[Pc_Support] Western Digital Enterprise 250 GB <pde; wd2500js

[Bryan J. Smith]

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Homer Whittaker wrote:
> Has anyone had any bad experiences with the subject WD hard drive.

I've had bad experiences with Hitachi, Maxtor, Samsung, Seagate,
Western Digital and countless others.  In case I'm not a broken record
yet, brand name means _squat_!  Everyone inter-fabs, even Seagate (c/o
Maxtor) since around 2003.  You can_not_ trust brand name at all!

Per _model_ reviews are the _only_ way.

Not even warranty is an indicator of "enterprise-rated" or not.  E.g.,
just because Seagate offers a consumer-rated 5x8 Barracuda 7200.x with
a 5-year warranty does _not_ make it an enterprise-rated 24x7
Barracuda ES.

NOTE:  Just because it's enterprise-rated does _not_ mean it won't
fail.  It's still the same "consumer-fab" technology.  But they are
tested to higher tolerances.

If you want an "true enterprise fabbed" Western Digital drive, you
want the 10Krpm Raptor.  It's essentially a Hitachi UltraStar 10K
FC/SCSI/SAS drive, but with a SATA interface.  They come in
73(75)-146(150)GB sizes, and the 292(300)GB sizes should be around the
corner.  But you pay a crapload for them, because they are 10Krpm with
_enterprise_ components (about 6x better/less vibrating/more
balanced).

>  I am about to purchase two enterprise level hd's

If you mean the WD2500JS Caviar "SE[2]", is is *NOT* an
enterprise-rated drive, but very much "low-end" consumer.  In fact, if
you are buying the "bare" WD2500JS, you are getting an OEM version --
probably with only a 1 year warranty.

NewEgg lists that "8x5 consumer-rated OEM" drive for $68.99:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144417

NewEgg lists the near-_equivalent_, but "24x7 enterprise-rated OEM"
WD2500YD and WD2500YS for $75.99 and $79.99, respectively:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136055

I don't know much about the "Y" platters.  Some are lower-grade,
80GB/platter devices, while others are newer 120GB/platter, possibly
even 133-160GB/platter, devices.  I haven't researched.  The Y has
16MB SDRAM.

I still swear by the "older" "S" (107MB/platter) series, with only 8MB
SDRAM buffers.  Unfortunately, all NewEgg has is an "open box" unit
for over $80:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144394

Now some of the older "J" versions was the consumer version of the
"S".  I personally have the WD3200JD, which is the consumer rated
version of the SD3200SD.  I haven't had one fail yet in over 2 years
of usage.

But I seriously doubt the WD3200JS is the same, especially given the
newer logic.  In fact, I believe it's a 80GB/platter device, and
packed with 4 discs.  So the WD2500JS is the similar with 3 discs.  I
would _not_ trust it.

BTW, some might point out the older WD3200JD/WD3200SD they are
non-native SATA/300, using an internal ATA/133 to SATA/150 converter.
Oh well, again, they work damn fine for me.

> for a new install/upgrade on an old 32 bit machine.
> Safety and longevity concerns are more important than price and actual
> size (but not much smaller).

The enterprise-rated Caviar "RE[2]" is about a 20% cost premium over
consumer-rated Caviar "SE[2]".  The RE versions roll of the same line
as the SE versions, but are tested to higher tolerances.

The enterprise-rated Seagate NL35 (older) Barracuda ES (newr) are
about a 50+% cost premium over the consumer-rated Seagate Barracuda
7200.x series.  Again, fabbed the same, tested differently.

Same goes for the enterprise-rated Hitachi T7Kxxx versus the
consumer-rated Hitachi 7Kxxx.

> It currently has 540 meg of memory and I most likely will kick that up to 1.5
> or whatever the max turns out to be.

Sound expensive if it's older PC100/133.  Might be a _lot_ cheaper to
go with a new mainboard and more commodity DDR400 or DDR2-533.

> It has one of ThBS's favorite Millenium graphics cards

Favorite from ... say ... 5 years ago?

I consider the nVidia NV44 (GeForce 61x0/620/6500) to be the absolute
_minimum_ standard today, even for just 2D.

> and plays on a Princeton Digital 20" screen :-)  .
> Any thoughts or information would be appreciated.