Maxtor, Seagate or Western Digital HD?

graeme d warrengraeme d warren
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Hi there,



I have decided to upgrade the hard disk in my slot-loading iMac to a 40 Gb or 60Gb model. I have found good deals on these drives in a 5400rpm version (don't want to heat the old machine up too much!) and am unsure of what bradn to buy. They are all of a similar price, with just a few pounds between them. Any experiences, good or bad with any of these manufacturers? Thanks <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    jonathan brisbyjonathan brisby Posts: 318member
    Personally? Maxtor all the way. Well cheaper and bigger drives and I have yet to have one die on me. (Not so with Seagate, or WD) Also I put a 7200 rpm in a slot loader and it has survived okay. You'll get mixed responses from folks about this but it fixed the problem with iTunes skipping (when the hard drive was spinning up and down)
  • Reply 2 of 7
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    I have had one Maxtor die on me. I have 2 Western Digitals and 2 Seagates. I am very happy with them. The Western Digitals I have are pretty much the fastest IDE HDDs out there.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    i've had 1 maxtor die on me, and one WD. the maxtor was a cinch to get replaced, they people were wonderful to deal with. not as much with the other companies. otherwise my only suggestion is no IBM Deskstar. (aka deathstar)
  • Reply 4 of 7
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    Agreed, I was on the phone with a Maxtor support rep for no longer than 10 minutes before I got my RMA issued.



    Deskstars are deadly too.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    I have three Maxtor drives. Granted, two of them are relatively new, but they run fast and haven't died yet. Plus, they are (well, were) the cheapest drives of their class when I bought them.



    Seagate drives are very, very, quiet. Much more quiet than any other HD. If you want a quiet Mac, go with the Seagate. They aren't quite as fast as the others, but since you're interested in a 7200RPM drive speed probably isn't your main criteria.



    I'm pretty sure WD drives are reliable, but the main attraction to WD drives at this point is their special edition 8MB cache drives that really boost performance quite a bit. However, those are much more expensive and are on the 7200RPM models only, I'm pretty sure.



    Whatever you do, don't get an IBM drive of any flavor. The 75GXPs have an extremely high failure rate, and the 60GXPs fail a lot as well. Only the very brave or very stupid would buy a 120GXP, seeing as how IBM couldn't get it right the first two times. Check out the perpetual "My IBM 75/60/120GXP just died" thread out at Ars Technica. The fact that that thread has been alive for about a year now alone should scare you enough.



    Check out storagereview.com for a more detailed summary of all these drives. Most comprehensive drive reviews I've ever seen.



    I'd recommend getting a Seagate: reliable and quiet, and pretty cheap as well. Good luck.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    tooltool Posts: 242member
    I have had 3 Maxtor HD's (10GB, 40GB and 60GB) and they all are still working..all 3 are 7200rpm.



    That said, I'm looking at getting (sometime in the future) a larger HD, around 120GB in size, and <a href="http://www.newegg.com"; target="_blank">www.newegg.com</a> has the best prices I have seen for the WD brand, around $155.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    patchoulipatchouli Posts: 402member
    <a href="http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Home.jsp"; target="_blank">GoogleGear</a> is also a great site for HDs.
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