Buying A Hard Drive (reliability)
***Sidenote: I am paranoid about buying hard drives! I bought an IBM 45GXP. I never got into the class action lawsuit thingy because I bought it from MadLogix. Who is responsible, and can I ever get my stuff back? When TechTool Pro did "directory optimization" it revealed what I think is the 45GXP hard drive problem, since whenever an app like Data Rescue searches the hard drive, it crashes around 10%. Even hangs OS X! So it must be hardware. MadLogix has been less than helpful and if I could I'd sue them. NEVER buy from MadLogix, they suck!
I am thinking about buying the Western Digital 120 Gig hard drive for $99 with a $30 rebate, which I found on <a href="http://www.dealmac.com." target="_blank">www.dealmac.com.</a> Great site! I was wondering, does anyone here own Western Digital hard drives? How is the reliability? I am going to put everything on this hard drive! Are Maxtor or Seagate more reliable? Are there any hard drive brands out there known for reliability? Perhaps even IBM, if they learned from their 45GXP event?
I am thinking about buying the Western Digital 120 Gig hard drive for $99 with a $30 rebate, which I found on <a href="http://www.dealmac.com." target="_blank">www.dealmac.com.</a> Great site! I was wondering, does anyone here own Western Digital hard drives? How is the reliability? I am going to put everything on this hard drive! Are Maxtor or Seagate more reliable? Are there any hard drive brands out there known for reliability? Perhaps even IBM, if they learned from their 45GXP event?
Comments
[ 08-28-2002: Message edited by: Mac The Fork ]</p>
<strong>***Sidenote: I am paranoid about buying hard drives! I bought an IBM 45GXP. I never got into the class action lawsuit thingy because I bought it from MadLogix.
MadLogix has been less than helpful and if I could I'd sue them.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Similar story: Bought an IBM - what, umm...75GXP from OWC. Never worked right, and about 9 mos ago got sick of it, called OWC. They suggested a variety of tests, took a long time to complete, as it involved backing up many gigs, reformatting, filling, backing up, etc. This was due to the PowerLogix upgrade card I'd added - had to be sure it was the drive.
Anyway get done w/ all this, get back w/ OWC, they say, hmm, it's a drive problem - call IBM.
Boom.
So, scurrilous vendors aside, I'd love to know if IBM has redeemed themselves in terms of quality (and if they'll redeem my 60-gigger0. Was always a big Quantum fan, in the SCSI days - they're no longer an option, are they?
Problem is, I've heard good and bad about every make of drive there ever was. Seems you either have a problem or you don't, and if you do, it sours you on whoever you bought it from.
It's fast and it's silent and very reliable so far.
(in a Beige G3 tower).
Two friends of mine (PC users) got the same drives from a local reseller and they too never had the slightest problems.
G-news
Seagate
Seagate
A little more expensive but worth it.
<strong>Seagate
Seagate
Seagate
A little more expensive but worth it.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I agree!!! Seagate is the brand to buy no IMO.
As for MadLogix/IBM you're damn right I'm soured on them. IBM, perhaps not. But MadLogix should at least respond to my emails. I have written quite a few over the course of the past YEAR and a HALF! I have had this old, useless Alien 45GXP collecting dust, hoping someone will replace it and hopefully pay for DriveSavers ($800 last time I looked, that's painful!) I really want to get my stuff on there back Prosoft engineers (Data Rescue) were quite responsive. It seems Data Rescue can't account for hardware failure, it hangs even OS X. I have to pull the FireWire cable to get it to stop spinning the drive (that worries me considering it's likely IBM's flaky hardware) They said this is an OS issue, also. Weird.
Marcus
I love hard drive from Quantum, too bad they are now under Maxtor. My Quantum SCSI drive inside my Performa 6116CD is still running good.
Kenneth
Personally, my favorite drive company right now is Western Digtal. I've never had a problem with any of the drives, and their warranty program is good. I've known some people who've had problems with them, including a guy who had 5 WD drives (older <1GB models) fail on him with the fifth actually catching on fire when it happened.
I would recommend against Maxtor, because their drives seem to be geared towards 'home' user usage. People who only have their computers on for a few hours per day never seem to have problems, but people who use them constantly may run into reliability problems. I have had two Maxtor drives fail on me. To Maxtor's credit, I would have to say that they have a very good RMA service program, and, if your drive goes bad, it will not be a hassle getting it replaced. Also, the prices on Maxtor drives tend to be some of the cheapest around if you're concerned about price.
Basically, you should do some research and find a brand that works for you. People swear by their brand of hard drive, so you'll see different responses as to which drive is right for you. I would search around to see which companies have good RMA policies (I know Maxtor and WD do). Also, be sure to always backup important data.
[ 08-30-2002: Message edited by: Majuki ]</p>
hard drives are cheap
get at least TWO drives say 1 internal, and one external. use the 2nd drive to back up your main drive in case of problems.
bACKUP DAILY...
ALWAYS assume you will at some point lose data...
that backup drive has been a lifesaver for me.
i like the wd with the 8 meg cache but am looking at those fast seagate drives.