[ZmaN]

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=301730&pfp=home&cm_vn=cusa_3_5_03&cm_cat=Upgrades&cm_pla=hpfod&cm_ite=301730


Are they any good?  What does generic mean?  Does CompUSA actaully make them?

Point is, Should I get it?  Its really cheap.

[MatthewPapa]

Same as the maxtor diamondmax

'Wallmart' Brand; same as the maxtor but without the warranty or service. A lot of time they are units that failed the factory test the first time, are later fixed and resold

Most of the time, no

[Taristin]

CompUSA generics are Hitachi, IIRC.

[Descenterace]

As a general rule, assume that any unbranded equipment is unbranded because no company wants to be associated with it. Visualise a big 'DO NOT BUY' sign over any generic hardware.

[Nix]

Stick with a known brand!  Seagates offer thier 5-year warranties.  Don't ever buy an off-brand because usually, as stated above, they're probably refurbished due to a factory fault of some kind.  Just don't even bother at all.  The money you save is not worth the reliability issues you'll have.

[ZmaN]

word.  alright.

COMPUSA told me that they are maxtor hard drives but apparently theyre discontinued because there are zero stores taht have them in stock.

That being said I'm probably gunna get an 80 GB western digital.

whats a really cheap store besides newegg?

[IceFire]

Get a Seagate...5 years of warranty is worth the extra few bucks you pay for them.  Plus they are dead silent in operation.  You won't get that with the generic not sure if they will work longer than a month ones that nobody wants to talk about.

[Nix]

Don't be surprised if your Seagate does start to chatter after a few years though.  I've had mine and it's gotten louder here and there, but it still is a very rock solid, stable drive. 

If you're going SATA, make sure you have all the bells and whistles too such as NCQ2, SATA2, etc, depending on what you're looking for.  This way, when you do upgrade your controller that supports all those features, you'll be able to take advantage of them!  PATA drives generally will not have the fancy features SATA will.  So if you are looking for a PATA drive, any Seagate will work fine.  WD's are dodgy unless you have to spend the big bucks on the raptors (overrated in my opinion).

[Taristin]

One of my Seagates is dead silent. That one being the 300GB SATA. The 160 GB SATA makes the usual HDD sounds you usually associate with an old IBM. It never used to. Im saddened by this, as thats the windows drive, and is always doing something. Noisy little bugger.

Solid, though. Never had a problem with the drive other than that infernal sound. ANd Ill continue to buy Seagate.

[Descenterace]

People's opinions of the different brands vary hugely. Some people have never managed to find a working Maxtor. Others had bad experiences of Seagates. I think this is largely to do with how the hardware changes over the years.

For example, I trust Maxtor's older, smaller drives (<120GB), but I'd never again buy an 80GB SATA Western Digital drive. I have 2 250GB SATA WD drives that run fine, but the 200GB Seagate one has never particularly liked NTFS (although it's fine with other filesystems).

Get a drive with a warranty and remember to back up important data. If you do that, it matters little which brand you buy. They all have strengths and weaknesses.

[Nix]

In terms of warranty though, Seagate has the best in the business.  5 year, while it depends on the model of WD drive you buy.  Standard drives are 1 year, while some others carry a 3 year warranty.  The Raptors carry a 5 year warranty as well. Heh, and soon, we will have less to chose from.  Apparently, Maxtor has been swallowed up by Seagate.  I think Hitachi drives carry a measely 1 year warranty as well. 

So... if you want a good warranty, and a good drive, you're pretty much safe with Seagate, unless you need to be part of that "elite hardcore" group and go for raptors... 

[Ghostavo]

I have a working 120GBs Maxtor HDD that has been under heavy usage since 2001/2002. Since then I've added 2 other of the same model. I don't recall ever having problems with them.

[Descenterace]

Provided they have adequate cooling, they should be fine. 120GB is the watershed; larger Maxtor disks tend to run very hot, at least in the DM9 line. My machines are usually rather cramped inside (I pack a lot of stuff in; that changed with my current main box, which has space for a second ATX machine in it) so I don't like hot-running hard disks.

It's all about requirements.

[KappaWing]

*snip*

That being said I'm probably gunna get an 80 GB western digital.

Thats what I got about a year or so back. Beautful piece of hardware. No reliability issues whatsoever.

[Descenterace]

It's not a SATA WD800, then. Bought one of those and found it only powers up if hotplugged. This is apparently a common fault with the line.