Seagate hardrive, which to get?
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Seagate hardrive, which to get?
Ok I was gonna get a western digital 800jb, because it basically the fastest 80gig ata hd around. But after hearing how loud a hardrive could be (an old maxtor) and after lots of thought, I think ill be happier with a silent hardrive. So I want a Seagate, I just need to know which one to get. As far as I can tell the cuda 5's are quieter than the cuda 4's but what about the 7200.7's? I really only need about 60-80gigs and I want the fastest and or quietests seagate that is currently out, or will be out by next month.
Ok Ive been looking around and the cuda V 60gig (single platter) looks nice. The one at newegg is only $88, but at siliconacoustics they want $115 for it. But on the siliconacoustic site it also says that some of the oem drives (like the one at newegg) dont have the seashield that makes it quiet. Does anyone know if the drive at newegg has the seashield or how I could find out?
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From the introduction in the manual for the Seagate ATA V drives (http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/man ... 21374a.pdf), it would appear that the Seashield is part of every drive. The same is true for the ATA IV series (http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/man ... 29212b.pdf).
I suppose you could contact Seagate to verify this.
It would be interesting to find out. If it is true that some do not have the Seashield, then that is just one more thing to watch out for. On the other hand if it is not true, I hate being driven by FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt).
If I ordered one and the Seashield were to be missing, I would return it as defective as in missing parts specified in Seagate's manual. Should the vendor disagree with me in this regard, it would be time to call the credit card company to talk about a charge back.
I suppose you could contact Seagate to verify this.
It would be interesting to find out. If it is true that some do not have the Seashield, then that is just one more thing to watch out for. On the other hand if it is not true, I hate being driven by FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt).
If I ordered one and the Seashield were to be missing, I would return it as defective as in missing parts specified in Seagate's manual. Should the vendor disagree with me in this regard, it would be time to call the credit card company to talk about a charge back.
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Did you see my earlier post elsewhere in one of your many inquiries about HDDs, GG? The Hitachi/IBM 180GXP. I have one, a single platter -- the result of 75GXP RMA. It is just about as quiet as a Barracuda IV single-platter -- and definitely faster. Very nice. I am going to have to find a source for these in Vancouver.
Hmm the 60gig 180gxp looks good for $85. It doesnt have the 8mb cache or 3 year warranty but I imagine it would run alot cooler, and also quieter than the 180gxp drives that have more than one platter. Ive read several reviews and the 180gxp always wins in the speed department, but it also is the hottest drive around. But again, the 60gig version should run cooler?
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Performance
Unless IBM/Hitachi have made any serious changes to their drives lately I would avoid their drives simply because of the low MBF. I have had 3 IBM drives; 2 60GXP and a SCSI (forgot the model, made back in -99). The SCSI drive and one IDE drive has died with I/O error. The third drive is beginning to get really noisy. Suspect it is dying as well. This with working tempatures well within the specs.
At work we have tons of IBM SCSI drives in the servers. The fail quite frequently. RAID 5 is a real good thing.
A performance note; two drives will make your system (Windows) ALOT faster. One for the system and one for the swap file.
The minus would be; added noise and expanded budget.
At work we have tons of IBM SCSI drives in the servers. The fail quite frequently. RAID 5 is a real good thing.
A performance note; two drives will make your system (Windows) ALOT faster. One for the system and one for the swap file.
The minus would be; added noise and expanded budget.
Maybe you can try the new Maxtor DiamondMax 9+ drive ? Available in sizes 60GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and 200GB. Supposed to be also pretty good in the acoustics department.
These guys like it quite a bit. (this is a review for the serial ATA version of the drive, but I expect the ATA133 version to perform similar)
These guys like it quite a bit. (this is a review for the serial ATA version of the drive, but I expect the ATA133 version to perform similar)
There is only a 4db difference between the 800jb and maxtor diamond max 9 plus drives. And they have about the same performance, except that the wd800jb runs 5 degrees cooler. Also I read reviews at newegg and EVERYONE that bought a 800jb loves it, and most people say its silent. Others say they RMAed it cause it was too loud, and got a new one that was silent. But the maxtor drives have alot more people complaining about them dying or coming DOA. Western Digital seems to be one of the most reliable hardrive makers right now. So its down to either the 800jb or a seagate cuda5 or 7200.7. How does the cuda5 compare to the 7200.7 in both performance and noise?
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Western Digital Raptor?
Hello:
I only know what I've read on Storage Review, and the WD Raptor (10K RPM, SATA, 8MB cache, fluid bearings -- it looks to be a pretty intimidating drive. It's very fast (its up in the higher SCSI range), and fairly quiet (I'd say in the lower third of all drives). Sweet.
The only draawback is SCSI-like capacity: 36GB IIRC is the only size and it will be pretty expensive, too.
I only know what I've read on Storage Review, and the WD Raptor (10K RPM, SATA, 8MB cache, fluid bearings -- it looks to be a pretty intimidating drive. It's very fast (its up in the higher SCSI range), and fairly quiet (I'd say in the lower third of all drives). Sweet.
The only draawback is SCSI-like capacity: 36GB IIRC is the only size and it will be pretty expensive, too.
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Re: Western Digital Raptor?
NeilBlanchard wrote:Hello:
I only know what I've read on Storage Review, and the WD Raptor (10K RPM, SATA, 8MB cache, fluid bearings -- it looks to be a pretty intimidating drive. It's very fast (its up in the higher SCSI range), and fairly quiet (I'd say in the lower third of all drives).
I don't know about that quiet part. There is pretty much no such thing as a "fairly quiet" 10K drive. In his review of the same drive on AnandTech, Anand noted that the Raptor was than the other drives he benched it against -- a SCSI Maxtor Atlas 10K IV and a Seagate Cheetah 10K.6! Couple that with AnandTech's infamous capacity for noise (like most in the performance/overclocking world) and it seems pretty acceptable that this drive is LOUD.
Personally, I'd wait for the Maxtor DM+9 SATA. Gotta find that silence/performance compromise, ya know? It might do it be a good one, and shouldn't be nearly as expensive as ye ole Raptor. HotHarware puts it as FASTER than the WD Caviar Special Edition, about 50% faster than the Cuda SATA (86% in one test), and also quiet. Quoth HotHardware: "We didn't compare the drive to every disk in our lab but the DiamondMax Plus 9 SATA drive, has quieter spindle and read head acoustics, than either the Western Digital SE or Barracuda V drives we tested."
http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/Dri ... sata.shtml