HDD Transfer rate

[Zred1]

I'm gathering info for my first build and I think I've narrowed down to two HDD's. Western Digital Special Edition and Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9. The main differences are price and transfer rate. WD's is 100MBS and Max's is 133. Is this a big issue? I seem to hear alot about the WD.

Thanks,

Michael

[Redo40]

Both are good drives, there is very little difference in the seek times, so I doubt that you would see a difference.

[Cricket]

The difference between ATA100 and ATA133 isn't really an issue since those are data burst rates, not sustained transfer rates.

Either drive would be a good choice.

Cricket

[Nuclear Krusader]

Do both drives come with 8MB in cache?

[Cricket]

All the WD Special Edition HDD's come with 8MB cache, but not all DiamondMax Plus 9 HDD's do. It looks like you have to choose the DiamondMax "PO" drives instead of the "LO" drives.

Cricket

[mike breck]

Another factor that may influence your decision is that Maxtor now only offer a 1yr warranty for desktop HDs, while, according to glc, Western Digital still offer 3yrs.

HTH

[glc]

The only WD's that offer 3 year are the 8mb cache "JB" models - the only Maxtors that offer 3 year are retail boxes specifically marked as such.

[Zred1]

Both models that I have checked out have 8MB of cache. I'll check out the warrantys.

[mike breck]

It's as clear as mud at the Maxtor Website:

"Maxtor Fireball™, DiamondMax® and DiamondMax Plus ATA drives will carry a Standard Warranty Period of 1 year.
Maxtor MaXLine™ ATA premium drives will carry a Standard Warranty Period of 3 years.
Maxtor Atlas™ SCSI drives will carry with a Standard Warranty Period of 5 years."

So are these Maxtor 3yr warranties, if you can find them, special deals?

[glc]

The Maxlines are enterprise drives - 250 and 300 gigs. The 3 year Maxtors I'm referring to are the retail boxed drives we get here at stores like Best Buy, and it will say on the box. TwoRails and I have gone back and forth on this subject a few times here.

[mike breck]

Yes,

Out of interest, I had a look in one of the biggest (but certainly, not the best) PC Stores in the UK today - PC World.

All of the DiamondMax ATA100 HDs up to 120GB, said they had a 3 year warranty on the box.

However, the situation with Western Digital was a bit more confusing. Some 7200rpm and 5400rpm had three year warranties and some had two year warranties on the boxes. They appeared to be the same models, so I can only assume they were different ages and/or batches.

It was impossible to tell what the warranty was on the 8MB cache models as they had a large silver sticker on the front of the box extolling the "8MB cache" covering the warranty details.

For a laugh, I asked one of the guys at the tech department, and he was unable to tell me what the warranty period was. Even pulling the booklet from the box, didn't help.

You'd think WD would make more of that selling point instead of scoring an "own goal" by covering it up with 8MB sticker.

As far as the UK is concerned, it would appear, that it's makes sense to shop around and read the details on the box.

[glc]

I'm speaking only of US warranties - the international warranties are totally different.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Yup. Here all brands offer only 1 year.

[mike breck]

I'm speaking only of US warranties - the international warranties are totally different.

I understand that glc and fully recognise you were talking about the US market.

I'd just thought you'd be interested to know what the retail situation appears to be in the UK, as in the past, you have always shown an interest in the International market.

[TwoRails]

Hi Zred1,

Both drives are excellent. I'm a Maxtor fan, so I'd lean toward the Maxtor. Did they put up a Best Buy in your area yet? Haven't been out that way for years.

If so, that would be a good place to check out, as my local Best Buy sells them both, and often run sales on them. For example, I recently picked up my Maxtor 120 gig, ATA 133 w/ 8MB for $129 after rebates.

But WD is there too, if you lean that way. You just have to watch for sales. It seems like the have one every few months and I think they're due for one.

HTH

TwoRails.

[TwoRails]

Hi again, Zred1,

My local Best Buy is starting a sale tommorrow on the Maxtor 120 gig, ATA 133 8MB cache drive with 3 year warrantee printed right on the front of the box.

It's the same one I just got, but it will be a better sale: Mine was $199 before $70 in rebates, but they dropped the price to $159, so after $50 in mail in rebates, the final price will be $109 !!!

Heck, I might even pick up yet another one!

TwoRails

[WNeill]

I would agree with most of the comments here, that both are good drive, I have the WD 80Gb SE. It would come down to the price and warranty you can get on each.

WNeill