Anyone Use Seagate Harddrives?

Albromor · 11-09-2005, 01:58 PM

I continue to be in the process of building a new computer. I have only used Western Digital but I am wondering about the quality and dependability of Seagate harddrives. Opinions and experience appreciated.

Ziroc · 11-09-2005, 07:01 PM

Seagate is all I buy now. And they are quieter. I had the last THREE WD Drives fail or get bad sectors. Never again. Never ever had a seagate die.

Now.... The WD Raptors are nice.. 10,000RPM, but costly.

Seraph · 11-09-2005, 07:11 PM

I've probably owned 30+ hard drives in the last 15 years, probably split 50/50 between WD and Seagate.
I've had several WD drives fail, but it was generally in a graceful way that gave me plently of warning before they broke.
I've had two Seagate drives fail, one failed gracefully, the other just totally stoped working one day after suffering a massive mechanical failure.

Does anyone still make Hard Disks with a 3 year warenty (or longer)?

Felix The Assassin · 11-09-2005, 07:19 PM

WD is my mainstay! Lets see, 2 in here, 2 in that one, 2 spare, that's 6 WD HDDs, some dated from 2000. Looks @ spare parts bin, yeap, there is 1 Seagate in the pile.
WD comes in 3 levels, intro: 1yr. builder: 3 yr, top of the line: 5 yr. Quiet, cool, humble and pretty high rated on any chart published by anybody.

Seagate, was in my first store bought rig, other than that I only have reading knowledge of them. Have read they create more spin up / spin down noise than others. Also, if your using windoze NTFS, have heard they are more susceptable to NTFS 'chatter', (clicking), than other drives. Me tinks "all" of their HDDs have a 5yr warranty.

Back in the dark days of DOS, and such, both were primier manufacturers.

shamrock_uk · 11-09-2005, 07:30 PM

One of my current drives is a WD, it appears the partition on it is slightly flaky but apart from that, no problem. Much cooler than the Maxtor drives I have (which I would steer you away from - mine get too hot to touch).

My first two hard drives were Seagates - my 1GB one dating from ~1996 is still being used daily in a computer I built recently for a friend and a 4GB one from ~1998 is also still going strong. Given the average lifespan of a hard drive is supposed to be five years, I'd say that they're pretty good on the reliability stakes IMO [img]smile.gif[/img]

RoSs_bg2_rox · 11-09-2005, 08:21 PM

In my current 1.2Tb of storage I have 2 200gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.7's, and they are very good, very reliable and no problems whatsoever. My WD is a Raptor, which I would recommend, but I don't know about a Caviar etc. The other 2 250gbs are Maxtors, and I have a few smaller Maxtors aswell, however they don't get the best reliablility report these days.

Go with Seagate and get some 7200.8's with NCQ, very nice.

Albromor · 11-09-2005, 08:28 PM

Hey, thanks all. Z, I was over at NewEgg and what had me really concerned about Western Digital is the very recent consumer reviews and the number of issues people are running into.

RoSs - What is NCQ? Also, is it true that high gigbyte drives need controller cards? Where does one place these cards? I have seriously looked at the Barracuda. Wish I could afford those sweet 16mb cache ones.

Ilander · 11-10-2005, 12:22 AM

High gigabyte drives don't need controller cards...unless you make them out of smaller drives, via a RAID array. Like mine. I have three 250 GB Maxtors, hooked to a PCI card that makes them act like one 500 GB hard drive.

Runs a little hot, though...I need to come up with a good cooling solution.

Really, I need to use network storage instead of so much internal, but for now, I'm content with what I've got.

[ 11-10-2005, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: Ilander ]

Firestormalpha · 11-10-2005, 12:26 AM

My math must be off. You said three 250 GB Drives, hooked up to act like one 500 GB Drive? isn't 3 x 250 = 750? Is there something here I'm unaware of?

Ilander · 11-10-2005, 12:49 AM

It's in a RAID array, specifically a RAID 5 array...the net effect of this is to lower drive storage to 2/3 of maximum, while spreading it and error-checking data out amongst the three drives in such a way as to guarantee the ability to recover data should one of them fail...

It was one of the choices I had to make...take the gargantuan storage and run, or make it a bit safer...

11-09-2005, 07:01 PM	#2
Ziroc Ironworks Webmaster *Bow to the Meow* Join Date: January 4, 2001 Location: Lakeland, Florida Age: 52 Posts: 11,727	Seagate is all I buy now. And they are quieter. I had the last THREE WD Drives fail or get bad sectors. Never again. Never ever had a seagate die. Now.... The WD Raptors are nice.. 10,000RPM, but costly. __________________ Ironworks Gaming's Official Youtube Gaming Channel

11-09-2005, 07:19 PM	#4
Felix The Assassin The Dreadnoks Join Date: September 27, 2001 Location: Orlando, FL Age: 62 Posts: 3,608	WD is my mainstay! Lets see, 2 in here, 2 in that one, 2 spare, that's 6 WD HDDs, some dated from 2000. Looks @ spare parts bin, yeap, there is 1 Seagate in the pile. WD comes in 3 levels, intro: 1yr. builder: 3 yr, top of the line: 5 yr. Quiet, cool, humble and pretty high rated on any chart published by anybody. Seagate, was in my first store bought rig, other than that I only have reading knowledge of them. Have read they create more spin up / spin down noise than others. Also, if your using windoze NTFS, have heard they are more susceptable to NTFS 'chatter', (clicking), than other drives. Me tinks "all" of their HDDs have a 5yr warranty. Back in the dark days of DOS, and such, both were primier manufacturers. __________________ The Lizzie Palmer Tribute Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. John F. Kennedy 35th President of The United States The Last Shot Honor The Fallen Jesus died for our sins, and American Soldiers died for our freedom. If you don't stand behind our Soldiers, please feel free to stand in front of them.

11-09-2005, 08:21 PM	#6
RoSs_bg2_rox Zartan Join Date: May 20, 2003 Location: Near Aberdeen, Scotland Age: 36 Posts: 5,225	In my current 1.2Tb of storage I have 2 200gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.7's, and they are very good, very reliable and no problems whatsoever. My WD is a Raptor, which I would recommend, but I don't know about a Caviar etc. The other 2 250gbs are Maxtors, and I have a few smaller Maxtors aswell, however they don't get the best reliablility report these days. Go with Seagate and get some 7200.8's with NCQ, very nice. __________________ [img]\"http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/ladyzekke/dragonwater2.gif\" alt=\" - \" />

11-10-2005, 12:22 AM	#8
Ilander 20th Level Warrior Join Date: December 28, 2003 Location: Kentucky Age: 39 Posts: 2,820	High gigabyte drives don't need controller cards...unless you make them out of smaller drives, via a RAID array. Like mine. I have three 250 GB Maxtors, hooked to a PCI card that makes them act like one 500 GB hard drive. Runs a little hot, though...I need to come up with a good cooling solution. Really, I need to use network storage instead of so much internal, but for now, I'm content with what I've got. [ 11-10-2005, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: Ilander ] __________________ Is that what you really want to say?

11-10-2005, 12:26 AM	#9
Firestormalpha Knight of the Rose Join Date: July 11, 2002 Location: Coral Springs, Fl USA Age: 41 Posts: 4,454	My math must be off. You said three 250 GB Drives, hooked up to act like one 500 GB Drive? isn't 3 x 250 = 750? Is there something here I'm unaware of? __________________ "When you start with a presupposition, it's hard to arrive at any other conclusion." "We are never to judge a philosophy by its abuse." - Augustine "If you're wondering if God has a sense of humor, consider the platypus." http://www.greaterthings.cbglades.com

11-09-2005, 01:58 PM	#1
Albromor Mephistopheles Join Date: June 13, 2001 Location: Northfield, NJ USA Posts: 1,417	I continue to be in the process of building a new computer. I have only used Western Digital but I am wondering about the quality and dependability of Seagate harddrives. Opinions and experience appreciated.

11-09-2005, 07:11 PM	#3
Seraph Quintesson Join Date: September 12, 2001 Location: Ewing, NJ Age: 43 Posts: 1,079	I've probably owned 30+ hard drives in the last 15 years, probably split 50/50 between WD and Seagate. I've had several WD drives fail, but it was generally in a graceful way that gave me plently of warning before they broke. I've had two Seagate drives fail, one failed gracefully, the other just totally stoped working one day after suffering a massive mechanical failure. Does anyone still make Hard Disks with a 3 year warenty (or longer)?

11-09-2005, 07:30 PM	#5
shamrock_uk Dracolich Join Date: January 24, 2004 Location: UK Age: 42 Posts: 3,092	One of my current drives is a WD, it appears the partition on it is slightly flaky but apart from that, no problem. Much cooler than the Maxtor drives I have (which I would steer you away from - mine get too hot to touch). My first two hard drives were Seagates - my 1GB one dating from ~1996 is still being used daily in a computer I built recently for a friend and a 4GB one from ~1998 is also still going strong. Given the average lifespan of a hard drive is supposed to be five years, I'd say that they're pretty good on the reliability stakes IMO [img]smile.gif[/img]

11-09-2005, 08:28 PM	#7
Albromor Mephistopheles Join Date: June 13, 2001 Location: Northfield, NJ USA Posts: 1,417	Hey, thanks all. Z, I was over at NewEgg and what had me really concerned about Western Digital is the very recent consumer reviews and the number of issues people are running into. RoSs - What is NCQ? Also, is it true that high gigbyte drives need controller cards? Where does one place these cards? I have seriously looked at the Barracuda. Wish I could afford those sweet 16mb cache ones.

11-10-2005, 12:49 AM	#10
Ilander 20th Level Warrior Join Date: December 28, 2003 Location: Kentucky Age: 39 Posts: 2,820	It's in a RAID array, specifically a RAID 5 array...the net effect of this is to lower drive storage to 2/3 of maximum, while spreading it and error-checking data out amongst the three drives in such a way as to guarantee the ability to recover data should one of them fail... It was one of the choices I had to make...take the gargantuan storage and run, or make it a bit safer... __________________ Is that what you really want to say?

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