SimonH

I asked a few days ago about a new HDD for my system and got many helpful replies

Basically I've got a PIII 600 with an ATA66 20Gb HDD and I want to fit a bigger/quieter one. Should I bother with a 5400rpm drive or spend a few more pennies and get the 7400rpm one? Average access time is quoted as <8s for the 7400 and 9s for the 5400. Not a lot in it as far as I can tell so would I notice and difference between the two?

Ta

MrDeference

Yeah, get the 7200 one. Try the 80MB Western Digital drive at Scan today.
Peachy

Mr Footlong

iTrader: (7)

Thw WD special edition drives are a bit pricy compared to the competitors, but the scan price today is good for one of those. They are, for most general use, the fastest current 7200rpm ata100 drives on the market today. If that seems a little too pricey for you, then the next best which is a very close performer to the WD SE drives are the IBM 120GXP series drives.
These are ata100 7200rpm drives with circa 8ms access time if memory serves. I use these and they are very quick. 1 note though. After the fiasco with the old, old 75gxp series and overheating, ibm recommend not more than 333 hours avg monthly use for these fellas. The 120's are way more reliable and run a lot cooler now. IBM are just covering there behinds.
The next best are the Maxtor 740x series drives. Don't go for a special edition Fluid Bearing version though, as there have been a few documented cases of the fluid leaking It was a WD rep that told me this tho!
The Maxtors are recommended above the other 2 if you tend to leave your machine on 24/7. They are designed more with this in mind than the others.

Now this sounds bonkers, but PCWORLD does the IBM's and the Maxtor's in brown box versions and their prices are very competetive.

Hope this helps,


Cheers,

Nick

SimonH

Excellent stuff - thanks for all that

I do tend to leave the PC on so I think the Maxtor may be the best bet