Hi,
I'm looking to add a new hard drive to my system and I have a few questions:
My current HD is a very good one- fast and very quiet. The thing is that it is 80GB (not too bad, but I'm looking for more now)
The current one is Maxtor and is 7200/133/9ms/8mb (I think)

The one that I'm looking at now is 7200/100/8.5ms/8mb from Seagate Baracuda.

Does anyone have any idea on how it would compare in terms of both speed and noise?

Or if you have any better recomendations for a 200gb HD. (I'm looking at this one because the price is very good- around 100$)

Thanks,
Lenny

I think the one your looking at seems to be pretty good. And I like Seagate Barracuda's but you also might want to look around for some good Western Digitals. Those are pretty nice. For the most part... they are 8.9 ms seek time, but thats still good.

I am assuming that This, is what you were looking at It seems to have pretty good specs. but it has some heat issues. It got all good reviews, but a lot of people said that it got really hot, even with HD fans. One person said that it idles at 33C! even with 2 fans in front of it. That is precisely 91.4 F. Which I think is pretty hot.

If you really want one of these, then thats up to you, but I would get a 200GB Western Digital if I were you.
I would get This One It got quite good reviews, and its not a problem as far as heat goes.

:)

_________-SamZee-__________

Thanks- yea thats the one I am looking at. But as far as speed and noise, do you think it will be similar to the one I have? I'm pretty satisfied with it I just wanted more memory.

Basically, would you think that there's a big difference between 133 and 100?

BTW, if the drive has a five year waranty then if it fries itself within that time I could just have them replace it... no?

Thanks again,
Lenny

First order of business noise.... Usually, for the most part, Western Digitals have it pretty good as far as sound goes. Their pretty quiet.
And also, I don't really think any Hard Drive is noisy to the extent that it makes you self-contious, if you know what I'm sayin.

Speed, it should be the same as the Seagate Barracuda you were looking at, they are both 7,200 RPM, which is good. But the Barracuda had 8.5 ms, where as the Western Digital had 8.9 ms... I really don't think it is humanly possible to recognize the difference of 0.4 milliseconds. Also those are AVERAGE Seek times, and I emphasize the AVERAGE... being the keyword. Of course I'm sure your smart enough to know that it wont ALWAYS be 8.5 or 8.9 ms.

But I'm also sure you want a more cool Hard Drive..... Because we all know that the hotter comp hardware gets, the more unstable it CAN be. I would play it safe and go with the Cooler Western Digital drive.

Remember what I said in my last post,
" One person said that it idles at 33C! even with 2 fans in front of it." Key words in that sentence being, 33C and two Fans. God knows how hot it will be without the fans.

For your warranty question. I'm not sure of Seagate's or Western Digital's warranty disclaimer, too be safe, I would go to their company sites and read about it.
Because one never knows if they will only let you return it from it being defective out of the box. But I am pretty sure they will give you an RMA number to send it back with.

"Basically, would you think that there's a big difference between 133 and 100?"
If you ask....."Is there a BIG difference between the two?" Then I would say NO.
If you were to ask "Is there a noticible difference between ATA100 and 133?" I would also say no. Of course there is a difference technically, but its nothing you can notice without seeing benchmarks between the two. I really wouldn't bother with the 133.
You will notice a difference of course between a 5400 and 7200 RPM.... because that is how fast the HD is able to spin. ATA speeds don't make a noticible difference really.

Hope this helped :)

_______-SamZee-_______

You've been a good help, thanks. (Though I'm still not clear on why it cost so much more for a 133...)

Heheh, well different companies have different pricing. There are many variables as to why it cost so much more. I think that the Manufacturer aspect has a lot to do with it.

Being that Maxtor is the only company to produce ATA133 Hard drives, that pushes up the price a bit. Also since it newer than ATA100. We all know that new technology always costs more because it is NEW.
But then as time goes on, the price goes down. Some people act like ATA133 is a Big deal, and its not. There is like... a 1% difference in speed between the ATA100 and 133.

You can read about it here if you'd like

Anything else you need to know? go a head.
Otherwise, glad to be of help :)

____-SamZee-____

Then in that case it boils down to heat and 50$. If the five year waranty is in full force, then I can brave the heat and get a good deal...

I just checked and it seems that all seagate hard drives, with exception to a few models, are now under a five year waranty. Not too bad.

I'd go Seagate. WD's are hot enough to fry some bacon on.

May also want to check out Hitachi, as well. From benchmarks I've seen, the Hitachi and Seagate are at the top in most apps, followed by WD, and Maxtor behind. That of course excludes the Raptor. ;-)

MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!

NEGATORY!

Western Digitals keep cool. Of course all hard drives produce some warmth but compared to the Seagate Lenny was thinking of getting........ quite the difference in heat. Of course I like Seagate Barracuda's, but the one Lenny is looking seems to get REALLY hot.

I would stick with the Western Digital

Yeah, the newer WD's run very cool. You could definitely fry an egg on the older ones though!

But I'd get the Seagate, they are extremely quiet and very reliable. Seagate doesn't give them a 5-year warranty for nothing!

Symbios Y!

Ok in the end I was going to get the WD, but the price on this was much better and the quality seems similar (except for the extra cooking space that Sam mentioned...)

So I placed an order for this:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10360313&loc=101&sp=1

They have a 10 dollar instant rebate also (10 off 75) so the bottom line price is around $103 for 200GB @8.5ms (not that it means too much, but at least the number's there...)

Thanks for the help,
Lenny