The lesser of which evils?

ihategg_b · Post by **ihategg_b** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:37 am

Hi there,
I could use some opinion on which hdd to get..

I'm currently using a noisy but reliable seagate 7200.9 250gb sata hdd. Seagate has served me well and been very reliable.

WD on the other hand, well I've had one fail. A flatmate had a DOA recently, whilst a friend has just sent back his replacement hdd which broke.

I'm currently looking at a more silent option ranging from 160 to 250gb. I emailed most of the retailers in my country about the samsung p80 but none of them can tell me whether the motors are JVC or Nidec.

Therefore, should I gamble with the p80 160gb sata with "unknown" motor; or should I just go for capacity and gamble with the p120 250gb sata? (not sure of the p120 motor either)

I'm lost lost lost lost lost ... plz help! Thanks

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:09 am

I don't think you can take your experiences with WD drives as proof that they're intrinsically less reliable - you just got unlucky. Your sample size is far too small to mean anything in practice, and for every story like yours, someone else will have a similar tale substituting Seagate, Maxtor, Hitachi or Samsung.

The only drives I've ever personally had fail on me before they've reached the end of their useful lifespan (in respect of capacity and to a lesser extent speed) were a couple of Seagates, but I'd still happily buy one if the performance and price were right. Reliability with consumer HDDs seems to be pretty much luck of the draw whichever brand you choose.

Recent WD drives seem to be generally very well thought of as regards quietness (including of course the recent review on this site), and they're certainly the make I'd go for at the moment if I were in the market for a new HDD...

ihategg_b · Post by **ihategg_b** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:18 am

Thanks for the fast reply. I guess I could give WD a shot. After all, they are made in my home country...

So which model should I be looking at if I want a 250gb quietest sata one? There's like heaps of model names which I'm not familiar with and there's special edition etc etc

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:33 am

I'm in the exact same boat as you are. Was going for a P80 or P120, but shops can't tell me what motor I will end up with for a P80 and there are a lot of complaints about those P120s on this forum regarding noise.

Currently I'm looking at the WD2500KS, and if nothing better turns up I will go with that one. Ofcourse I can't say anything about the noise but those drives are made with quietness in mind and people who have it on this forum are quite happy with it..

afrost · Post by **afrost** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:46 pm

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=32340

i'm looking at this WD model....it only has 2 platters for 250 gigs

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:11 pm

I bought the WD2500KS yesterday. I'm very happy with the noise it makes, the noisiest component now is my AM2 stock cooler. Searches are audible but I find them to be smooth.

I have a feeling the drive is being a bit on the slow side..gonna look into it today.

ihategg_b · Post by **ihategg_b** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:35 pm

Is that with AAM on or off?
I haven't taken the plunge yet, waiting for my psu to arrive.

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:49 pm

I'm looking into it right now. Just need to find how I can enable/disable AAM. I'll get back to you.

TomMe · Post by **TomMe** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 12:26 am

I used the Hitachi Feature Tool to check and it says "Acoustic management disabled" so my guess is that AAM is turned off.

I'm not gonna try to enable it since I don't really know what I'm doing.

I'm comfortable with the noise at this point.