mr said:
While I’m no expert in statistics, what I do know is that I have reada
lot more complaints regarding Maxtor’s electronics/firmware/interface
(and I’ve had my own problems).
This is what's called "anecdotal evidence" and, in this case, is more
personal impression than 'evidence'.
You say you've had 'problems'. I don't doubt you, and sorry to hear it, but
you haven't given any usable description of what the problems might have
been, much less any definitive explanation for what caused them.
You've "read a lot more complaints" about 'A'. This gets back to my
previous post. Perhaps you remember reading 'more' of them because you're
convinced there are more of them, so that is what you remember. Maybe you
remember them because it reminds you of your problem. Maybe you remember
them because it fits with your already decided prejudice. And then, people
have 'problems' even when there's nothing wrong, per see, with the
equipment and maybe there's 'more' of them because more people have those
drives.
The bottom line is, what makes you think your reading is representative of
the real world and what makes you think the people posting a problem knew
what the real cause was?
I have read reports where an identical,
RMA’d replacement or off the shelf replacement worked fine. That tells
you something was screwy with the original.
Yes it does (or that the user 'got it right' the second time), but that is
certainly no evidence of a 'compatibility problem' because the replacement
would be just as 'incompatible'.
I will not say this is
typical, perhaps it’s only 1% or .01%. Regardless, I have not read as
many complaints with other drives as I have with Maxtors. This is enough
proof for me.
I realize that you think it's enough but what I'm trying to explain to you
is that it's a logic flaw. You're listening to people say "I had a problem,
adding "oh, me too, me too," without the slightest idea of what the cause
was; or at least you've not told us a single definitive cause yet. I.E. All
of the broad generalizations you've presented could just as easily be
caused by something other than the Maxtor and, IMO, probably were. In fact,
I gave you an example of a 'compatibility problem' that was a BIOS issue
and not the fault of Maxtor drives.
Bare in mind, we’re not talking bad sectors or click of death. Every mfg
produces junk from time to time. But the original poster said he was
having issues interfacing his drive, and sure enough, he was using a
Maxtor. The advice is simple, based on prior experience, try a different
drive.
"Try a different drive" is not necessarily bad advice, as it might show if
the drive was defective for some reason, but your logic for arriving at the
recommendation is seriously flawed; to which you added the generic claim
that this was a 'built-in problem' of Maxtor drives but have, so far, not
been able to give a single explanation for it.
One other thing to be wary about Maxtor is they are not always clear as
to what you get when you purchase a drive. Is it the high-density one
platter, or last years, lower density two platter? Yet both may be
identical in size and stamped with the same exact part number. I find
this unacceptable. None of the other mfg’s screw with you this way. I
will take the higher density, two platter any day because I know it will
run cooler and faster. At least, that's normally the case. I was going
to buy a Maxtor a while back, but decided not to because of this.
That is an entirely different issue (and I wonder how you determined it)
but it does suggest that your judgment is clouded by a personal dislike for
Maxtor.
