Posted by Bruce Painter on February 10, 2007 at 9:54 PM
I can get either a Maxtor one touch 500 GB or a Western Digital 360 GB drive for the same (very low)price. It seems logical to get the 500 GB but I have read a lot on different photo sites of Maxtor drives failing. I also understand that if other places are like around here it could be because that there are a lot more Maxtor drives sold than other brands, therefore it could be just the law of averages. Is there one of these drives that is really better than the other. I have a Maxtor 80 GB external drive that is almost full so I will be needing a new drive soon. It has taken close to three years to fill up the drive I have so the extra space of the 500 GB might not be that important.
For those that have used either or both of these drives what are your opinions.
Bruce
Posted by Paul Wegemann on February 10, 2007 at 10:47 PM
Bruce,
On newegg.com the Western Digitals generally have higher ratings than the Maxtors. It might be worth a look to compare the ones you're looking at.
Paul
Posted by Kah Kit Yoong on February 11, 2007 at 7:37 AM
My 300G Maxtor has been going strong for a year, no problems, other than the fact it is big & ugly. I just bought a 500G Lacie which is half the size & a racy red! The fact is external hard drives are expected to fail at some point so back up to DVD too.
Posted by Bill Chambers on February 11, 2007 at 7:50 AM
I just purchased 2 of the WD 500GB My Book externals. I purchased WD because of the recommendations of many of the good folks here and elsewehere. I heard many conflicting reports on most every other brand but WD seemed to be almost universally praised as being very reliable. Office Depot had a nice rebate on them so I picked them up locally instead of ordering online - Price after rebate was $199 each I believe (or maybe $169, I forget which).
I have two LaCie.. 120GB/300GB. My Maxtor (2) and an Iomega died. I use one for general and small photo backup and the second for a duplicate photo backup. I also do the DVDs. I am thinking of getting a waterproof safe (Florida and hurricanes) that I could put my hard drives and DVDs in.
Posted by Carol Hyman on February 11, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Hi Bruce, Just picked up a WD, "My Book."
Rationale: It works with either MAC or my XP box. I've been using an Iomega with no problems. Unfortunately all hard drives may be subject to problems so backup, backup, backup.
Even though I taught that to my system administration students for years, I had to learn it the hard way for myself.
Carol Hyman
http://hy-tec-training.com
Posted by Lance Wynn on February 11, 2007 at 10:38 AM
There's not a chance in the world that I'd ever buy another Maxtor drive, internal or external. I had a Maxtor external drive die on me with absolutely no warning, and lost a tremendous amount of data which can never be recovered. And several people I know have also had Maxtor drives. On the advice of my company's experts, I now use only Seagate drives. But the same people told me Western Digital was just as good, so that brand is probably okay as well. But please, stay away from Maxtor.
We had two Maxtor SCSI drives fail in a server aout 10 years ago. The second failed about a month after the first. Never again have we nor will we use Maxtor drives.
Posted by Marshall Goff on February 11, 2007 at 6:46 PM
Any drive can fail, but the only drive I've had fail on me happened to be a Maxtor as well. I've been using the LaCie Brick drives because they stack nicely, though right at the moment they seem to be about 20 bucks more than the WD Book.
Posted by Mike DiVita on February 12, 2007 at 12:30 AM
I've got 3 WD(2-400's, 1-500) external drives. I move the 500GB back and forth to an offsite location. So far no problems in over 1 year. I also stayed away from Maxtor due to the poor reviews.
Mike
Posted by Wayne Nicholas on February 12, 2007 at 1:29 AM
A) Maxtor has been a major player for a while and has a lot of drives out there. Thus, the law of large numbers is definitely a factor.
B) ANY drive can fail, no matter what name is printed on the casing. You hear good reviews in this very topic about LaCie, but there a couple of really good horror stories about them. Wetern Digital makes good hard drives, but if you look enough, you'll find failure stories there too.
C) The name on the casing doesn't mean that company made the drive. Hmmmm!?
That said, I have been using Maxtor internals in my PC's since 1994 with one failure, which they promptly replaced. My 250GB One Touch has been in service for over 3 years without a hiccup. But, I also run a raid setup in my Mac Pro with Seagate HD's and back these up to my One Touch, a Seagate external, and a new 1TB My Book Pro Edition II.
If you are chancing losing all of your work if the drive fails, stay in whatever your comfort level is. Otherwise, if the drives perform similarly, get the most bang for the buck, in this case Maxtor. If the drive fails, you'll probably have a replacement, rebuild the data on the drive, and return in less than a week. Or it may outlive your computer. It's literally a crap shoot no matter what you.
For your particular needs, Bruce, I would look into getting a couple of 250GB drives if your just filling up an 80 after three years. My philosophy; backup your work, then backup your backup.
Posted by Jim Greenfield on February 12, 2007 at 3:56 AM
I am also in the market for a 500gb external. A lot of them have no cooling fan and get pretty warm. I have read that reliability (or otherwise) is influenced by the heat they generate. Is it important therefore to pay a bit more and get a fan-cooled model ? Any comments on this?
Incidentally my Lacie 250gb external has a Seagate drive in it.
Posted by Mark Stahlke on February 12, 2007 at 4:29 PM
I'm a big fan of Western Digital disks. I have three Western Digital SCSI disks in my old PC that are still running flawlessly after 8 years of daily use. I've never had a problem with a Seagate drive either. I have only ever used one Maxtor drive, many years ago. I thought it was slow and noisey.
Jim Greenfield: The WD My Book external disks will spin down when not in use so they generate less heat. This can be mildly annoying because there is a slight delay when opening a file or folder while the disk spins up. That said, I have two of the 500GB models and haven't had any problems. Keep in mind that fanless drives will be quieter than drives with fans.
Posted by Bruce Painter on February 13, 2007 at 11:02 AM
Thanks for all the input. Due to the responses from here and another site I will go with the WD drive. At the rate I have been going it will take a while to fill the 360 GB anyway. By the time it is full there is no telling what will be available then. BTW tor those who have mentioned it, I do back up to DVD also.
Discussion
13 repliesFor those that have used either or both of these drives what are your opinions.
Bruce
On newegg.com the Western Digitals generally have higher ratings than the Maxtors. It might be worth a look to compare the ones you're looking at.
Paul
Rationale: It works with either MAC or my XP box. I've been using an Iomega with no problems. Unfortunately all hard drives may be subject to problems so backup, backup, backup.
Even though I taught that to my system administration students for years, I had to learn it the hard way for myself.
Carol Hyman
http://hy-tec-training.com
Mike
B) ANY drive can fail, no matter what name is printed on the casing. You hear good reviews in this very topic about LaCie, but there a couple of really good horror stories about them. Wetern Digital makes good hard drives, but if you look enough, you'll find failure stories there too.
C) The name on the casing doesn't mean that company made the drive. Hmmmm!?
That said, I have been using Maxtor internals in my PC's since 1994 with one failure, which they promptly replaced. My 250GB One Touch has been in service for over 3 years without a hiccup. But, I also run a raid setup in my Mac Pro with Seagate HD's and back these up to my One Touch, a Seagate external, and a new 1TB My Book Pro Edition II.
If you are chancing losing all of your work if the drive fails, stay in whatever your comfort level is. Otherwise, if the drives perform similarly, get the most bang for the buck, in this case Maxtor. If the drive fails, you'll probably have a replacement, rebuild the data on the drive, and return in less than a week. Or it may outlive your computer. It's literally a crap shoot no matter what you.
For your particular needs, Bruce, I would look into getting a couple of 250GB drives if your just filling up an 80 after three years. My philosophy; backup your work, then backup your backup.
Incidentally my Lacie 250gb external has a Seagate drive in it.
Jim Greenfield: The WD My Book external disks will spin down when not in use so they generate less heat. This can be mildly annoying because there is a slight delay when opening a file or folder while the disk spins up. That said, I have two of the 500GB models and haven't had any problems. Keep in mind that fanless drives will be quieter than drives with fans.
Bruce