help buying a new hard drive - from where? what brands? etc

[theRealMacoy]

hello fellow posters,

i would appreciate as much advice as possible as i know very little about hardware.

i am interested in buying a new hard drive for my computer.

i want approx. a 160gb internal hard drive (this isn't set in stone but i guess i want to spend approx $100).

i live in canada but have a friend in washington state so i could buy online (even from US sellers) and send it to them.


1-what brands are solid?
2-what specs are important?
3a-from where can i get the best/most reliable deal?
b-is it safe to buy online (it seems cheaper)? what happens if it breaks?

cheers and thanks
sean -the real macoy


i found this great radified guide for partitioning if anyone is interested... partition stategies (http://partition.radified.com/)

[MyMindIsGoing]

Talking about fdisk and logical drives in 2005 is like forget about it. The point that you should use partitions however is very good advice.

1. I personaly use the Maxtor drives. I tried several others but Maxtor was "the one" for me.
2. Rotation speed (most sold are 7200rpm), seek time (around 9ms is standard), cache (the more the better, get a drive with 8mb or more) interface (ide or sata is most commonly used).
3a. I am not from the US or Canada but Newegg seems to have alot of stuff for nice prices (atleast compared with what I pay for my stuff).
3b. It is pretty safe, if it is packaged well. I have had several drives damaged during transport all where badly packaged. I always try them out hard before I decide that the drive is ok. If it is damaged during transport you should get a new one, atleast it is like that where I live.

This is what I got: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144184

This is a good one (assuming you got sata) for under $100 american: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144235

[StevieG]

I do live in the US, have used NewEgg more than once and like them. I also like Outpost.com, which is Fry's partner for online sales.

Please note that both of these models are OEM kits and therefore won't have a serial ATA cable. If you are replacing a hard drive, you'll be fine, but if you are adding another hard drive to an empty bay, then you'll want to order a serial ATA cable, too, and drive bay screws if you don't have them.

Check out some of the major retailers in your area... I went to Best Buy a couple weeks ago and they had a special on a Western Digital 160GB HDD for $30. They were out of them, so I went to Circuit City and found a 160GB Seagate HDD (7200 RPM, 8MB cache) for $40, so I picked that one up instead. Just have to spend the 5 minutes it takes for the mail in rebates.

MisterW

[theRealMacoy]

thanks for the info everyone. i really appreciate it.

mymindisgoing,
thanks for the excellent detailed reply, and of course the links rock. actually, i was hoping you would chime in, as i have read many of your previous posts and you definately know your stuff.

how do i find out if i have sata (i googled it, so i at least know what it is)?

-if it helps, my computer is a Dell Dimension 8200 with a 1.8ghz CPU (with 700 odd whatevers of RAM..i added extra)

also, the only negative i have found regarding Maxtor drives is a few people seem to report them as being loud. what is your opinion regarding this issue?

finally, has anyone had any problems with New Egg?
It sounds pretty reliable.

thanks again for all the help,

sean

[theRealMacoy]

[ QUOTE ]
I do live in the US, have used NewEgg more than once and like them. I also like Outpost.com, which is Fry's partner for online sales.

Please note that both of these models are OEM kits and therefore won't have a serial ATA cable. If you are replacing a hard drive, you'll be fine, but if you are adding another hard drive to an empty bay, then you'll want to order a serial ATA cable, too, and drive bay screws if you don't have them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Steve,

thanks for the recommendations for the sites. have you had positive dealings with Outpost?

also, i really appreciate the heads up about the cable and screws.

i will be adding this drive as my main C drive but keeping the one i have as well.....so i guess i need a cable and screws.

thanks again,
sean

[Guthrie]

I bought a 100GB Maxtor at Office Depot a couple of weeks ago for $19.95 after rebate. There's deals in the Sunday paper every week, surely they have them in Canada too.

Given the speed of your CPU I'm doubtful that you haveSerial ATA drives. An easy way to check is if the cable running to your HDD is about a 1/2 inch thick you have Serial ATA, and if it is about two inches thick you have IDE/Parallel ATA.

I also think I should chime in and say that Seagate offers five year warranties on their drives, as opposed to most manufacturers who offer three year warranties.

[theRealMacoy]

what do i do now?

i don't think i have sata in my computer.

-can i still buy a sata drive?
-is there a converter? do i need a new motherboard?
-is is worth it to convert? (do you lose all the benefits of a sata drive by converting?)
-can i do this myself? (i have installed new burners and memory previously but that is it)


likely i won't be able to afford a new system for a couple years thus i would like to buy the latest format of drives (then hopefully i could take it to my next computer).

any advice would be great as i am having trouble sorting out the info i am reading from googling.

cheers and thanks,
sean

[MyMindIsGoing]

I would never buy maxtor if I thought it was loud, since I always try to make my computers as quiet as possible. There might be more quiet drives, but it is not loud.

I think you should go with IDE (considering the age of the computer). Open the box and se if there is a sata cable connected to your drive, it is always red, about quarter of an inch wide. If not, there should be a wider flat connector, about two inches, (that is ide) often with a grey flat cable or in some cases a rounded one.

[MyMindIsGoing]

Get a normal IDE drive if you don't have sata (or not sure, since most new computers support both). It is not THAT diffrent when it comes to performance if you do not have sata. Getting a sata drive with a pci card so you could use it not worth it. Getting a new drive with a new computer a few years ahead will cost like nothing anyway, plus the fact that the drive itself is going to feel small and old when they day comes.

If you installed a burner there should be no problem installing the drive. Same thing, just a little smaller.

[StevieG]

[ QUOTE ]

thanks for the recommendations for the sites. have you had positive dealings with Outpost?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I have bought multiple things from Outpost, they are fast and accurate.

T3485 and MyMindIsGoing are giving you more detailed advice than I could, so I will stand aside from the IDE discussion and learn.

I've used newegg.com, zipzoomfly.com, and monarchcomputer all were excellent.

Seagate is supposed to be one of the quietest drives out there and I think they are a good choice. Their online RMA forms suck though... it takes a while to get all the info. Also, they charge something like $25 to do an advance RMA.

Western digital has just gone to a 5 year warranty and their RMA policy is 2nd to none. No questions asked, you send them your bad drive, they send you a brand new one. No charge for Advance RMA (but they want your credit card in case you stiff them). For work I have to replace 20-30 a month and have never had a problem.

Personally I would choose Western Digital over any other, but that's just because I've worked with them more.

[theRealMacoy]

Hey Mind,

Thanks for all your advice I really appreciate it!

I think your suggestion of not getting a SATA drive is valid, thus decided to get the other (IDE) kind.

Here are some drives i found....from bothe Maxtor and Wester Digital (with the 16mb cache option) .

One question is what is the difference between these two Maxtor drives. How do i tell which one will fit my computer?
(whether IDE or ATA 100 or ATA13 -- what is the difference)



Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB Hard Drive (http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=8852516)
(Ultra ATA-133, 7,200RPM, 16MB - SKU: 6L300R0)
Price Range: $119.90 (OEM) - $174.00 from 35 Sellers

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus10 300GB Hard Drive (http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=3584978)
(EIDE, Ultra ATA/133, 7200 RPM, 16MB - SKU: 6B300R0)
Price Range: $120.80 - $248.80 from 19 Sellers


or these two Western Digital drives

Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB Hard Drive (http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=6168885)
(IDE, 7200 RPM, 8MB - SKU: WD3200JB)
Price Range: $125.00 - $251.40 from 40 Sellers

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3000JB 300GB Hard Drive (http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=6184198)
(ATA-100, 7200 RPM, 8MB - SKU: WD3000JB)
Price Range: $126.00 (OEM) - $181.53 from 33 Sellers 4

(...anyone with more info regarding these drives would be much appreciated...)


thanks again for the help,
sean

[theRealMacoy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

thanks for the recommendations for the sites. have you had positive dealings with Outpost?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I have bought multiple things from Outpost, they are fast and accurate.

T3485 and MyMindIsGoing are giving you more detailed advice than I could, so I will stand aside from the IDE discussion and learn.

[/ QUOTE ]

stevie,

much obliged for your advice and recommendations

sean

[theRealMacoy]

allbad,

thank-you for sharing your experience with WD.
the recommendations are appreciated.

cheers,
sean

[MyMindIsGoing]

Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB Hard Drive
(Ultra ATA-133, 7,200RPM, 16MB - SKU: 6L300R0)
Price Range: $119.90 (OEM) - $174.00 from 35 Sellers

I would get that one. I would not get the western digital drive. I rather buy seagate as a second choice.

ATA133 is just a faster version of ATA100 realy, but they are backward compatible, if your computer can only run ATA100 (and slower) then the drive will be ata100, the numberpart of ATAxxx is the theoretical max transfer speed over the hard drive cable.

ATA vs IDE: There are several views. Some say they are the same, some say ata is a new version of ide, oterhs say ide refers to the physical aspects and ata to the protocol used for transfer. I sayed IDE just not to confuse ata with sata.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Technology_Attachment

[theRealMacoy]

just wanted to say thanks for all the advice.
it has been extremely helpful.

thanks,
sean