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

[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/Produc...82E16822144184

This is a good one (assuming you got sata) for under $100 american: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144235

[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.