Maxtor or WD?

[krogoth]

Since my (Maxtor 7200RPM) hard drive is making funny noises, I've decided it's time to get another one. I've found two that look good: http://www.sonnam.com/detail.asp?prod_ID=HDD-WD-80G-72R and http://www.sonnam.com/detail.asp?prod_ID=HDD-MAX-80G-72R

They are both 80GB and 7200RPM, and have very similar specs, but the Maxtor drive seems just a little faster. Should I go for that, or would the WD drive be better?

 

[ResearchEverything]

I would go with the Maxtor. I recently bought a 60GB 7200RPM WD drive and it has been a total headache. I would pay more for the Maxtor just to have a drive that works correctly. There are numerous issues right now with the higher capacity WD drives. I have not heard of any with Maxtoir and my Maxtor drives are all fine. Older WD drives seem to be okay, just the more recent batch. Good luck.

 

[LXi]

For 80GB or below, Maxtor is the clear choice, Seagate and IBM aren't bad alternatives.

 

[microAmp]

What about WD 120 G? with the 8 MB cache? go here to see benchmarks on it.

 

[Ronin13]

'ResearchEverything' said:



<< There are numerous issues right now with the higher capacity WD drives. >>



What issues?

 

[krogoth]

motoamd, will you be sending me the drive or just the price difference?

 

[LikeLinus]

<< There are numerous issues right now with the higher capacity WD drives. >>

What issues? I'll tell you the issues i had.

Purchased a 80GB WD 7200 HD in September of last year. In November it went belly up. Clicking sounds, inability to access the HD, and it started disconnecting itself from Win2k. They NEVER asked me to run any HD test, i told them the symptoms and they just gave me an RMA. I lost a good bit of data because it's hard to backup 40-50GB of info, but i had most of the stuff i needed backed up.

So i get my HD back in Dec. and everything is great! It is now March 5th (two days ago), drive starts clicking and i know immediately what is happening. I start backing up whatever i can and the drive starts disconnecting itself, clicking, inability to read the HD (errors out). I got some of it, but i think i lost more this time than last...lol. So i call WD and i tell them the symptoms again and they immediately give me an RMA. The guy NEVER asked me (again) to run any HD utilities or checkers. I asked the guy if these drives have known problems because of the two i had died with the same symptoms and only after a few months each! They denyed it and said it was really odd that i had two of them go bad. But they never asked any questions or anything.

I had only one previous HD problem and that was with a Quantum Atlas II Ultra 160, but that turned out to be a drive problem with my Adaptec 29160 card and the HD. But the 4 times i called Quantum they kept asking me to run HD utilities and such. It's kinda funny that everytime i called them, they asked me to, and the 2 times i called WD - they never asked and acted like it was a known problem.

I thought maybe it was a heat issue, till i realize i have an 80mm Sunon fan blowing right on it and the drive never got hot. I've got one of those chieftec Antec type cases, that has a fan in the HD cage. Plus the other fan in the front and the two in the back..the case stays VERY cool, so it's obviously a HD problem, or i just got two bum drives???

Time will tell though! I have two new 80GB 7200 WD HD's on their way to my house as a nice replacement for my problems (bitching works!). I will see if either one of these HD's have problems in the next few months and let you guys know. A 100% fail rate sucks!!!

 

[Pabster]

Maxtor, hands down. The D740X (J or L) is the finest IDE disk series on the market right now.

 

[Mem]

Another vote for the Maxtor D740X,these drives are excellent also don`t forget Maxtor have great customer support as well.

 

[Ronin13]

<< There are numerous issues right now with the higher capacity WD drives. >>




<< What issues? I'll tell you the issues i had. >>




<< Purchased a 80GB WD 7200 HD >>

...

I thought that by 'higher capacity' he meant the 100 and 120 GB models (even though the thread-starter is asking about the 80 GB model).

This might be OT, but so far I've seen only praise for these models (WD 100 & 120 GB).

Are there any known issues with these? Especially the WD 1200 JB? (Besides the price...)

 

[WhoDeeny]

Maxtor D740X! Got two now and plan to fill out my RAID array as soon as the money's available.

(Now, where did I leave that $ at, hmm...)

 

[Mavrick007]

If you're not getting the WD with the 8meg cache, go with Maxtor. The d740x are good fast drives and have ata133.
Maxtor has a good warranty process too.

 

[Pariah]

If you want a drive that's 80GB or smaller, get whichever is cheaper. If you need 100 or 120GB, WD is your only choice.

I haven't heard of any issues with recent WD drives. One guy having a problem with 2 drives is not numerous issues. I've owned 6 WD BB/JB drives and all of them are still working. Does that mean WD is perfect? Of course not, that's just my experience. IBM has numerous issues. I haven't heard of a single JB failure yet, though obviously there probably have been some.

I don't understand why you are complaining that WD didn't make you jump through hoops to get an RMA. It's called a no hassle policy which I think every company should have.

 

[LikeLinus]

"I don't understand why you are complaining that WD didn't make you jump through hoops to get an RMA. "

No i simply said they didnt even ask if i ran test on it or anything. The only other companies i have dealt with always ask if you have tested the drive. I dont think they should make you "jump through hoops" but anyone could just call up and say their drive is broke. It's still a company and about money.

 

[4824guy]

The d740x Maxtors have been recieveing alot of good reviews from some PC magazine review articles that I have read recently.

 

[dbwillis]

Im using a 40gb OS and 80gb data drive (Western Digital 7200rpm BB models) with no problems since day one, also using a 300AB WD model (5400rpm) since day 1 with no problems.
Id say they run (on my PC) about 80% of the time..the rest of the time is rebootring due to hardware change or software install