[Pc_Support] Maxtor 100GB Serial ATA (SATA) drive $99.99 - $65.00 rebate

[Bryan J. Smith]

Tim McDonough <tim at mcdonough.net> wrote:
> How is Maxtor faring in terms of reliability these days?
> Based on past problems from a couple years back I have
> pretty much ignored them the past two years.

Brand name doesn't mean squat, whether you're talking drivers
or reliability.  This is typically because many vendors are
not manufacturers.

Individual models are everything.  You have to take products
on their merits individually.  I've had some Maxtor models
work most excellent.  And I've had some fail within a year.

Now Maxtor-Quantum is their own fab.
So is Seagate.
So is Hitachi.

Western Digital is basically Hitachi right now (and IBM
before that).

Commodity drives are commodity drives.  You can be sure that
disk failure is going to be the highest of any such commodity
drive.  Now all 3 manufacturers have added new techniques to
bring the vibration rate down 2-3x, increase heat tolerances
from 40C to 60C, and some have returned their retail products
to 3 or even 5 year warranties.

But most OEM products are sold dirt-cheap for cost, and that
means the worst of the batch.  Hence why many only carry a 1
year warranty.  So be wary when you buy anything commodity,
unless it's an explicit 24x7 rated model (such as the Seagate
NL35 or Western Digital Caviar SE).



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Bryan J. Smith                | Sent from Yahoo Mail
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