I need to have big hard disk. Or two.

I'm currently running 2 x 80 Gb Seagate Barracuda IV and while they are moderately quiet (except when seeking), I'm running out of space.

So, I'm thinking that I'll purchase my last two parallel ATA drives now.

The options in the BIG category are:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 250 Gb (7200 rpm)
Maxtor DiamondMax 250 Gb (5400 rpm)
WD Caviar SE 250 Gb (7200 RPM)

I have no idea how noisy these are compared to Barracuda IV series. Anybody have experiences with these? Noise and temp levels are what interest me.

Are there any other options in this size league?

regards,
Halcyon

If that 250G WD is as whiny as my 120G WD, you should avoid it at any cost.

I still haven't received my Maxtor DM9+ 120G yet!

My DM+9 120 GB seems comparable to the Fortron 120mm on start up, much quieter than my old non FDB drives.

Btw, can't comment on seek noise yet, still trying to figure out how to set it up how I want while dealing with maxtors "excellent" utilties (they don't even make the CD bootable, and the boot floppy they gave me didn't work!)

If I could get the Seagate Barracuda ATA IV (with acoustic management) at 160 GB capacity then I'd probably consider them.

But, if I'm going to have to get noisier drives, then I'll probably just get even bigger ones for a little more money.

I went through the most recent HD announcements and the only thing that I could perhaps consider are the new 160 GB Samsungs.

Just waiting for that review from Mike :)

cheers,
Halcyon

my 7200.7 is pretty damn quiet. maybe raid 0 a couple

I use two 80G Seagate drives a Level 0 RAID array, not only does this improve data transfer but it appears as one large disk to your system (80 + 80 = 160). The drawback is that if one of the drives goes, then you loose the entire array. You could mitigate this by using a combo Level 0 + Level 1, but you would need to double the number of drives in order to do so.