[TriLUG] Laptop hard drive showdown: Hitachi vs Western Digital

[Tanner Lovelace]

On 2/13/07, John Mitchell <john280z at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/12/07, Tanner Lovelace <clubjuggler at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I am in the market for a new hard drive for my laptop.  The two contenders
> > seem to be
> >
> > *  HITACHI Travelstar 5K160 160GB SATA 5400rpm[1]
> > *   Western Digital Scorpio 160GB SATA 5400rpm[2]
>
> Tanner, since you irc'ed that you had ordered a drive, which one did
> you decide on?

I decided to go with the Hitachi drive.  Not only did several people
here and on irc say good things about the Hitachi drives, but they
had over 30 favorable reviews on the Newegg site while the WD one
only had 5 reviews total.  Also, I found several reviews on the web
that were favorable to the Hitachi drive.

My biggest concern before ordering was the fact that Newegg
was giving a full year Newegg replacement warranty on the WD
drive, but only a Limited 30 day replacement warranty on the
Hitachi drive.  After some searching, however, I discovered that
the Hitachi drive had a 3 year manufacturer's warranty (the WD
may also have had the same, but one page on the WD site
suggested that it might be a 1 year warranty only unless it
was purchased from a "bulk dealer").  In addition, someone on
irc mentioned something favorable about the Hitachi warranty.

All that added up to a better feeling about the Hitachi drive.  In
addition, it had slightly better power ratings than the WD drive
and on a laptop where battery power is a big deal that pushed
it over the top.  (Actually, I noticed that earlier on and what
really clinched it was people's recommendations.)

Newegg actually ended up shipping the drive last night and it's
scheduled to get here tomorrow. :-)

Thanks very much to everyone for your recommendations.

Cheers,
Tanner

-- 
Tanner Lovelace
clubjuggler at gmail dot com
http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
(fieldless) In fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an
increscent, all sable.