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Hard drive reviews - 500 GB w/FW 800
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<blockquote data-quote="bobtomay" data-source="post: 346436" data-attributes="member: 24160"><p>This is a 2 part post. </p><p></p><p>Have been doing my typical research trying to figure out which drive I want. One of these days (years), maybe I can get out of my PC building habit of needing to check out all the possibilities and reading all the reviews I can find and just pick one. But until then, thought I may as well share my findings with the crowd. And with the current prices, don't see any point not to go with a 500GB drive if you intend to do any video. Also, don't see any reason not to pony up the few extra dollars for FW800. So all drives will have these two items in common.</p><p></p><p><strong>NOTE:</strong> This is not really a review as such, since I have not yet purchased a drive. It is more a review of reviews and some of my observations. For other switchers like me, maybe this can save you the leg work. </p><p></p><p>First off, I've noticed that not many really know how to read reviews. So, first is a guide to reading reviews. Professional reviewers give you one type of info that can enable you sometimes to narrow down your choices, but end user reviews and hardware forums have, for me, become an important part of my selection process.</p><p></p><p>So, when you are reading "end user" hardware reviews, any hardware, whether for TV's or in this case hard drives - (you can go on to the 2nd post if you want to jump right to the actual review of reviews)</p><p></p><p><strong>Do not pay attention to</strong> (but do read in case a pattern develops):</p><p>A. Single posts about people who got it home and it didn't work. Hey, it happens. And most of the time it is not the manufacturers fault. All manufacturers are going to have a certain percentage of failure. With any manufacturer producing thousands of units, not every device is going to be physically verified to work before it goes out the door. And no manufacturer has control of the care taken of their product during shipping. You can glean info if there seems to be an inordinate amount of failures posted vs. the total # of reviews.</p><p>B. Reviewers complaining about not being able to get it to work "the way they want". Most of these are complaining about things the device isn't capable of, and they would have known that if they had just gone to the manufacturers site or read a single review prior to the purchase. </p><p>C. Reviewers complaining that they can't get it to work. I have read too many user reviews over the years of building my own PC's and have come to realize that most of these: 1) don't really know anything about hardware/software to begin with, 2) didn't read the manual/guide, 3) read the manual and can't follow instructions, 4) don't know how to do a simple search to find the answer to their (many times supposed) issue, etc. NOTE: There is a lot to learn that is just not in the manuals of specific hardware when it comes to building and/or adding some to computers. If you often find yourself of this type of reviewer, maybe you should take them to heart so you can make sure what you purchase is truly plug and play, no knowledge or skill required, rather than the best for your money.</p><p>D. The one and two line posts like "This ........ is a piece of junk. Don't buy it." These provide no help and are basically useless.</p><p></p><p><strong>Do pay attention to</strong> (most of the time):</p><p>A. Reviewers that can give you their pros and cons.</p><p>B. Reviewers that demonstrate their understanding of the hardware in the review.</p><p>C. Reviewers that have experimented with several manufacturers and can list the differences. Not just this one worked and that one didn't - again a useless review.</p><p>D. Reviewers that have purchased several of the same type of device. This can be over a several year period for most home users or in the case of some IT guys (and gals) many multiples of an identical item and can report on the failure rate. (At the same time, with this one, you need to realize there are really only 4 hard drive manufacturers left (we'll have 5 as long as Seagate continues to allow Maxtor to operate as a separate competing division). All of them are good at recognizing issues with their drives and typically make corrections in the next iteration. So, a review of a particular drive will not necessarily have anything to do with a newer model. The initial failure rate today really is pretty low with all of them - typically less than 0.5%. Back-up back-up back-up, you don't it's your fault - we've all been warned for years now, so it's not something new.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="bobtomay, post: 346436, member: 24160"] This is a 2 part post. Have been doing my typical research trying to figure out which drive I want. One of these days (years), maybe I can get out of my PC building habit of needing to check out all the possibilities and reading all the reviews I can find and just pick one. But until then, thought I may as well share my findings with the crowd. And with the current prices, don't see any point not to go with a 500GB drive if you intend to do any video. Also, don't see any reason not to pony up the few extra dollars for FW800. So all drives will have these two items in common. [B]NOTE:[/B] This is not really a review as such, since I have not yet purchased a drive. It is more a review of reviews and some of my observations. For other switchers like me, maybe this can save you the leg work. First off, I've noticed that not many really know how to read reviews. So, first is a guide to reading reviews. Professional reviewers give you one type of info that can enable you sometimes to narrow down your choices, but end user reviews and hardware forums have, for me, become an important part of my selection process. So, when you are reading "end user" hardware reviews, any hardware, whether for TV's or in this case hard drives - (you can go on to the 2nd post if you want to jump right to the actual review of reviews) [B]Do not pay attention to[/B] (but do read in case a pattern develops): A. Single posts about people who got it home and it didn't work. Hey, it happens. And most of the time it is not the manufacturers fault. All manufacturers are going to have a certain percentage of failure. With any manufacturer producing thousands of units, not every device is going to be physically verified to work before it goes out the door. And no manufacturer has control of the care taken of their product during shipping. You can glean info if there seems to be an inordinate amount of failures posted vs. the total # of reviews. B. Reviewers complaining about not being able to get it to work "the way they want". Most of these are complaining about things the device isn't capable of, and they would have known that if they had just gone to the manufacturers site or read a single review prior to the purchase. C. Reviewers complaining that they can't get it to work. I have read too many user reviews over the years of building my own PC's and have come to realize that most of these: 1) don't really know anything about hardware/software to begin with, 2) didn't read the manual/guide, 3) read the manual and can't follow instructions, 4) don't know how to do a simple search to find the answer to their (many times supposed) issue, etc. NOTE: There is a lot to learn that is just not in the manuals of specific hardware when it comes to building and/or adding some to computers. If you often find yourself of this type of reviewer, maybe you should take them to heart so you can make sure what you purchase is truly plug and play, no knowledge or skill required, rather than the best for your money. D. The one and two line posts like "This ........ is a piece of junk. Don't buy it." These provide no help and are basically useless. [B]Do pay attention to[/B] (most of the time): A. Reviewers that can give you their pros and cons. B. Reviewers that demonstrate their understanding of the hardware in the review. C. Reviewers that have experimented with several manufacturers and can list the differences. Not just this one worked and that one didn't - again a useless review. D. Reviewers that have purchased several of the same type of device. This can be over a several year period for most home users or in the case of some IT guys (and gals) many multiples of an identical item and can report on the failure rate. (At the same time, with this one, you need to realize there are really only 4 hard drive manufacturers left (we'll have 5 as long as Seagate continues to allow Maxtor to operate as a separate competing division). All of them are good at recognizing issues with their drives and typically make corrections in the next iteration. So, a review of a particular drive will not necessarily have anything to do with a newer model. The initial failure rate today really is pretty low with all of them - typically less than 0.5%. Back-up back-up back-up, you don't it's your fault - we've all been warned for years now, so it's not something new.) [/QUOTE]
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