i have two 120GB HDs, which one should i keep?

[mcryptic]

i have a seagate: http://seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,580,00.html

ST3120026A

and a Western Digital: http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=27

WD1200JB

they both are 7200rpm with an 8MB buffer, and a 1 year warrently, the WD is $5 cheaper.

Now based on speed, reliability, and noise which one should i keep?

[xonik]

Speed? Western Digital.

Reliability? I would guess that it's a tossup. I've heard of many more WD failures, but WD drives are popular in this forum.

Quietness? Seagate by a significant margin.

Be sure to check on those warranty policies; last I checked, the JB series from Western Digital sported three year warranties. Seagate's warranty page says the ST3120026A has a three year warranty as well:

http://seagate.com/support/service/psg.html

[mcryptic]

yeah thats one thing i'm confused about, both boxes say they have a one year but both sites say they have a 3 year. I don't want to open each HD to look up the serials since i'll have to return one.

i've checked storage review and from what i can tell the WD is a bit faster than the seagate, only around 3MB/sec. I'm leaning towards the seagate since it has the fluid barrings and I already have two mator drives with fluid barrings that i love. I've never owned a Seagate, but i hear they are the most reliable, since dell and microsoft use seagates.

[CrimandEvil]

I have the WD one but I bought it retail. The OEM (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-118&DEPA=0) version has the three year warrenty, the Retail version has one year (don't ask because I don't understand why its like that).
It a nice HD but I still wish I had gone with the SATA version of the Seagate (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-017&depa=0) or at the very least the IDE version. (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-022&depa=0)
My vote: Go with the Seagate one and get OEM!!!!

[xonik]

Okay, since you have the boxes in front of you, call each manufacturer's customer support line and have them confirm the warranties of each drive. That way you'll know where they stand and your reservations can be put to rest.

It is my understanding that Western Digital and Seagate drives have average reliability ratings across the industry. That's not saying much, I know. Just be prepared to back up your hard drives periodically, depending on the importance of your data. No hard drive is perfect.

As for performance, you probably won't notice the performance difference outside of benchmarks, but you will notice the noise difference if your computer is pretty quiet. That said, I would probably favor the Seagate over the WD drive. Both are pretty good drives.

[mwarps]

What's wrong with having 240GB of space?

:p

I vote for the WD, I have four of them. No problems, wonderfully speedy. *shrug*

[dewhite]

Count one vote for seagate from a maxtor owner. I like the FDBs in the seagates, which are also found in my maxtors...

[CrimandEvil]

Originally posted by dewhite
Count one vote for seagate from a maxtor owner. I like the FDBs in the seagates, which are also found in my maxtors...
I've been hearing that those Maxtors are alittle louder then the Seagates, I almost got one. Western Digital has a new FDB on thier newer HDs, look for the "PB" as the end of the model number!

[mcryptic]

Originally posted by CrimandEvil
I've been hearing that those Maxtors are alittle louder then the Seagates, I almost got one. Western Digital has a new FDB on thier newer HDs, look for the "PB" as the end of the model number!

yeah thats what i heard, but my drive has "JB" which is the old barrings.

[dewhite]

Originally posted by CrimandEvil
I've been hearing that those Maxtors are alittle louder then the Seagates, I almost got one. Western Digital has a new FDB on thier newer HDs, look for the "PB" as the end of the model number! They spin silent, but seek loud. You can use a DOS tool to set a drive parameter that will totally silence them at the cost of some performance. I personally leave them running at full blast because they seek very rarely while I'm in bed trying to sleep. During the daylight hours I don't mind the extra clicking so much...

[kleptophobiac]

I own a Seagate 120GB 7200.7 SATA and am very pleased. It feels incredibly zippy, and is also the quietest drive I've owned in recent memory.

[pbXassassinX1524]

Another vote for the Seagate... had bad overheating experiences with WD (in a compaq 8000t) lost everything.

Reliability should be everything to you... without too much sacrafice in speed.

[Cardboard Hammer]

Originally posted by CrimandEvil
I have the WD one but I bought it retail. The OEM (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-118&DEPA=0) version has the three year warrenty, the Retail version has one year (don't ask because I don't understand why its like that).

...

Because system builders (who build in any real quantity) buy OEM, not retail, and are more sensitive to warranty length (if you provide a warranty on the complete system for 3 years, do you want to risk having to replace the hard drive out of your own pocket? (especially since it's one of the components most likely to fail after initially working, what with having moving parts... if an OEM CPU works for 30 days, it's likely to keep on working for at least 3 years, as long as no one screws with it)) than n00bs who shop at WorstBuy for hardware.