looking for a hardrive

i am looking for a 160_200g harddrive but am wary as to what brand to buy . is there any thing that i should look out for when buying

 

thanks i was just browsing the web now it is a tough decision which brand to buy . i am also worried that some brands are a lot noiser than others

 

I agree with Mastertech about the Western Digital Special Edition drives.

You should be satisfied with any of those for Mastertech listed. IBM used to be the most reliable brand around, but about a year and a half ago they had a lot of problem with the Deskstar series of drive that had new glass or ceramic platter technology. Those drives had a very high failure rate (they're no longer on the market, so don't worry).

Like memory, the brand is really not that important. What you're interested in is:
a) Capacity
b) Rotational speed (5400rpm for very slow, 7200rpm for average, 10,000rpm for fast, 15,000rpm for very fast)
c) Interface (you probably want ATA, also listed as EIDE or IDE)
d) On-drive cache (generally 2MB, but sometimes 8MB)

 

I'll vote for the Western Digital drives as well. I have two 160Gb drives in my system and they are not loud at all, so don't worry about noise. The best way to buy hard drives is to look in your local best buy ads every week. They always have some hard drive at a ridiculous price after rebates. This week, I think it's an 80Gb drive for $49 after rebates, or a 120Gb drive for like $80 after rebates. I got my 160Gb drives for $90 each.

 

i just bought the ibm 200g and just waiting for delivery

 

I don't think you will be dissappointed with the IBM drives. They are really not too noisy at all & they are good about thier warranty. I actually had one of the glass platter drives. It didn't fail, but they recalled them all, so it was replaced before I had to go threw that nightmare. Been down that road before. That was the main reason I bought the second drive from them.

I have a WD SE 80gigger in another machine & it's great.

 

All I can tell you is my roomate's experience. He had a 60GXP. It failed after six months. He RMA'd it and got another 60GXP. That one failed in under one month. He RMA'd that one (still under original drive's warranty). That one failed in about three months. He went out and bought a WD. It didn't fail.

The 60GXP that I have and the one another roomate bought have had no problems.

Last fall (August-September), Staples had a special on WD 80GB and 120GB HDD (like $50 and $100 respectively after mail-in). Me and my roomates cleaned out a couple stores. These are all the same model WD drive (only difference between the 80 and 120 is that the 120 has an extra platter and two extra heads). Of about 8 to 10 drives between five of us, none has failed.

So, in my experience, a large number of Deskstar 60 GXP's failed, and it does not appear to be a misperception caused by a high population of that drive model.

And while Mastertech may be willing to believe whatever IBM spoons out, I'm much more skeptical that the only people who know the true statistics will speak the absolute truth when they have a vested interest in not doing so. I'm not saying IBM is lying, I'm saying that IBM's official stance is not convincing.