[TriLUG] OT: hard disk recommendation

[Aaron S. Joyner]

Joseph Mack wrote:

>I'm looking for a 250GB EIDE 3.5" drive to last about 2yrs under light
>service (single user machine where I do a lot of staring at the screen).
>
>I used to get Samsung, but they're topping out at 200G now. Before
>that I used Quantum for years. I've been quite pleased with both suppliers.
>
>Anyone who I should/should not buy from?
>
>Thanks Joe
>  
>
You might as well have asked, so - which do you prefer, vi or emacs?  
:)  I've discovered that a fair portion of people have strong beliefs 
about one vendor over another, but usually the sample size a single 
individual has to work with is quite small.  I had really bad luck with 
some Western Digital drives 6-7 years ago, and swore them off.  When I 
got to Intrex, most of what they carried was Western Digital, and the 
reason for it was simple - low cost, and not a lot of headaches with 
RMAs.  On the semi rare time when they ordered Seagates (probably once 
every month or three, usually one of the larger drives, or when they 
first started carrying SATA), they would have a couple dozen come 
through each store, and they'd sell like hotcakes because all the people 
who like Seagate would pick one up.  It's a lot about personal 
preference, but generally I find when you average out the quality over a 
sufficiently large base of people, things even out pretty well.  There 
are exceptions, of course, like the IBM DeathStar drives (google if 
you're not familiar) - but those usually are not apparent until the 
drive has been out in production for at least a year or more, usually 2 
to 3.

So that's my two cents, buy what ever is on the cheap, and has at least 
a 2yr warranty if that's the arbitrary time frame you're aiming for.
Aaron S. Joyner