Seagate 16mb buffer vs 8 mb buffer

[gamerxx13]

Okay, this is actually a two part question. First, I never bought a seagate harddrive and does anyone have any feedback they can give me on them, i think they are pretty good harddrives but im not sure. I usually go with Western Digital.

Second, Frys has two harddrives on sale. Both the same price after rebates. One is a 300 gig harddrive with 8mb buffer and the other is 250gig hard drive with 16mb buffer. What is the difference between 16mb buffer and 8mb buffer? thanks everyone!!!

 

[ballmode]

Go with the Western digital

 

[Bobthelost]

16mb buffer is bigger. For some applications it may well improve performance.

The differences between drives are more complex than you'd think, there's around 2 or 3 different generations of drives from each manufacturer around to buy at any one time. If you're looking for performance you're probably looking at the wrong drives anyway.

Seagate aren't bad, middling performance in terms of speed and a kick arse 5 year warrranty.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: ballmode
Go with the Western digital

I am in the market too...

Could you explain the reasons behind this recommendation? Reliability? Noise? Other factors? Thanks

 

[pkme2]

I'll use 8MB buffers for video work and the WDs work fine. I would consider the 16MB Seagates if the same size HDDs were close in price to the WDs, otherwise, 8MB is satisfactory.

 

[MacVista]

I would go with the bigger buffer since I'm always for performance. The 16mb buffer will make a difference in some applications and if you're writing large files onto the hard drive.

I have a 4gb Seagate drive that came with my Pentium 2 266mhz and it still works? So I'd say they're pretty reliable. Not to mention Seagate is a bigger company than WD and probably has more to blow on R&D, and they just bought Maxtor. Don't their drives have a 5 year warrenty too compared to WD's 3 years? I can't remember exactly.

I also have a 120gb WD 7,200rpm 8mb cache, and a WD 36gb Raptor, and those work perfectly fine too.

 

[alimoalem]

go with the 16mb cache and go with the WD. i'd pick the WD SE16 if i were

 

[EndGame]

Go with the 16mb buffer but get the Seagate........5 year warranty!

 

[MacVista]

Most of WD's hard drives dont have NCQ while most of the new Seagates do. So if that's important go with Seagate, otherwise WD tends to be the preferred brand.

 

[3chordcharlie]

I like the 5-year warranty on the Seagates (though I don't know why... I can't keep track of a receipt for more than 5 minutes), as far as the buffer size goes, you will see slightly better performance in some applications from the 16mb buffer, so if size is not really the issue, go with the smaller drive.

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: MacVista
Most of WD's hard drives dont have NCQ while most of the new Seagates do. So if that's important go with Seagate, otherwise WD tends to be the preferred brand.

NCQ is bad for single user performance!

Why do you consistently give out crap advice?

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: EndGame
Go with the 16mb buffer but get the Seagate........5 year warranty!

The newer 7200.9 is actually slower than the old 7200.8 with 8MB I can safely recommend Hitachi or Western Digital, both drives are top performers.

 

[kd2777]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Originally posted by: MacVista
Most of WD's hard drives dont have NCQ while most of the new Seagates do. So if that's important go with Seagate, otherwise WD tends to be the preferred brand.

NCQ is bad for single user performance!

Why do you consistently give out crap advice?

He has been here for 3 days, how does he CONSISTENTLY give out crap advice?

kd

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: kd2777

Originally posted by: Bobthelost

Originally posted by: MacVista
Most of WD's hard drives dont have NCQ while most of the new Seagates do. So if that's important go with Seagate, otherwise WD tends to be the preferred brand.

NCQ is bad for single user performance!

Why do you consistently give out crap advice?

He has been here for 3 days, how does he CONSISTENTLY give out crap advise?

kd

Three or four times in an hour is consistent.

 

[EndGame]

Originally posted by: Googer

Originally posted by: EndGame
Go with the 16mb buffer but get the Seagate........5 year warranty!

The newer 7200.9 is actually slower than the old 7200.8 with 8MB I can safely recommend Hitachi or Western Digital, both drives are top performers.

That's true, but it would depend upon what he does/wants. I can't vouch for newer WD's.....I bought them up until about 2 - 3 years ago and then switched to Seagates. I had 4 out of 5 WD's I bought new die on me within 18 months (along with 3 IBM's) and switched to Seagate......never looked back! knock on wood, never a failure, they are fairly quiet, (although not as quiet as Samsungs) and for me at least, very reliable and fast. Either would probably be a fine choice anymore, I just love the fact I have 5 years warranty!