Which 300G Drive?

Welshie1701 · Post by **Welshie1701** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:33 am

I am about to buy some new 300G drives to replace my aging IBM 180GXPs and I'd like to know which in your opinion are the best.

The most important criteria are noise and reliability. Performance doesn't really bother me that much as the drives will only be used as storage.

I'm considering the Maxtor DM10, the Seagate 7200.8, and the WD3200JDSE (though this is still rather expensive for its size in the UK) I am open to other suggestions if there's anything I've missed!

Any of the above will be suspended, and will be SATA versions (if this makes a difference!)

Thanks in advance!

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:50 am

as i don't own any drive larger than my sp1614n, all i can go on are vibes from the forum.

maxtor or (very recent!) western digital models (320gb) seem like your best bet for those capacities, as seagate and hitachi don't seem to be faring too well. i'd personally go with a 250gb maxtor 6b250s0, as it's floating around $145 or so compared to $180 for the db300s0, that's $35 more for 50gb.

if you're after reliability, go for the maxtor maxline iii model instead, it's the same as the dm10 but undergoes more quality testing (or so the forum tells me). the price you pay for that is, well, a higher price

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:19 pm

Komplett.se got the new 200 & 250 GB Samsungs, maybe the UK site got them as well, dunno.

netpro · Post by **netpro** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 3:51 pm

Hi!

I got myself an maxtor diamondMax 300GB, and I'm really happy with it. It's really quiet!

/J

Shining Arcanine · Post by **Shining Arcanine** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:15 pm

I have a WD3200JB mounted on EAR Grommets (the blue kind) with AAM on (it is AAM capable) and I can say that the seeks noises are almost impossible to hear. I have to concentrate on them in order to hear them from about 4 ft away. Idle whine is non-existant and idle noise is extremely quiet.

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 5:24 pm

netpro wrote:Hi!

I got myself an maxtor diamondMax 300GB, and I'm really happy with it. It's really quiet!

/J

Yup...I've got one of those and I barely know it's there. Seek noise is hardly audible and idle whine (which I absolutely can't stand) is conspicuous only by its absence.

I'm almost reluctant to praise it too highly given the..umm... contentious threads elsewhere, and I gather other people may have different experiences, so I'll add the rider "given my sample size of one"...

Welshie1701 · Post by **Welshie1701** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:31 am

I've gone with the Maxtors!

In the end, cost ended up becoming a factor, and the way I see it, I can't hear my current IBMs, so anything quieter has to be a bonus!

Thanks for the advice guys.

WIL · Post by **WIL** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:06 pm

Very soon, I will have to make a similar decision too.

I have my choices narrowed down to either the Western Digital WD3200JD 320gb Sata or the 300gb Maxtor Maxline III Sata. Both are roughly the same price here in the UK.

- The Maxtor has 16MB cache, supports NCQ, and is more reliable(?) and faster (?)
- The Western Digital runs cooler, and is 20GB larger (not a big deal)
Would be nice to know which is quieter.

BTW, Scan.co.uk sells the Maxtor Maxline III at around £25-28 more than the DiamondMax10.