Best Performing ATA HDD?

[88JeepXJ]

Hey All,
Well I rig i'm on now may just lock up while I'm typing this....and then I hear the "click click click" of my harddrive. So I'm assuming after 2 or 3 years of service it is at an end. I'm running out of space on this old IBM 15gig anyway. Time to upgrade. Problem is that I don't have much money at all
I really want a WD special edition with its 8mb but even the 80gig is too rich for me. So what is the next best drive for the $$? I don't need a TON of space. 40 should do it for me as I'm going to keep my other 15gig "backup" drive I keep all my progs and files on.
Any help would be great, and links to great deal would be even better!
Thanks all....wow it made it through a whole post!

-Jeff

 

[LuDaCriS66]

I think the 800JB is only about $107 on newegg if you live in the States.

 

[IgoByte]

Maxtor drives are nice, but I'd still spend the money for a WD800JB.

 

[Alkali]

The WD800JB is THE FASTEST IDE drive (faster by 0.3MB/s than the WD1200JB because it uses 2, 40GB platters instead of the normal 3 for a drive this 'small' (WD1200JB uses 3, 40GB platters)) on the market and it sells for peanuts. You would be mad not to buy it for such a low price, when you are going to have to spend at least 60/70% of its cost on another drive.

 

[MSantiago]

Lots of great reviews on ATA and SCSI drives over at Storage Review. Just take a look at the leaderboard and compare the drives they mention there.

 

[TheWart]

yea, go with the WD, that 8meg cache is just amazing..or so I hear

 

[Acanthus]

the 800JB gets my vote, thats a badass drive!

 

[88JeepXJ]

Well guys it gets my vote to! .....but honestly guys I don't know if I can afford it. Of course I don't know if I can afford ANYTHING!
I did a scan disk and it came up with about 20 sector errors. Has been a bit more stable since then....but I don't trust it.
Best deal we have seen on a 80gig WD?

 

[Mavrick007]

You can look at it like this: You can get a Maxtor 40Gig for around $70, or you can get twice the space and twice the drive with the 800JB at around $107 US. It's not a hard choice for me. If you can't afford it now, save up a few more bucks even if you have to wait a month and get the drive.

 

[winterlude]

88JeepxJ,
It doesn't look like you have much choice because your drive's about to die anyway. Clearly the WD 80 gig gives the best value for the dollar because of it's price/performance/size ratios. Any budget consumer must be concerned with value at least as much as the price ceiling. If item A is of greater value and need than item B, but A still "costs" more, then you should try to make whatever sacrifices you need to to get item A. Not buying the WD is like buying a 1.3 gig Duron instead of 1700+ Athlon XP because you don't want to spend the extra 10 or so dollars.

If you don't go with the WD, whatever you do, you *must* still get an 80 gig drive and not rob yourself by going with the 40. I'm sure that when you got the 15 gig, the thought may have crossed your mind... how the heck will I every use up all this space?

 

[jthoske]

I have both the 800JB And the 1200JB

BOTH are excellent drives. Fast As hell- jsut put them on a RAID array

I'd recommend spending the little extra on the drives. If you don't mind buying OEM, check out

monarchcomputer.com (107$) or newegg.com (107$)

 

[ripthesystem]

88JeepXJ

another option for you might be to RMA your current drive (if it's under the 3 year mark) and then you either have a new drive from them to keep or when you get it you could sell it and use that $$ towards the drive you want.

Also keep your eyes on the HotDeals/For Sale Section
hth
ripthesystem

 

[88JeepXJ]

Thankyou all,
I've got some thinking to do. Right now I'm just keeping all my needed files on the backup drive and hoping the failing IBM drive lasts me another few weeks. It ran QIII lastnight for an hour without issue, that was a goal of mine, so I'm happy. But I do need to get a new drive. I'll keep my eye on Newegg.