Seagate or Western Digital?

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So, I got $100 for my birthday and I want to buy a new hard drive.

I'm going 320GB, and Seagate and Western Digital are the same price.

I just wanted to see if you had a brand preference, to help sway me, as I've had great experiences with both companies.
 

CrimsonRequiem


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If you want to look at benchmarks, the Seagate is faster and uses less energy.
 
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WD has really caught up to Seagate in recent years in terms of reliability. That didn't used to be the case.
 

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I'm actually in the same boat you are - I'm looking to upgrade my MB HD to a 320 and the Seagate and WD drives are both $87.

I'm sure though that you will hear opinions from both sides. To me, Seagate and WD are both good and well-ahead of others like Samsung in terms of quality. I'm sure you'd be happy with either.
 

bobtomay

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Tough choice - I've got the WD, the Seagate wasn't available at the time - it's virtually silent and I'm totally happy with it's speed also - boot time went from 45 seconds to 21 using SuperDuper! to copy my system to the new drive - it's up to about 28 now, with a couple more things loading at startup

think cwa has the Seagate and would bet he likes it as much as I like the WD
 
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Derek McNelly
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Well, I do believe it's almost time for me to head out to Micro Center, and consensus amongst my friends was Western Digital, amongst 4chan (yeah, I know) was Seagate, and on here, WD was the leader, so I'm thinking I'll be getting the Western Digital drive.

And besides, if I wanted to get the Seagate one, I could get it at this website I found that has really reasonable prices, I mean look how much they're asking for the Seagate drive!

picture2hck.png


Talk about a bargain!
 

cwa107


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I voted Seagate, but I have noticed that their 7200.11 series has had some reliability problems.

I really don't think you can go wrong either way, as long as you stay far away from the likes of Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi and (to a much lesser extent) Fujitsu (in that order).
 

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And besides, if I wanted to get the Seagate one, I could get it at this website I found that has really reasonable prices, I mean look how much they're asking for the Seagate drive!
Where did you find that? What national currency is that?

I really don't think you can go wrong either way, as long as you stay far away from the likes of...Toshiba...
I couldn't agree more. Avoid Toshiba computer parts like the plague. I have seen too many people suffer from poor quality Toshiba computer products.
 
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Where did you find that? What national currency is that?

That is USD my good man. Some website is selling an $85 hard drive for over $3,000 USD.

Avoid Toshiba computer parts like the plague. I have seen too many people suffer from poor quality Toshiba computer products.

Anything with "ATCHI" "ITSU" or "SHI" in the name is generally to be avoided in all aspects of my purchases, be it cars, electronics, or even food stuffs (Sushi is disgusting).

Also, I picked up the WD drive because, well, they were out of the Seagate anyway.

I interpreted it as a sign from God, grabbed the Western Digital and went on my way.

Also got a nifty precision screwdriver.
 

bobtomay

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If I could sell 2 of those a month at that price, I'd give up my job right now!
Add a 3rd and my wife could give up hers. ;D
 
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I went for Hitachi in my PB. I found that after reading 100's of reports and trying machines with them fitted these where what i wanted. Also they seemed to sell the quickest also.
 
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if its any consideration, i think WD has a bit better product support. i have run what-ever HDs i could get my hands on over the years, and find that seagate need less help, but WD offers more if you do run into problems.

now, about those quantum fireballs......:Angry-Tongue:
 
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The two drives will be essentially the same performance-wise (the only notable differences are going to be in synthetic benchmarks, which do not translate into real world benefits). The thing you want to look into is the warranty. Most likely the Seagate has a five year warranty as opposed to Western Digital's three year warranty. That fact alone has pushed me into purchasing primarily Seagate drives, even if I have to pay a little more.
 

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The two drives will be essentially the same performance-wise (the only notable differences are going to be in synthetic benchmarks, which do not translate into real world benefits). The thing you want to look into is the warranty. Most likely the Seagate has a five year warranty as opposed to Western Digital's three year warranty. That fact alone has pushed me into purchasing primarily Seagate drives, even if I have to pay a little more.

I agree, but I learned just recently that WD is starting to do 5 year warranties too. So, in light of Seagates recent issues with their 7200.11 drive series, I think I'm going to be more apt to recommend WD in the future.

I actually have two seemingly dead drives in my NAS. Haven't determined whether they've been bitten by the firmware bug that I was referring to above, but it seems odd that they appeared to go belly up with an unexpected power-loss. Still investigating, but Seagate's website tells me that these particular mechs are unaffected by the issue. I have to hook them up to a Linux box to see if they'll actually be accessible to get the data off, but right now, the NAS won't see them at all.
 

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Agreed with CWA. I have always been a Seagate person and purchased Seagate drives when I had the chance, but this recent firmware issue has me a bit concerned. I am sure it will pass and all be solved, but at present I am recommending WD for now
 

bobtomay

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The warranties have reversed now also. The WD black 7200 320 GB is 5 yrs while the Seagate is 3 yrs. (WD's is correct and assuming newegg is correct - could not find the warranty info for that drive on Seagate's site.)
 

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