Silvia Club of NSW

I just had my HDD fail (2nd time for this disk), and want to switch to a new one... what do people recommend in terms of a good, fast, reliable HDD? and do you think ATA100/7200RPM is neccessary, or can go slower with not much trouble?

I've always liked Quantum drives.. At the moment I have a Seagate..
Most seem to be pretty similar though.. The Quantums I've had seemed to be faster though, especially for video editing stuff..

Ultra ATA 100 is pretty standard now, but you won't notice much difference from Ultra ATA 33/66 most of the time.. 7200rpm disks are quicker, but less reliable and get hotter. If you've had problems it might be best to stick with the 5400rpm drives.

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The Engine Whisperer - fixer of things

I've had three seagate drives (mainly due to cheapness) and each of them over time have gotten louder and louder over time and then slower and slower. I've heard that IBM and Quantam are pretty reliable but not 100% sure.

Well I work in computer sales... and I say dont touch IBM drives !!! They are sh1t house at the moment... they have the most returns.

I can get you a 20gb Seagate 5400rpm for about $165, we have 7200rpm 20gb Western Digital (nice drive) for a bit more and heaps of other stuff... http://www.cam1.com.au/cart/

Have a look in the HDD section... I can do you a better price guaranteed

Just ask for Martin when you call

Forgot to mention.

At the moment Seagate and Western Digital are the best drives for quality and value....

We use Segate as a base for all machines and they work great I personally just bought two 80gb 7200RPM Seagate drives for my new computer

The disk that failed was an IBM deskstar, and have heard very bad things about the new IBMs, so not going back to them... gonna be looking at seagates, as have heard they can cope with high-heat very well (which is what i think knackered the IBM...

Incidentally, Martin, do you know how long warranty is on the IBMs? have had it about 17/18 months I think.. so pretty shitty that its dead hell, I never even filled the damn thing up...

Either 12 months or 24 months... will find out for you..

I personally like the seagates, when I used to work in a computer shop (now im a network admin) they were the least problematic drives, maxtor being the most. Having said that I recently purchased a nice Quantum/Maxtor 40gig 72000 rpm ATA 133 for $179. It's been rock solid and is a lot faster than my old ATA33 drive (even though my mobo controller is only 33) and isnt very noisy at all and my case is always open. My cousin has had 3 replacement 20gig IBM drives, he reckons theyre shit but he flogs em hard. If the price is the same, I'd get a seagate.