New drive dilema - help!

CF93 · 14 Nov 2006 at 16:28

Need to buy a new drive as one of the Maxtors in my rig is failing (and it's RAID0 too.) Looking to get something around the 300Gb mark (or a couple to make up a new RAID0 array of that size) but here's the dilema...

Do I just buy (one or two) IDE drives to go straight on my motherboard
OR
Do I buy SATA and an adaptor(s) so can plug into the IDE sockets on my board until I get a new rig.

And which drives would people recommend in the 300Gb area, (or a couple to make up around that size?) LIke the idea of the quiet Samsungs, but get the impression they're not that fast, while the Seagates can be fast but some are noisy?

spb251272 · 14 Nov 2006 at 16:47

Just got a Seagate 320gb 10 series and it's bloody fast and very quiet. I think it was the earlier ones that were noisy - apparently a newer revision was released that fixed the whiny motor noise. Anyway, mine is a quiet one, and I'm happy with it

rpstewart · 14 Nov 2006 at 17:30

Regardless of make I wouldn't buy an IDE drive anymore, the newer boards are shipping with only one IDE channel these days and it's only a matter of time before that disappears.

As far as I know adapters to plug SATA drives into IDE ports don't exist, only the other way round. A better short term fix would be to look for a cheap PCI SATA card to tide you over until you upgrade.

CF93 · 14 Nov 2006 at 19:24

I have come across some Sata to IDE adaptors. Range from £1 to about £25, depending on the seller (won't say the site of course, save to say they do auctions.)

Think I might just get a Sata or two and live with a cheap adaptor for the short term.

Any other recommendations?

CF93 · 15 Nov 2006 at 12:40

No one able to recommend a decent 300Gb(ish) drive or a couple to make up that size for a RAID array?

rpstewart · 15 Nov 2006 at 13:14

CF93 said:
No one able to recommend a decent 300Gb(ish) drive or a couple to make up that size for a RAID array?

320Gb Seagate 7200.10. Two 160Gb disks will be more expensive and individually they'll be slower than the Seagate (7200.10s start at 200GB)

CF93 · 15 Nov 2006 at 13:52

Two votes for the Seagate then. Am a bit concerned about getting a noisy one, but it does just seem to be pot-luck.

Getting the impression that's what people are going for just now. Have heard good things about Maxtor and Hitachi's current drives too though. Any thoughts on them?

rpstewart · 15 Nov 2006 at 14:08

I'm running 10 Hitachi's at the moment and have used several others in previous systems so that's a pretty strong vote of confidence. If you were asking about the current Hitachis vs Seagate 7200.9s then I'd say go with the Hitachis but the latest Seagates are the only current drives with perpendicular recording (in 3.5" size anyway) and that gives them a speed advantage until the rest of the manufacturers catch up.

Maxtors? No thanks. The only one I've had which has made more than 6 months past the end of its warranty is strangley the one in my Lacie external drive that gets moved about, taken on holiday etc.