Insane hard drive price

polksda

If you're looking for an excellent price on a PATA IDE drive and don't want to mess with rebates, this is one hell of a deal. I just ordered one for some extra storage at home

Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM ATA133 8MB cache.

$59.94 and free shipping (sales tax does apply).

Not one of those fly-by-night vendors either:

http://www.staples.com/catalog/browse/sku.asp?PageType=1&sku=504516

It looks like the coupon referenced can only be used once per order, so if you're wanting multiples, you'd have to place multiple orders.

Enjoy...

lomic

I got the same drive from Staples a few months back for $18, though that was with a price match and rebate - but Staples rebates are very quick and easy. $60 is a decent price, but if you hang around FatWallet.com forums there are better to be had

nadams

I got a 200gb for cheaper than that through staples... sometimes they have some great deals, and yes, their easy rebates are extremely easy, and usually take less than a month to show up.

BrentMcGhee

I hate to burst your bubble but even though that is a decent price (especially because you do not have to mess with mail in rebates) but you can get a lot more space and a much better drive for less if you do mess with the mail in rebates.

If that drive was not made by maxtor i would get one becasue i hate rebates but the fact is that maxtor is a very unreliable hd manufacturer at best. there like the aiwa of the computer world. Looks good, works good, but after a short life of moderate use they die without warning.

I never buy anything except western digital hd's when i build my computers....

ND13

Originally posted by BrentMcGhee
I hate to burst your bubble but even though that is a decent price (especially because you do not have to mess with mail in rebates) but you can get a lot more space and a much better drive for less if you do mess with the mail in rebates.

If that drive was not made by maxtor i would get one becasue i hate rebates but the fact is that maxtor is a very unreliable hd manufacturer at best. there like the aiwa of the computer world. Looks good, works good, but after a short life of moderate use they die without warning.

I never buy anything except western digital hd's when i build my computers....

What about Seagate?

polkatese

I found Seagate Barracuda series to be the most reliable HD, having had 2 WD HDs meltdown on me.

ND13

Originally posted by polkatese
I found Seagate Barracuda series to be the most reliable HD, having had 2 WD HDs meltdown on me.

Cool thanks, I'm about to upgrade and I can get decent deals on Seagates.

BrentMcGhee

Originally posted by polkatese
I found Seagate Barracuda series to be the most reliable HD, having had 2 WD HDs meltdown on me.

I guess there is something to be said about personal experience and for you seagate has turned out to serve you better than wd.... It has just been from my personal expereinces after working in computer repair for many many years the number of dead wd's have been few and far between in comparison to all the other brands. (maxtor being the highest)

nadams

Seagate is better than WD. If they weren't, they wouldn't have upped their standard warranty from 3 years to 5. That's right... FIVE YEARS of warranty. No other HD manufacturer does that...

RuSsMaN

Hardrives are just like asking someone which amps are good and which bad.

I've had Maxtor drives for YEARS, all the way back to 125meg versions. Never had 1 fail (of my own, or in the field), and I was in IT for 9-10 years. Seagate and Western Digital have been the worst for me, but that doesn't mean squat in the big picture.

Buy a drive with the capacity, specs, and price you are after - and back up your data. At the prices out there today, they are disposable.

Cheers,
Russ

ND13

Brent,

What should one be able to buy...let's say a 200 gb WD for, for a HP with an AMD XP2000 Pro? It's about 3 years old and now has the 60 gb that came in it.

polksda

I guess people just ignored the "and you don't want to mess with rebates" part of my post.

Yes, you can do better with rebates, but that wasn't the point. Some people don't want to deal with the hassle and uncertainty of rebates.

Oh, and Russ is 100% correct on the amps analogy. I, for one, have had nothing but good luck with Maxtor Drives. WD on the other hand, I have had fail, and IBM Deskstar drives have been the absolute worst. Everyone has different experiences...

Since this is such a crappy deal, next time I just won't bother wasting everyone's time.

SCompRacer

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
- and back up your data.

+1

Sound advice, no matter what type of drive you buy. I've been guilty of not backing up frequently enough and been bit by it.

When I had money, I used SCSI hard drives because of their high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) compared to IDE drives.

SCompRacer

Originally posted by polksda
IBM Deskstar drives

Had four of the 'Deathstars,' IBM 75GXP's. All died, replaced under warranty by four more that died. And my PC's run 24/7 with APC UPS's.

ND13

Originally posted by polksda
I guess people just ignored the "and you don't want to mess with rebates" part of my post.

Yes, you can do better with rebates, but that wasn't the point. Some people don't want to deal with the hassle and uncertainty of rebates.

Oh, and Russ is 100% correct on the amps analogy. I, for one, have had nothing but good luck with Maxtor Drives. WD on the other hand, I have had fail, and IBM Deskstar drives have been the absolute worst. Everyone has different experiences...

Since this is such a crappy deal, next time I just won't bother wasting everyone's time.

No man, it looks good to me, just wanted some other opinions before I went out and bought one is all. I like the part of not having to apply and wait for the bates to come back. Hell it took 6 months one time. That's why I buy most of my computer stuff at Sam's, they do all the rebates for you:D .

disneyjoe7

Hard drives Maxtor has been a large favorite of TiVo hackers for a long time. I have used Maxtor drives in my own TiVo with no problems that’s something to say for a "Computer" on 24 / 7 / 365 for years on end. In this hard use environment many brands are not high on the list, but Maxtor is right at the top.

BTW I use an UPS on my TiVo’s won’t power one up without it.

lomic

It's funny - hard drive threads everywhere always rip Maxtor first, then a few people agree, then a ton of people come in to say they've had no problems with Maxtor and other brands suck. Spooky.

To continue that, I've been using at least one Maxtor in one of my computers for a good 10 years, and never had one fail. I have an AIWA CD deck too and it's worked flawlessly for 3 years

As for rebates, I agree they can be annoying and time-consuming, however Staples rebates you just buy from their website, go to the Staples Rebates site, type in your order number and info and you get your check in about a month. Since there's no paperwork sent in, there's no BS about submitting the wrong form. But didn't mean to rip on ya OP, sorry

nadams

You can buy from the store, and the rebates work the same way. Doesn't have to be on the website.

SCompRacer

I'm no expert but did the hobby thing with building, customizing and fixing PC's. Aside from manufacturer defects, most of the hard drive failures I've encountered are due to viruses, no surge protection at all and turning the thing on several times a day rather than leaving it run till your done with it. There are those who say leave it on 24/7; I say just minimize the on/off cycles and use a good surge suppressor or UPS.

disneyjoe7

Originally posted by SCompRacer
[B I say just minimize the on/off cycles and use a good surge suppressor or UPS. [/B]

I agree 110%, but don't UPS have some surge protection? Also feel that an UPS is better as must hard drive failure are read / write head crashing caused by sudden power off's and or AC line dips.

SCompRacer

Originally posted by disneyjoe7
I agree 110%, but don't UPS have some surge protection?

The APC's I have do, not sure if they all have them. Most folks I encounter think a $5 power strip is an adequate surge suppressor. UPS's are really affordable now too.

disneyjoe7

I also believe APC does, but sorry they are the only company I think of when I say UPS.

It must be the fact I applied for a job their once, when they started business in Kingston, Rhode Island back in the mid / late 80's.

Jstas

Hmmm.

In my experience, Maxtors will run fine as long as you don't turn them off. They will run for years if left on and spinning. After staying on for a long time though, they die after being shut off. Why, not sure. Usually the armature on the motor seizes or a head crashes. This is mainly because while teh drive is on and spinning, it can dissapate heat quickly. If it stops, the heat builds p quickly and it can actually cause the metals to become pliable. They lose structural integrity and become out of round or just fail and it causes problems. The only other drives I have had these problems with are Quantum.

Every drive has it's failures and some drive companies have entire lines to stay away from. It's pretty much a crap shoot for IDE drives but the most positive experiences I have had have been with WD and Seagate. One to defintly stay away from is the IBM/Hitachi Deskstar. It didn't earn the nickname Deathstar because it's an incredible drive.

As far as UPS units go, APC is the industry leader and the only way you are going to find something better is to go with a custom installation. That is out of reach for most people.

UPS systems will offer surge protection. That is what they are supposed to do. They have breakers in the to trip the circuit if a surge is detected to protect the batteries. They also provide auxilliary power during a power outage. When everything is working ok, a UPS performs the function of line conditioning. I recommend a UPS for everything expensive and electronic that you want to protect. Audio equipment is sensitive but a computer is much more sensitive to power changes than anything audio.

Power strips are not surge suppressors or line conditiones. They are meant as outlet expansion, that's it. A surge suppressor is usually much more expensive than 5 dollars and a sound investment when a UPS system is either unattainable or unnecessary..

As far as drive recommendations, I'd go with Seagate. The reviews, the professionals hat I work with and pretty much the industry as a whole says that they are the top of the heap. Besides, they come with an excellent warranty that Seagate stands by 100%. The likelyhood that you would need to exercise that warranty is slim to none. The Maxtors, the Quantums, the Hitachis, the Western Digitals are all nice units that work fine for a consumer but all of the critical systems that we have gotten in the past 3 years here at work have been loaded with Seagates of one type or another and have run without issue.

myork

I built a HTPC last year and used a 200GB WD Caviar. Got it from Tigerdirect for $80.

Sami

Originally posted by ND13
What about Seagate?

Seagate never paid any of my rebates so for that reason alone I will not buy any from them. WD is my preference but I don't mind buying a Maxtor either. I have used Maxtors since they were the cheapo brand in the early 90's and I haven't had any more problems with them than with other brands.

fredv

Originally posted by Sami
Seagate never paid any of my rebates so for that reason alone I will not buy any from them. WD is my preference but I don't mind buying a Maxtor either. I have used Maxtors since they were the cheapo brand in the early 90's and I haven't had any more problems with them than with other brands.

Seagate did the same to me, they asked me to resend and to fax the rebate forms 3 times, no dice. Lat time I called, they said the rebate was closed and could no longer do anything, BS. I will never buy from Seagate.

Jstas

I can't say I have an opinion on rebates because I rarely utilize them.

WilliamM2

I build and configure all of the computers for my company, plus we sell them.

Out of aprox. 300 computers, we have had only one or two Maxtor's fail, 0 Seagate failures, and 0 IBM/Hitachi failures. Almost ALL of the Western Digitals have failed within 2 years (at least 50, as that is all I used in the beginning), I no longer use them. And although they are great about sending a refurbished replacement, all of those failed almost immediatly, we don't even bother sending them in anymore.

lomic

Funny story. After posting in this thread that I had never had a Maxtor fail - today one of them sorta did. It was probably my fault because I had it packed between 2 other hard drives running in a 95 degree room. Apparently this caused a sector to go bad in the master boot record or there abouts.

On the plus side, I found a program called SpinRite that claims it will recover pretty much any hard drive error... needless to say I was a bit skeptecal. Never the less I gave it ago and it actually fixed the drive 100%. Truely amazed.

Polk65

Maxtor 200gb ata/133 internal 7200rpm @ Compusa 7/17 - 7/23

edit:: http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=298845

Russ sums it up best, back up your stuff. Jstas is right, there are sometimes entire series of a brand to stay away from.

I had a few Western Digital's die within 1 year so I bought 4 IBM 75GXP series. Those all died within 2 years and after reading the horror stories of the IBM replacements crapping out I didn't bother sending them in. After the IBM fiasco I went back to Western Digital and after 4 years they are still good. Last year I bought a few Maxtor's on sale and one just died last week. On a lighter note, I have a Western Digital 1gb, 8gb and 10gb that still work.