Points to consider: Warrantee 1 year - not good Standard 3 year OK Standard 5 year Good Avoid extra cost warrantees - think of them more as a payment via the manufacturer to an insurance company for the cost of replacement
2Mb cache OK if you are doing random access 8Mb or 16Mb cache can save on IO if persistently re-reading data, but then, that's what windows cache memory does as well large cache on a HD allows more read-ahead for large, not fragmented files More sectors in a cylinder means more data per platter rotation More platters mean more data at each head position, so possibly fewer head movements and if you have the cache, more read-ahead More cylinders mean more head movement to get to the end of the data, but.. only using the first 100Gb of a 200Gb drive will probably be faster than using all of a 100Gb drive Check access and heat generation on Toms Hardware Also - check power usage at each voltage, and each stage of the drive use - see the manufacturer's site Also - consider error rate - but remember that most manufacturers drives are far better than the quoted rate - the rate quoted is the minimum you should expect from any of their drives Spin speed 5400 is slow and cool, and cheap for low usage - archive type data storage 10000 is a fast but hot running drive - unless your system has good cooling, , do you need such costs unless you are running time critical work. (Laptops tend to use slightly slower and far cooler 2.5" drives) and - finally, SATA - or SATA 2 with the more intelligent command resequencing algorithms - providing your usage will be appropriate for SATA 2 intelligence as opposed to more read-ahead, and - does the selected drive include error reporting, and - does your PC software include analysis and reporting of the error statistics Even considering just WD SATA drives, there are at least 4 different drive qualities - without considering the different performance of the 120, 160, 200, 250, 300, 400, and for the rich, 500Gb drives! So when you have assembled a database of the characteristics, please publish it, - before it gets outdated JimB P.S. No recommendation or complaint about other drives, but my main PC has IBM/Hitachi and WD 'J' drives, reasonably quiet, and not too hot - no problems yet, except I keep wanting bigger drives, more would be nice, but that would mean a new, more expensive PSU. Most failures I have come across have been drives supplied in systems from the volume suppliers for the 'price-conscious such as Time, Tiny - note price, not cost-conscious ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rich Koziol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 10:08 PM Subject: Re: HDDs > On 15 Aug 2005 at 14:54, Jim Green wrote: > > Is there any reason to prefer or disparage Seagate or Western Digital or Maxtor (all >100gB SATA)? > Never lost data due to WD failure - they have always given me plenty of notice. Had a couple Maxtors die sudden death, while very young. Dealt with Seagate only a couple times and remember them to be a pain - incompatible. > > This is all out of date info. When I tink HD, I think WD. > > Is there any reason to prefer or disparage 7200 rpm or 10000 rpm? > Faster spin, faster data access. Maybe more heat. There have been few drives that turned at 10K - never owned one. > > Rich > -- ---------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page? http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
