Choosing a hard drive

[JC]

I am getting a new hard drive. Which one should I get, my mobo is an Asus K7V. So it should be ATA 66 right? Here are some I have been looking at. All three are Maxtor. 13GB UDMA EIDE OEM is $129. 17GB UDMA EIDE OEM is $124. And 15GB 7200 RPM U/AT IDE is $119. Which one is better and why is the 13 more expensive than the 17? What is the difference between them? IDE, EIDE, U/AT, ATA66....? I am clueless to these terms!
Thanks,
JC

[bhess]

They have that maxtor 13g at staples for the same price. You can then use a $25 off coupon with that and they also are giving away a case of inkjet paper with a perchase over $100. Free shipping over $100 also. I just set my neighbor up with this deal.

My bad it's a 15 gig http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Browse/Class.asp?PageType=3&ClassID=140461

[This message has been edited by bhess (edited 06-24-2000).]

[MASTOURA]

You should look for size and rpms when choosing a HDD. The higher the rpms the faster the information will be read. Standard is 7200, although I never had one that fast. However, there is a clear difference in performance. If you can afford a SCSI HDD, get a SCSI. Much better drives, but really expensive. Otherwise, go for something between 20 and 30 Gigs with 7200 rpms so that you don't have to upgrade in the following 2 years. Think that today a new game needs at least 500 mb of space to install, plus another 500 to use while it runs. If you will use two OS and several applications, you don't want to end up having a drive that it is overloaded. Unless ofcourse you only play two games at a time, have a CDR to burn all the programs you download and (most importantly) don't have the financial ressources to buy a bigger drive. I really suggest a 20 gigs 7200 though. Any decent manufacturer will guarantee good quality.

MASTOURA

[Solosmooth]

I bought my Maxtor 20.4 gig 7200rpm at $169 in staples.. But its more like 19gig after u have installed win98. Anyways its an EIDE drive Ultra ATA 66.. very nice and much faster than my old 8 gig 5400 rpm.

[daveleau]

Be careful if you area n overclocker. I have had nothing but problems with Maxtors on my overclocked systems. They don't like to be out of specs. I would highly recommend scrapping Maxtor and getting either an IBM (the best) or a Western digital. These are a little more expensive, but if you overclock, you will be happier.
Dave

[^EvilDragon^]

Hi there,
I would go for 20+ GB maxtor drives. They have higher density and hence are faster.
Btw, SCSI hard drives are not faster than ATA-66 anymore (at least Ultra Wide SCSI). May be Ultra2 Wide are but the controllers are very expensive.

[JC]

Aren't bigger HDD slower because it takes longer to spin? I am looking at 15-17 MB. I do not overclock. It is mainly for running games, but. I will probably run Windows and Half-Life or Quake. Then, I will use a network card to network my IBM Aptiva and my Athlon so I don't have to use much of it anyway.
JC

[Lacy]

I find using an IBM or WD as the master and Maxtor as a slave works well and you will have less problems with everything all the way around. Maxtor HD's can be really "picky" about what you want to do. I use my Maxtor for files, updates, etc. Never had a problem as long as I use it as a slave. I agree with you Daveleau. Every time my better half overclocked with his Maxtor as as Master he ran into problem after problem. Since he's switched it over as a slave, he's doing great.

[De Joker]

I have a Maxtor and a Western Digital and recently had my pci bus at 45 Mhz and both drives worked fine. But overall IBM drives or the best right know, or the western digital expert series which or made by IBM. IBM's or not friendly for overclockers though.