what is a good latest and greatest hard drive?

Tactics · 08-19-02, 07:28 AM

I'm sure this has been asked a million times

but I'm going to upgrade. If you seen my other thread about having that scan disk issue everytime I restart my computer, I think it's time to upgrqade anyway. I haven't reformatted in about a year. Anyway I only have a 10GB and i'm around 2 gig free and it's only a 5400 drive and sometimes the performance is slow.

What's out there now that you guys suggest? I assume I'll go with ATA100/7200 I will do an overhaul to Hammer and NV30 with some quality DDR next year so a good HD can start me off. thx again.

-Tac

FastM · 08-19-02, 08:55 AM

I think the two best choices right now are the WD 120gig drives with the 8meg cache, or to save a little money and still very fast are the Maxtor D740X drives.

darkmiasma · 08-19-02, 09:01 AM

Western Digital 120GB (Special Edition) 7200 RPM with 8MB cache

Tactics · 08-27-02, 12:10 PM

Well I'm about to buy the OEM *points to first link* for $107.00
It seems like a good price. I'm also getting it at a company I have bought from before.

www.resellerratings.com for those who don't know and want the low down on some of these companys out there that claim to have it all and give the best prices. I live by that site.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...tegory_Code=HD

Can someone tell me the difference between the one I want to buy and this one. *points to second link* I see where it says 2MB for the buffer but how could it be more $$$? The one I want has 8MB and all those other specs but there not listed. I found this at alot of sites doing reviews:

The 80GB Special Edition Caviar which is christened as the WD800JB, is the latest drive to be announced in the WD Special Edition line up. Why 'Special Edition'? Well, while all the other 7200rpm drives are stuck with 2MB of cache memory, Western Digital decided to include an amazing 8MB of cache memory into their Special Edition drives which is 4X more than any other drive in the market, making them something really special!

Specifications

80 GB Hard Drive WD800JB
Rotational Speed 7,200 RPM (nominal)
Buffer Size 8 MB
Buffer To Disk 602.0 Mbits/s (Max)
Read Seek Time (Average) 8.9 ms
Write Seek Time (Average) 10.9 ms (average)
Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average)
Full Stroke Seek 21.0 ms (average)
Average Latency 4.2 ms (nominal)
Mode 5 Ultra ATA 100.0 MB/s
Mode 4 Ultra ATA 66.6 MB/s
Mode 2 Ultra ATA 33.3 MB/s
Mode 4 PIO 16.6 MB/s
Mode 2 multi-word DMA 16.6 MB/s

What gives? 2nd drive is more $$$ with less cache.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...tegory_Code=HD

FastM · 08-27-02, 02:16 PM

I thought the 8meg Cache SE drives were only available in 100 or 120gigs so it could be an advertising error.

But in any case this would be the one to order.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...tegory_Code=HD

Tactics · 08-27-02, 03:24 PM

They actually come in 80GB also.

http://www.exhardware.com/reviews.php?Id=88

http://bizrate.com/marketplace/produ...--6518947.html

volt · 08-27-02, 04:11 PM

I love my WD 120 Gig 8MB Cache

Tactics · 08-27-02, 06:40 PM

I just bought mine! 80GB at newegg for $106 free shipping.

I really would never use 120GB that's why I didn't dish out the extra cash. All I do is play games. Now i'm going to invest in some round cables. There cheap enough and look better.

34 yrs old and just loving PC games... big kid at heart that never leaves us, lol

PCarr78 · 08-27-02, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by darkmiasma
Western Digital 120GB (Special Edition) 7200 RPM with 8MB cache

Yea, agreed. That's a realli nice drive.

Other than that, Maxtor. I have had my maxtors running nonstop for 2.5 years. Never a single problem!

PCarr78 · 08-27-02, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tactics
Now i'm going to invest in some round cables. There cheap enough and look better.

Don't! They can actually contribute to HDD failure!

Tactics · 08-28-02, 11:11 AM

Too late... I was doing some research and came up with people who buy 24' or 36' cables instead of 18' it can lead to problems with the HD. Maybe that's what your talking about -- other than that I read a ton of reviews and no one mentioned any problems. hmmm..

Gator · 08-28-02, 01:06 PM

another vote for Western Digital 120GB (Special Edition) 7200 RPM with 8MB cache

08-19-02, 07:28 AM	#1
Tactics Green Lantern Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Wakefield, RI Posts: 101	what is a good latest and greatest hard drive? I'm sure this has been asked a million times but I'm going to upgrade. If you seen my other thread about having that scan disk issue everytime I restart my computer, I think it's time to upgrqade anyway. I haven't reformatted in about a year. Anyway I only have a 10GB and i'm around 2 gig free and it's only a 5400 drive and sometimes the performance is slow. What's out there now that you guys suggest? I assume I'll go with ATA100/7200 I will do an overhaul to Hammer and NV30 with some quality DDR next year so a good HD can start me off. thx again. -Tac __________________ "The man who learns only what others know is ignorant as if he learns nothing. The treasures of knowledge are the most rare, and guarded most harshly" -Chronicle of the First Age

08-19-02, 09:01 AM	#3
darkmiasma ... Meh ... Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 174	Western Digital 120GB (Special Edition) 7200 RPM with 8MB cache __________________ MCSE, MCSA, MCP, A+, Net+, Security+ --------------------------------------------- CPU - [ AMD Athlon X2 4200+] Motherboard - [ Asus A8N-SLI Premium] RAM - [ 2GB Crucial DDR400] Videocard - [ eVGA GeForce 7900GT KO (256MB)] Hard Drives - [ (2x) 80.0 GB WD SATA-II ] [(2x) 300.0 GB WD SATA-II] Burner - [ 16x DVD-R/RW - 48x CD-R/RW (Lite-On) ] Soundcard - [ Soundblaster Audigy 2 ] PSU - [ Antec TruePower II 550W] Case - [ Lian-Li PC61 (Plexi window, Blue SA CC Tube) ] Monitor - [ Dell FP2005 (20" Widescreen Flat Panel) ]

08-27-02, 12:10 PM	#4
Tactics Green Lantern Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Wakefield, RI Posts: 101	Well I'm about to buy the OEM points to first link for $107.00 It seems like a good price. I'm also getting it at a company I have bought from before. www.resellerratings.com for those who don't know and want the low down on some of these companys out there that claim to have it all and give the best prices. I live by that site. http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...tegory_Code=HD Can someone tell me the difference between the one I want to buy and this one. points to second link I see where it says 2MB for the buffer but how could it be more $$$? The one I want has 8MB and all those other specs but there not listed. I found this at alot of sites doing reviews: The 80GB Special Edition Caviar which is christened as the WD800JB, is the latest drive to be announced in the WD Special Edition line up. Why 'Special Edition'? Well, while all the other 7200rpm drives are stuck with 2MB of cache memory, Western Digital decided to include an amazing 8MB of cache memory into their Special Edition drives which is 4X more than any other drive in the market, making them something really special! Specifications 80 GB Hard Drive WD800JB Rotational Speed 7,200 RPM (nominal) Buffer Size 8 MB Buffer To Disk 602.0 Mbits/s (Max) Read Seek Time (Average) 8.9 ms Write Seek Time (Average) 10.9 ms (average) Track-To-Track Seek Time 2.0 ms (average) Full Stroke Seek 21.0 ms (average) Average Latency 4.2 ms (nominal) Mode 5 Ultra ATA 100.0 MB/s Mode 4 Ultra ATA 66.6 MB/s Mode 2 Ultra ATA 33.3 MB/s Mode 4 PIO 16.6 MB/s Mode 2 multi-word DMA 16.6 MB/s What gives? 2nd drive is more $$$ with less cache. http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...tegory_Code=HD __________________ "The man who learns only what others know is ignorant as if he learns nothing. The treasures of knowledge are the most rare, and guarded most harshly" -Chronicle of the First Age

08-27-02, 03:24 PM	#6
Tactics Green Lantern Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Wakefield, RI Posts: 101	They actually come in 80GB also. http://www.exhardware.com/reviews.php?Id=88 http://bizrate.com/marketplace/produ...--6518947.html __________________ "The man who learns only what others know is ignorant as if he learns nothing. The treasures of knowledge are the most rare, and guarded most harshly" -Chronicle of the First Age

08-27-02, 04:11 PM	#7
volt Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: /dev/null Posts: 1,556	I love my WD 120 Gig 8MB Cache __________________ [b]Optimization guidelines by Koji Ashida of NVIDIA:[/b][list][]Use fx12 instructions whenever possible[]Use lowest pixel shader version[/list][url=http://developer.nvidia.com/docs/IO/10878/ChinaJoy2004_OptimizationAndTools.pdf]source[/url] [size=1]The politics are invading the technology. We don't really like to mess with politics because that kind of adversarial relationship has nothing to do with pure technical operations and the technical specifications of what we like to play with, the hardware![/size]

08-19-02, 08:55 AM	#2
FastM GeForceFlop Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 545	I think the two best choices right now are the WD 120gig drives with the 8meg cache, or to save a little money and still very fast are the Maxtor D740X drives.

08-27-02, 02:16 PM	#5
FastM GeForceFlop Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 545	I thought the 8meg Cache SE drives were only available in 100 or 120gigs so it could be an advertising error. But in any case this would be the one to order. http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...tegory_Code=HD

08-27-02, 06:40 PM	#8
Tactics Green Lantern Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Wakefield, RI Posts: 101	I just bought mine! 80GB at newegg for $106 free shipping. I really would never use 120GB that's why I didn't dish out the extra cash. All I do is play games. Now i'm going to invest in some round cables. There cheap enough and look better. 34 yrs old and just loving PC games... big kid at heart that never leaves us, lol __________________ "The man who learns only what others know is ignorant as if he learns nothing. The treasures of knowledge are the most rare, and guarded most harshly" -Chronicle of the First Age

08-28-02, 11:11 AM	#11
Tactics Green Lantern Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Wakefield, RI Posts: 101	Too late... I was doing some research and came up with people who buy 24' or 36' cables instead of 18' it can lead to problems with the HD. Maybe that's what your talking about -- other than that I read a ton of reviews and no one mentioned any problems. hmmm.. __________________ "The man who learns only what others know is ignorant as if he learns nothing. The treasures of knowledge are the most rare, and guarded most harshly" -Chronicle of the First Age

08-28-02, 01:06 PM	#12
Gator Unreal Tournament Gamer Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New York Posts: 2,279	another vote for Western Digital 120GB (Special Edition) 7200 RPM with 8MB cache __________________ Athlon64 3200 Clawhammer / Asus K8N-E Deluxe / 1GB Crucial DDR400 / Geforce 6600GT 128MB AGP / Windows XP Pro