Fielding Suggestions: > 120GB HDD

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JohnMK
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Fielding Suggestions: > 120GB HDD

Post by JohnMK » Fri Nov 22, 2002 3:22 pm

Anyone have any advice? I'm willing to settle for 5400rpm. Capacity is most important, after noise of course. Any FDB (fluid dynamic bearing) drives around in this capacity?

MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Fri Nov 22, 2002 3:38 pm

Seagate Barracuda V is your best bet. 120G available in both IDE and Serial ATA formats. Where to buy is a bit of a question as they're still not widely distrubted, but they are still the quietest (even compared to 5400rpm drives)

JohnMK
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Post by JohnMK » Sat Nov 23, 2002 9:06 pm

Operant symbol here being >, not ==. ;) But thanks for your current advice. Now, on to the question I really asked . . .

Rusty075
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Post by Rusty075 » Sat Nov 23, 2002 9:56 pm

Yup. The Maxtor DiamondMax 16 is a 5400RPM FDB drive that is available in sizes up to 160G.

They're pretty quiet. I own a DiamondMax D740X that I've S^3'd. It's inaudible unless I press my head right against the vents

Just make sure you order the one with the FDB. Check the models numbers carefully. Maxtor makes versions both with and without it.

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Post by JohnMK » Mon Nov 25, 2002 4:58 pm

My only fear now is that potentially such a drive might not be usable. Intel's brand spankin' new Granite Bay (E7205) doesn't support beyond ATA100. Not that I don't trust third parties to produce adapters, but anyway I think I'll stick with industry spec, not Maxtor spec. :D

Thank you both, gentlemen, for your kind advice.

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Post by powergyoza » Mon Nov 25, 2002 5:26 pm

JohnMK,

Don't loose hope. The fact that the Granite bay chipset is ATA100 doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't support the LBA 48(?) bit extensions. Ie you don't necessarily need ATA133 to get >120GB.

All I can say is check the specs!

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Post by Rusty075 » Mon Nov 25, 2002 9:36 pm

And ATA133 is backward compatible with ATA100, if that was the problem you were thinking of. An ATA133 drive will work with your motherboard.

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Post by JohnMK » Tue Nov 26, 2002 9:27 am

But its full size won't be known by the controller, true?

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Post by Rusty075 » Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:01 am

True. I wasn't sure from your previous post whether the size was what was troubling you, or the ATA133. You could also just add a PCI
controller card to get the 48bit addressing.

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Post by JohnMK » Thu Nov 28, 2002 6:06 pm

The answer to my own question is:

IBM 180GXP series, of any capacity (60-180GB, I believe)

Large capacity, -- as quiet as the Barracuda IV, almost as quiet as the slightly quieter Barracuda V.

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