Recommend a HardDrive for me.

[MacAficionado]

Could you guys please recommend a good hard drive to replace my stock IBM HD that came with the dual 867 MD?

I know I want either a 80 GB or 120, 7200rpm, with 8Mb cache, I've been reading around looking for prices and was a surprised to read so many bad reviews of the Western Digitals. So my questions are:

Which is the better brand?
Do Seagate HD's fit in there? (I've read good things about those)

My IBM HD has just gotten too noisy for my taste, It sounds like I'm in the cockpit of an airplane, it's like a high pitch, but subtle whinny noise. I can't stand it.

Well any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

:)

[stoid]

I bought a bargain 7200 RPM 80GB Maxtor drive from Office Depot and have not had any problems with it. I think that HDs are in a way becoming like RAM, where brand is not too important.

[Opteron]

Any Desktop HDD with an IDE ATA bus will fit in.
Segate,
WD
Maxtor
Hatichi/IBM

These are all good brands, with reliable products. I've got a 30GB Seagate that's 3 years old and can't complain.

I'd recomend any of these brands, and the largest HDD you can buy with the money you're willing to spend.

[briankonar]

the cheapest hard drive (with the right specs of course) is your best bet. i got a 120GB from Best Buy around Christmas, after rebates it was $10.

[sonofslim]

i've got a 120GB seagate, 7200rpm and i'm very happy with it. the barracuda line is very, very quiet -- a lot of cube owners use them because of that. (myself included.)

i've also got a samsung spinpoint i use as an external. good drive, almost as quiet.

a western digital went belly-up in my office a few weeks ago.

[MacAficionado]

Thank you for your responses. I'm leaning more towards the Seagate.

I heard people have situations similar to Sonofslim's WD hard drive more often than I care for.

Thanks again.

[Makosuke]

Seagate is a very good bet; they're extremely quiet, run relatively cool (generally meaning better lifespan), inexpensive, and at least as far as my anecdotal experience and the database over at Storagereview.com says, they're probably the most reliable brand.

Make sure you buy the OEM 8MB cache model, though--those are the only ones that come with a 3 year warranty. (Maddeningly, the SATA versions aren't available with a 3 year warranty at all, which caused me to get a high-end Hitachi instead.)

These days, I generally either buy Seagate or Hitachi (Seagate is probably more reliable and a bit quieter, Hitachi faster; I get Seagate when I just need reliable, Hitachi when I want speed), though I have nothing against WD personally, either. I don't trust Maxtors--they have a very bad reputation for reliability, and the brand new, top of the line one that came with my G5 is extremely noisy (much louder than any other brand I've recently used) and runs quite hot (a bad thing).

Samsung drives are acutally pretty good as well--dirt cheap and amazingly quiet. I haven't had any problem with reliability with them, either.

[anubis]

I work as a computer technician at a major university. I probably encounter about 50 hard drive failures per year, and all but one or to (97%) are western digitals. they SUCK

[tomf87]

I work as a computer technician at a major university. I probably encounter about 50 hard drive failures per year, and all but one or to (97%) are western digitals. they SUCK

Are these in a branded machine, like Dell, IBM, etc?

I find that the ones OEM use tend to die earlier deaths than the ones off the shelf. I have had several WD drives that have lasted years, a 400MB one to be exact in an old 486.

EDIT: And to add to the thread, if you're looking for quiet, make sure it has Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB). They really make the drive quiet and increase longevity.

[sonofslim]

if you're looking for quiet, make sure it has Fluid Dynamic Bearings (FDB). They really make the drive quiet and increase longevity.

agreed. the latest seagate 'cudas all use FDBs, and i'd have to check the specs (and i'm feeling too lazy right now) but i'm pretty sure the samsung spinpoint i have uses the same technology.

[solvs]

You should check IBM's website to see if you're still under warranty. Mine was doing the same thing. I checked the site, it re-directed me to Hitachi's site, and I was still under warranty. After I send my old one in, they sent me a new one. Works great. Otherwise, look for a good deal on Seagates at places like CompUSA, Best Buy, or Circuit City. I got a 200 GB one for about $70 after rebates.

Or try www.newegg.com for some good deals. Just read the reviews there.

[Celeron]

If you want to the hands down fastest hard drive out there for any interface, check out the Leaderboard at www.storagereview.com. Best hard drive review site on the net.

Here's a direct link to it:

http://storagereview.com/php/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=LeaderBoard