are these drives any good? has anyone got any kind of horror stories while using one of these things?i'm thinking of buying one(I'm running out of room on my 40GB)and i'm asking if anyone recomends them. EDIT:can i get a quick reply since i'm going for a new drive tomorrow.thanks
I bought the 80GB version about 2 years ago and i have to say its been the best drive ive ever had. Its lovely and quiet even when seeking and its been extremely reliable. I've given it a full 2 years of abuse, it has been in use constantly pretty much since I've had it. 24 hour slow downloading hasnt fazed it at all, despite the 8 hour/day recommendations. Ive got a pretty much brand new 200GB Maxtor diamondmax +9 SATA that is much louder and seems slower, and creates more heat. On another note... I dont own one but I've installed one.. Samsung spinpoint drives seem very very nice. 3 year warranty to boot. I'd probably recommend this one over anything else, but i havent given it the test of time.
thanks a lot for the reply.i'm going to get it on your recommendation(plus RTT's article i found after a i posted) thanks monkeyspank
i have a 800bb that's almost 2 years old and has been on 24/7 while at uni, i've only had one problem where something got corrupted and my windows went foobar but i blame windows for that . resonable speed drive but it's pre-fdb so not über silent. i also have a 2500jb in an external drive, slightly quieter than the 800bb but run flawlesly almost 24/7 for jus under a year. my latest is a sata spinpoint 120gb, jus under a month old, about 50% faster than my 800bb and super-über-silent edit: btw the 2500jb is in my av atm
I hate WDs. I had 2 WDs that died, 3.2GB and 10GB. A friend of mine works at RMA and he's always getting WDs RMAed.
just my 2 cents, since im probably gonna get a new hd too i got one wd 120gig a few years back, still running day by day, for all the abuse ive put this thing through, its been solid! only problem is after few years, its making an anonying loud whine! still works perfect just anonying my new wd raptor, is perfect! yay for wd! i guess it would help if you buy wd hd with fluid bearings, as they tend to be quieter, if they arent all fluid bearings by now!
WD were by far the slowest of the big HD manus to use FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearings). The general concensus coupled with my own experience is that WD HDs are louder but good quality and reliable. I would class Maxtor and Seagate as tops, fast, reliable, pretty cool running and quiet. Seagate being a little slower BUT also a little quieter and cooler than Maxtor. Samsung have really gained a foothold too, but I'd wait another year to see if any reports of poor reliability surface. I heard the same thing about Hitachi that people have been saying recently of Samsung, but I've had 2 HDs (out of 3) die within 9 months of purchase. I personally would not buy WD even though I'm sure they must have (surely) addressed the heat and noise issues that plagued them. IMHO WD simply relied on the reputation they built up by being first with 8MB cache. I will never buy Hitachi again, it's clear to me they have carried all of IBM's bugs over, did Hitachi do more than just make their own stickers? However I am very picky, most of the diffs are minor in all reality, and although I handle more kit than most it is still an incredibly small sample size. My advice would be to go Maxtor or Seagate although Samsung and WD should be okay too.
well since scan is closed today i'm not going.might go with a 120Gb Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 ATA-133 (7200rpm,8MB)
Ive had a WD 40 gig for bout 3 years, running ~12 hours a day and for the past month 24/7. Never had a problem with it, nada, runs fine. I also have a WD 80 gig thats been running 24/7 for bout 6 months now, runs just fine, no probs. I think people kill so many of them because they dont cool them rite. I have 2 80mm fans blowing air over the 2 HDD's and one 120 rite above them removing the hot air. THe drives stay at room temp.....
My 160GB 8MB PATA Spinpoint is faster than either of my 120GB 8MB PATA WDs too, I don't know how it manages it as they're pretty much the same specs Whisper-quiet too, I love it.
I hate wd, i cant use reliable and WD in a sentence. its impossible. I bought 40gb wd, short while later the whole thing is full of bad sectors and i lost alot of data, i returned it and got another one, had some kind of trouble with it cant remeber and by that time warenty expired. So i put it away for a long while, the other day i put it in to test it, it actually works again. I think the device that makes it self destruct after warrenty expires malfunctioned, lol J/K. But ill see how long it lasts this time!
i have a 1200JD (sata version instead of the "JB" IDE one) its a great drive. pretty quiet, runs smooth and pretty cool (30*c~ with no fans blowing over it) i have had a bad time with a 800JB though. it runs about 40*c with two 60mm fans blowing over it Its really hit or miss with WDs though. you get a really good one, or a REALLY bad one.
louder, hotter and slower than my WD.? much louder, hotter and slower and 1/3 of the warranty of a samsung spinpoint...?
and at £58 it's the same as i payed for my 120gb 8mb cache spinpoint (minus postage) from kustom *hugs* spinpoint
Have a 120gb wd in me main pc at uni, have no prbs from it at all, nice and fast not the quietest of drives though. Its been sat in a silentdrive for ~ 12 months so max heat and its not moaned at all! With kam on the samsungs though, have just got a 60gb 2mb cache one, its fast and about the same noise as a seagate 'cuda, but much much cooler running. Very impressed.
VERY few HD manus give a 3 year warranty now, it used to be standard industry practice. IIRC WD and Maxtor both did on their 'top' HDs, have to check what that refers to though, used to be WD JB (8MB) and Maxtor's SATA 120GB+. Do Samsung give a 3 year warranty on all their HDs? If so this coupled with the excellent rep they've been building up would make them the clear way to go. Monkeyspank, I'd always heard the WD were generally among the hottest and loudest of HDs (again we're talking marginally), and the 'super speed' they were often honoured with was down to the fact they were first with 8MB cache, compared to the 2MB HDs they had the edge. I've used 7200-2 and 7200-8 and TBH there's VERY little real world diff, but I guess that's another point and nowadays 8MB don't demand a high price anyway. Most modern comparisons I've seen show very little real perf between any of the HD brands, perhaps Seagate hanging a little further back but then they were usually the quietest and coolest running HDs on test.
WD and sammy both have 3yr IIRC the enterprise WD's (raptors) have 5yr. Have an old DM+9 maxtor here with a 5yr (lucky too as its dead :S)
