what is the best reliable hard disk in the 120-250 category?

[hodw]

Need a new 120-250 hard disk

which brand is the most reliable

Hod

 

[Rod Speed]

Need a new 120-250 hard disk

which brand is the most reliable

No such animal. Varys with the model with some brands.

 

[Odie]

Need a new 120-250 hard disk

which brand is the most reliable

Hod

120GB - Seagate, without a doubt.

160GB - possibly Seagate, possibly not.

200GB - difficult to say.

250GB - probably not Seagate.

Anything above - Seagate.

I'm seeing very few Samsung and recently-manufactured Hitachi drives
these days.

I get almost exclusively Maxtor and Western Digital for 3.5" and a wide
spread for 2.5"

Most drives will be ok with efficient cooling, although I wouldn't touch
Maxtor at all.


Odie

 

[Michael Cecil]

I'm seeing very few Samsung and recently-manufactured Hitachi drives
these days.

I get almost exclusively Maxtor and Western Digital for 3.5" and a wide
spread for 2.5"

Of course, you could just be seeing more or less of a particular brand of
drive because there are more or less of that brand sold. IOW, without
knowing what percentage of the drives are failing, just seeing a lot of a
type of drive means nothing.

 

[Mike Redrobe]

I'm seeing very few Samsung and recently-manufactured Hitachi drives
these days.

People only have to send drives for data recovery when they don't
have a proper backup.

If you see lots of maxtors, then maybe its because maxtor owners
don't do backups, and seagate owners do ?

 

[Odie]

Of course, you could just be seeing more or less of a particular brand of
drive because there are more or less of that brand sold. IOW, without
knowing what percentage of the drives are failing, just seeing a lot of a
type of drive means nothing.

I am aware of that.

But thank you for pointing out the obvious.


Odie

 

[Peter]

Need a new 120-250 hard disk

which brand is the most reliable

It does not matter. You still need to back it up.
Go after other features (speed, heat, noise, price).

 

[Rod Speed]

Odie wrote

People only have to send drives for data recovery when they don't have a proper backup.

If you see lots of maxtors, then maybe its because maxtor owners don't do backups, and
seagate owners do ?

In theory, yes. In practice its unlikely tho.

The data at storagereview does basically support what he is seeing.

 

[Rod Speed]

Of course, you could just be seeing more or less of a particular
brand of drive because there are more or less of that brand sold.

In theory, yes. Unlikely with the Samsungs which are becoming
more common in the retail market and with the Hitachis tho.

And unlikely that Maxtor is dominating the market given that they went bust.

IOW, without knowing what percentage of the drives are
failing, just seeing a lot of a type of drive means nothing.

It isnt as black and white as that.

 

[hodw]

Had different models of western digital and they never failed.

in the last year had a maxtor 120GB fail due to bad clusters then after
RMA got a replacment 160GB which lasted 3 months, the other WD drive on
the same computer works fine.

so what good is speed if all your data is lost (although it will get
lost faster)

Hod

 

[Odie]

People only have to send drives for data recovery when they don't
have a proper backup.

If you see lots of maxtors, then maybe its because maxtor owners
don't do backups, and seagate owners do ?

Mike,

I honestly suspect there's more to this than we would expect.

Same as the theory about "there are more red cars involved in crashes
than white cars" - in the UK, people who buy a red card tend (generally)
to be more "racy" than those who buy white, so logically you'd expect
more incidents. (I say in the UK for a reason.)

I'm not sure about the link with hard drives, but there must be some
sort of explanation...


Odie

 

[Rod Speed]

Mike Redrobe wrote

I honestly suspect there's more to this than we would expect.

Dunno, hard to see that Maxtor has been attracting a particular type
of buyer, even that they are mostly seen in systems sold to the stupid.

Same as the theory about "there are more red cars involved in
crashes than white cars" - in the UK, people who buy a red card
tend (generally) to be more "racy" than those who buy white, so
logically you'd expect more incidents. (I say in the UK for a reason.)

Dunno again. Many of those turn out to be myths when looked at properly.

Most obviously with claims about murders and the full moon etc.

I'm not sure about the link with hard drives,
but there must be some sort of explanation...

The obvious explanation is that their drives dont like not
being cooled properly and they were stupid enough to use
an external housing design with quite inadequate cooling.

Quite a bit of evidence that it basically sent them bust.

 

[Odie]

Dunno, hard to see that Maxtor has been attracting a particular type
of buyer, even that they are mostly seen in systems sold to the stupid.


Dunno again. Many of those turn out to be myths when looked at properly.

I doubt it. Many are missing the point.

Most obviously with claims about murders and the full moon etc.


The obvious explanation is that their drives dont like not
being cooled properly and they were stupid enough to use
an external housing design with quite inadequate cooling.

Understatement of the year, Rod.

Quite a bit of evidence that it basically sent them bust.

I heard, last week, and from a most reliable source, that Maxtor
admitted (discreetly, and secretly, only to certain people) that there
*was* in fact a problem with their hard drives.

I couldn't extract more information from him, but I suspected this all
along.

Fujitsu MPG rings a bell.


Odie

 

[Peter]

Had different models of western digital and they never failed.

in the last year had a maxtor 120GB fail due to bad clusters then after
RMA got a replacment 160GB which lasted 3 months, the other WD drive on
the same computer works fine.

so what good is speed if all your data is lost (although it will get
lost faster)

Can't argue with that logic. Go, buy WD and forget about backup.

 

[Arno Wagner]

I honestly suspect there's more to this than we would expect.

Same as the theory about "there are more red cars involved in crashes
than white cars" - in the UK, people who buy a red card tend (generally)
to be more "racy" than those who buy white, so logically you'd expect
more incidents. (I say in the UK for a reason.)

Nice explanation.

I'm not sure about the link with hard drives, but there must be some
sort of explanation...

I think that people buying Maxtor go for large and cheap. Maybe these
people have a tendency to think that a HDD is a HDD and you don't
even need to know the brand because "today, they are all reliable".
That would explain the lack of backup. Also keep in mind that
what you are seeing today was usually bought some time ago.

I think that Maxtor is still producing drives that impose higher
demands on their operating environment, i.e. require better cooling
because they draw more power. Probably both effects combined.

BTW, I am glad to hear you see few Samsungs. I use them at home because
of the quiet and low noise.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

Had different models of western digital and they never failed.

in the last year had a maxtor 120GB fail due to bad clusters then after
RMA got a replacment 160GB which lasted 3 months, the other WD drive on
the same computer works fine.

so what good is speed if all your data is lost (although it will get
lost faster)

Indeed ;-)

From the past reports here and from personal experience, I tend
to agree with what Odie posted, although I don't have the insights
into different Seagate models. However the current porblem childs
seem to be Maxtor and WD and maybe selected Seagates.

Personally I would go with Samsung, because they are quiet and
run pretty cool. They may be a bit slower, but not that it really
matters. Whether you get 60MB/s or 70MB/s at the disk start in
linear reads should be unnoticeable unless you use a stopwatch.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

I doubt it.

Doesnt matter what you doubt, almost none of those
superficially surprising stats turn out to be statistically valid.

Many are missing the point.

Many wouldnt know what valid statistics were if they bit them on the bum.

Understatement of the year, Rod.

I heard, last week, and from a most reliable source, that Maxtor
admitted (discreetly, and secretly, only to certain people)
that there *was* in fact a problem with their hard drives.

I couldn't extract more information from him, but I suspected this all along.

Fujitsu MPG rings a bell.

That was a clearer example of a particular IC
which failed and most of them did fail eventually.

 

[dew]

Nice explanation.


I think that people buying Maxtor go for large and cheap. Maybe these
people have a tendency to think that a HDD is a HDD and you don't
even need to know the brand because "today, they are all reliable".
That would explain the lack of backup. Also keep in mind that
what you are seeing today was usually bought some time ago.

No real evidence that its mostly drives bought to addon
to a system that are the bulk of the market tho.

I think that Maxtor is still producing drives that impose higher
demands on their operating environment, i.e. require better cooling
because they draw more power. Probably both effects combined.

BTW, I am glad to hear you see few Samsungs. I
use them at home because of the quiet and low noise.

Yeah, me too. I have seen one fail, not one of mine,
but that was in a system which had killed a WD too.

 

[CJT]

Nice explanation.




I think that people buying Maxtor go for large and cheap. Maybe these
people have a tendency to think that a HDD is a HDD and you don't
even need to know the brand because "today, they are all reliable".
That would explain the lack of backup. Also keep in mind that
what you are seeing today was usually bought some time ago.

I think that Maxtor is still producing drives that impose higher
demands on their operating environment, i.e. require better cooling
because they draw more power. Probably both effects combined.

BTW, I am glad to hear you see few Samsungs. I use them at home because
of the quiet and low noise.

Arno

He probably sees fewer Samsungs because they sell (relatively) so few.

 

[Michael Cecil]

I am aware of that.

But thank you for pointing out the obvious.

Perhaps you ought to quit saying stuff like "I see more of so and so brand
drives" implying they are less reliable in that case, eh? If it's obvious
to you that such info is useless, not posting it would keep down the high
noise content here.