Need some buying advice

[Boleyn]

Hello all, one of my hard drives decided to corrupt itself last night and it got me thinking that both my drives are over 6 years old so before my other goes I've decided to buy 2 more.

Now I've been looking at the Seagate 7200.11 500GB 32mb cache drive here - the one advertised at the top of this page and also the Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB SATA-II 16MB Cache.

Now hard drives I'm not too familiar with, I want above all else stability, I'm not bothered with access times or how quiet it is just that it will last and not break down on me.

So my question is I need 2 drives, relatively cheap thats of good quality and stable and also ones that can still be used if the other parts of my comp are upgraded - I mention this because of the OEM next to some drives, not sure if that means the same as say Windows Vista OEM.

So any recommendations?

Many Thanks.

 

[Skyboat]

Seagate 7200.11s (or the 250Gb 7200.10, they didn't rename them for some reason) or any of the WD drives that are AAKS model.

OEM pretty means no fancy box, manual (if there is one) or SATA cables (most motherboards come with enough though)

 

[Boleyn]

Thanks.

So going from your advice, which of these would you recommend?

2x Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS)

or

2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)

Thanks.

 

[semi-pro waster]

I'd pick the cheaper of the two because either ought to offer more than acceptable performance. The 7200.11s do have double the cache but you've already hit the law of diminishing returns by the point of 16mb really.

 

[Boleyn]

Well the Western Digital is the cheaper but only by about £6 so not that much in it to be honest.

Trying to find some reviews on them now to see if one is recommended over the other.

Thanks.

 

[Boleyn]

The western digital seems to have the most reviews on this site so I assume more people have bought those.

My only concern is the 3 year warranty, why 3 and not 5 like some of WD other drives and the Seagate one?

 

[Boleyn]

Sorry to seem impatient but I have the feeling my hard drive is on it's last legs so I need to order the drives before my system shuts down.

I know a few opinions have already been posted but can anyone provide a bit more info on why one is better than the other?

I've tried to find some reviews but there seems to be a lack of them for the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS) so comparing them is a problem plus my computer keeps stuttering and freezing so it's becoming difficult.

I am ready this second to order from here, just need some facts before I finalise.

Many Thanks and sorry for my impatience.

 

[Imy]

Seagates come with a 5 year warranty which I think is fantastic. They are also excellent drives.

 

[Skyboat]

Seagates have longer warranty, higher density platters (i.e. 250Gb per platter vs. WD's 125Gb) so seek times are marginally better, maybe transfer rate too. On the other hand I think the WDs are slightly quieter, you can't go wrong with either brand IMO.

 

[Boleyn]

Thanks everyone.

I've ordered 2 of the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS)

I couldn't really decide until I came accross a thread here discussing members preferences and most posts stated Seagate having better reliability, also my current drives are ST3160023AS and they lasted a good 5 or 6 years so I know from 1st hand experience that Seagate are good.

So thanks everyone for their advice.