Good 13GB hard drive?

[Wombat]

I'm helping a friend build his new computer, and he's in the market for a HD. I haven't kept up with the market. IDE, 7200rpm. Probably 13GB for his budget. What do you recommend?
IBM?

[Alfie]

IBM or Quantum.Fijitsu has also gotten some happy users.

[xippo]

I think IBM has the lowest CPU utilization for an IDE drive. I have lots of Western Digital and Fujitsu drives; I like them both. But really with the prices nowadays, you just can go wrong.

Wombat - you play Q3A?

xippo

[Brian R.]

I just bought an IBM. I was looking for either that or a Quantum. The current model Quantums are very difficult to find in stock. The last generation are not difficult to find. I went with a 20-GB 7200 IBM. ($160)

Works great.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 10 April 2000).]

[Rick]

I've got a 10GB Maxtor 7200rpm, run's like a dream. About 4-5% Cpu utilization with DMA enabled.

Rick

[Jon P. Inghram]

I've also got a nice fast Maxtor 10 gig 7200 RPM UDMA/66 drive! It's set up as a slave to my CD-ROM until I can get it replaced by Maxtor, since it's got the cool CLICK-CLICK-CLICK problem.

Thus, I'm currently using my reliable WDC 4 gig drive that HDTach shows has a sustained average transfer rate of an amazing 7 MB/sec. :-)

[Helevitia]

I have a 13GB Quantam Fireball KA UDMA/66 7200RPM w/ 512k buffer. It is very fast.

Dave

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I can never think of a good signature...~

[Gurm]

I can't say it loud enough or often enough:

JUST SAY NO TO MAXTOR.

Other than that you can't REALLY go wrong. IBM's are my personal favorite at the moment, but Western Digital are nice too, and Quantum is pretty good although harder to get.

My only problem with other brands (Samsung, Fujitsu) is that their RMA policy tends to be a pain in the rump. I've never had to RMA an IBM drive - EVER. Quantum and Western Digital are so easy it's pathetic though.

You call an 800 number, punch in your drive's data, and they send you a new drive overnight. Cool.

- Gurm

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Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.

[HedsSpaz]

Well, despite the fact that Gurm hates Maxtor, I myself haven't had too much trouble with them. My personal experience is that Western Digital is far worse. I used to work on the HelpDesk at my college and during the year I was there we must have RMA'd at least 40 drives, most if not all of which were WD. Myself I also had an 8.4 gb WD that died on me before I had had it for even a year. My personal favorite is also IBM though. I've got a 13.6 7200rpm IBM that runs like a dream. I am however taking Gurm's warning to heart and cautiously watching the 15gb Maxtor that I ordered before I saw that other HD thread and rant about Maxtor.

Ian

[moreau]

I have two Western Digitals (WD136BA)
which i have striped with a Fasttrak66. They are 7200RPM w/ 2MB buffer. I personally like them a lot.

Apparently the wd's are based on IBM technology (i.e. liscensed from IBM). Otherwise, IBM is an excellent choice.

[Jorden]

My Fujitsu is still rocking, even though it's a 5400rpm drive. I had to send back two Quantum 7200rpm drives because they came in broken from the dealer, but am now speeding along with a Seagate 7200 rpm UDMA/66 !! The software to setup the Seagate rocks in my eyes, but I presume that all drives manufacterers have spiffing software for setting up their drives

Jord.

[Brian R.]

Hedspaz - I'm not surprised that you see a lot of WD repairs. They are as common as Intel MBs in Dell, Compaq and probably others I don't know about. I have never seen a Dell or Compaq without a WD HD (although I don't work with different computers on a daily basis like a repair person, I do work in a multiuser environment and have periodic access to all the computers).

[impact]

Yup, IBM Deskstar is probably the thing. No problems whatsoever even when running with a non-standart FSB speed and pretty damn fast.

Also the newest WD drives are practically identical to IBM.

I'd avoid Seagate, they sure have some pretty impressive utilities to setup their drives, but when it comes to oveclocking, you're gonna see a lot of VXD errors with Seagate.