Seagate

[Kurt]

there still are a _bunch_ of faulty fujitsu drives at some very big international miltary organization that just happens to reside in brussels, belgium. the computers are still running and they still keep on failing... (and nobody's changing them...)

[Liquid Snake]

I actually haven't had too many HD problems (lucky me ). I've used Quantum, IBM, Maxtor, WD and Seagate.

Quantum - I used to have a 18GB Fireball Plus from 1999; it's still working in a friend's machine.

IBM - I've used a few of the infamous 75GXP and 60GXP drives. Only one of them has died on me - a 20GB 60GXP that failed after a year and a half. Some older 75GXP drives here are still going. Their new 180GXP drives seem to be fine from what I've read, but I'm still avoiding IBM (Hitachi) drives for the time being.

Maxtor - I've only used the "Quantum" D740X. A bit on the noisy side but it's still working fine.

WD - The 400JB and 800JB drives in my current system are pretty speedy, but also quite loud I had a really old 730MB WD drive fail a few years ago, but it was pretty much my fault because I dropped it

Seagate - My server PC has a 40GB Barracuda IV. It's extremely quiet. Performance is decent but not spectacular. I've also had experience with a 120GB 7200.7 Plus. It's quite a bit faster, but also a tiny bit louder.

[bsdgeek]

I used to use Quantums exclusively, I have a couple of Fireballs still running (1.6GB, 26GB) Now, I realize they're very loud. Never noticed when I used them in my primary boxes, guess I just didn't care about the noise as much before. Either that, or their age is just starting to show.

[VJ]

Hmm, I seem to have gotten bad luck with drives so far... Had a WD IDE drive crash on me (suddenly, full data loss, no warnings, was about 1 year old) a couple of years ago, then a Quantum SCSI (which gave SMART errors, just before dying, also 1 year old) and now the replacement for that Quantum is sent back (after 2 years) for a bad PSU connection on the disk...
And to think I still have 3 connor IDE drives that are over 10 years old and still show no problems...


Jörg

[Calhoun]

HDDs

We are using IDE Seagates, WDs and small number of IBM and Maxtors in company where I´m working as IT.

WD: SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!!!!!!! Never more!!!!!! Many problems and RMAs with all models. Does not matter if it is old 4GB Caviar or the newest 80GB model.

IBM: We have only small number here but lot of problems. I have not enough experiences for objective comments, but I think IBM is no good.

Maxtor: Only a few here for short time, but meanwhile no problems.

Seagate 5400rpm: Very good. Very reliable. Many operationing here in very hard conditions (storage computers/shops computers) and only few problems.

Seagate Barracuda II/III/IV: Quite good. Reliable but high operation temperature and some models (especial Barr II/III) noisy.

Seagate 7200.7: I think the best IDE model of Seagate. Very low nois, good speed, good operation temperature. Meanwhile seems as very good and reliable drive.

[KvHagedorn]

I've had a lot of experience with Seagate drives.. until about a week ago all this was good, but just had a bad sector zap me on my 73GB Cheetah.. right in the kernel

Now in the process of redoing my system.. hope I can get everything off this drive before it dies.. Seagate usually has good tech support, so I'm hoping I can get it RMAed pretty quickly. That's what's good about a 5yr warranty I guess.

Got a new 36GB Cheetah for my OS and programs and a 160GB 7200.7 Barracuda for my data.. if I like it I might mirror it with another one. Giving them another chance, but just goes to show that nothing with that many moving parts and possibilities for problems can ever be perfect.

[Beezer]

Here's a couple recent links that may be of interest: VAR Business Awards and Maximum PC Dream Machine
Disclaimer: I'm a bit biased since I work for WD

[UtwigMU]

Check database on Storagereview.com

[Tjalfe]

Well my dads seagate just died.. bad sectors everywhere all of a sudden
I still think it did fairly well.. it was a 2GB drive, installed in 1996 and used regularily since.
Taking the drive apart ( after recovering the little bit of data from it that could still be read( nothing really important, so need for a data recovery lab)) I noticed that the platters were actually fairly scratched.. well it looked like someone had gone over them with fine steel wool, which I dont remember seeing on any other hard drives before, as they were all smooth as could be...hmm..

[Jammrock]

Honestly though ... after being in corporate IT and small shop IT for 6-7 years now, I've seen every brand of hard drive die at least once. I had a batch of 25 fujitsu drive go bad ... the whole damn thing, DOA. WD, Seagate, Maxtor, Quantum, IBM, Connor, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba ... you name it, I've seen one dead.

No hdd manufacture is immune from a bad batch, or a faulty part, or any number of things that can go wrong. It's all the luck of the draw. You find the best drive for the money and get it. If you want quiet, you get a Seagate Baracuda IV or V. You want speed you get WD.

If those are out of your price range, you get Maxtor or Hitachi.

Jammrock

[The PIT]

Except Fujitsu bad batch went into millions. We're still swopping them out at work. Sadly Fujitsu won't replace them freely which is really sucky.

[Byock]

Quantum Fireball. Every time we had a drive die at American Express, it was a Fireball. (well, not every time, but 99% of the time)

Seagate Barracuda IV was a great drive, still use it.

[knirfie]

k, thanks for the comments