "Realized Speed" (or some other name). Go to a sight like AnandTech.com, or some other such site that does intense product reviews. They put products through rigorous benchmarking tests in various conditions. What you do with the drive will affect "realized speed" if you copy large video files, then certain factors will increase "realized speed" while others detract from it. If you are writing many smaller files, the "realized speed" will be different with the same factors.

RPM is only one factor in "realized speed"; Many other factors go into it.

Seek Time is generally one of the most limiting agents in the equation of "realized speed". This is the time it takes the head to move laterally over the platter (the needle on the record so-to-speak), to locate the next file you are trying to read or write. LOWER is better on this number.

Then there is the interface speed. ATA 33/66/100/133/SATA/SATAII, which I just listed from slowest to fastest. You must also make sure you match this drive rating to what your motherboard will support.

The amount of cache also plays a role. More is better. However, I personally advocate disabling write caching, if you don't have your PC on an uninterruptible power supply. If you lose power before the cache is written to the drive, then you run a huge risk of corrupting the files you were writing and possibly even the drive. Read caching should also be enabled, there is no such risk when reading files. If you do have an UPS, keep them both on.

Some drives have a silent operation mode, which comes at the expense of performance. Some drives have a power saving mode, which also comes at the expense of performance.

You want to acquaint yourself with all of these terms and get a handle on the utilities that comes with the drive, or at the manufacturer's website.

ATA drives will eventually become obsolete. So if your current motherboard supports SATA, consider purchasing SATA. Smaller cables, higher interface speeds, current state-of-the art technology, not much difference in price.

SATA II is the current leading edge. And is backward compatible with SATA I interface.

Your partitioning will affect performance as well. If you use Nero, there is a tool in the suite to check for the fastest partition. My testing shows that the tracks that are about 1/3 - 2/3 of the way inside the platter are the fastest. So I place my swap file and burning cache partitions in that region. The outer 1/3 is the next fastest, and the innermost third is the slowest. I put things like data backup files and install files in the inner tracks. Things I do not right to or read from often.

For optimum performance nothing beats a RAID 0 array. Two or more hard drives working in tandem writing information. But this is more expensive and has its own issues.

As to capacity, I think you should also measure cost/megabyte of storage. Buying a 40GB drive for $45.00 is cheap but buying a 160GB for $100.00 is cheaper. It's kind of like buying a house--you'll grow into it eventually.

Edited by DarkShadows
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Mercury_22

Mercury_22

Posted
Posted

Thanks DarkShadows!

Now i own an WD raptor 10000rpm 36gb sata but i'm thinking to upgrade my motherboard to a SATAII motherboard and i'm thinking to buy a second hdd to put my OS on it (without partitioning) so i need a fast and small one

So can i find an hdd faster then WD rptor (36gb or 74gb) on SATAII or SCSi (i can get a scsi adaptor)?

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KamiQuazi

KamiQuazi

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Posted

The cables are compatible but if u plug the Sata II hard drive in the Sata I port your will only go as fast a s the port will allow... Or plug a Sata I drive into a Sata II port the drive will only go as fast as the drive will allow....

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