Maxtor worth the risk?

I need a new hdd for my new rig and was looking for something around the 300gb mark, but i was looking for a hdd with 16mb cache and the only ones that make them are Maxtor.

Ive had a few maxtor drives and every single one has given me problems, and ive heard the same from friends.

So i was wondering have maxtor improved the reliability of their drives(my 160gb version used as an external hdd is starting to play up and give me IO errors) or is it not worth the risk?

Also how much difference does 16mb cache make over 8mb cache?

Thanks in advance for any help here

Bought a new 250gig at xmas and it looks like its got to be rma'd
Back to Samsung for me.

I've been running a 300gb Maxtor (i think) for about a year without any problems. I know many here **** the reliablility of Maxtor drives, but so far (although only a year) mine is running great.

Suppose mileage may vary ...

See most HDD are roughly the same price/performance so go for the brand you perfer..

I wouldn't want Maxtor even if it were free!

IMO Maxtor suck bigtime for RMA support.

Currently in dispute with them over a warranty which clearly says 3 years yet they insist less even though their own manufactured date sticker on the HD contradicts what they are saying!

Avoid.

Gotta admit I like them. As well as this, the newer firmware drives are a lot quieter than the previous models- 2x identical 200gb SATA drives, & the 1 week old one is so much quieter than the 6 mth old one.
Added to that I appear to have a 4yr warranty on the week old one, I'm not complaining.

-Leezer-

leezer3 said:

Gotta admit I like them. As well as this, the newer firmware drives are a lot quieter than the previous models- 2x identical 200gb SATA drives, & the 1 week old one is so much quieter than the 6 mth old one.
Added to that I appear to have a 4yr warranty on the week old one, I'm not complaining.

-Leezer-

Click to expand...

Maybe they took AWPC's warranty and gave some more to you...

Ive had about 30 of them installed in various machines (mine and friends that i have built), in all i think only 1 of them has failed..........in which case i used the advanced RMA, and due to supply issues ended up getting a replacement drive and approx 250 quid back (drive had a price of 160 i think at the time).........full kudos to them to how they responded.

In all, i think all harddrives have about the same failure rate, even ones with 5 years warranty can still fail in the 1st week etc etc. Go with what requirements you need vs price.

Anyone know how beneficial is the extra 8mb cache that the maxtor drives have over other drives?

My Maxtor has started playing up tonight. It intermittently can't read the partition table. Looks like it's on its way out.I've had loads of drives and only two failures... both Maxtor. I'll avoid in the future.

Yeah my external does the same, its stupidly annoying, hope it lasts another 2 weeks cause thats when i get my new pc.

I wouldn't touch them, I had 6 maxtors fail on me over the last couple of years, added to the fact that Seagate has just bought them, who knows what will happen with their warranties.

I have bought lots of Maxtors and there does seem to be a lot of failures around with them. I have had a couple recently. I have just RMA'd a Seagate too. I won't be buying Maxtor again. Too many problems for me and i need reliability.

Maxtor worth the risk? Like hell are they.