Quick question about HDD brands and 8MB caches

[Fiercest]

Hey everyone. Heading for work so I'll keep this brief.

I posted earlier regarding FAT32 and NTFS data backups and for those who are familiar with it, my OS migration situation is going to go down tommorow. So go figure I should have new questions on the eve of the big day. :laugh:

So:

1) If you had to choose between a Maxtor HDD or a Western Digital HDD, which would you choose and why? Or am I digging into this purchase too deeply and the difference isn't worth a damn? ;)
2) While the price difference is negligable, I have the option of buying the HDD with or without the 8MB internal cache. Should I buy the HDD with or without the cache considering I demand high gaming performance from my rig? Also, what exactly does the 8MB cache do that would justify my losing 10 more dollars? (Hey, thats a good 1-2 hours in a good arcade...)

Thanks for your replies! All are welcome and appreciated.

Cya in 10 hours........sigh.........

-Fiercest :thumb:

[aznx]

the maxtors are quieter and faster, 8mb cache is worth it, the burst and sustained transfer speeds are fairly higher.

[amd_man2005]

I'd go WD as they tend to put up better with OC'ing and I've just had great experiences with them

[sepherum2ya]

Well i USe to love WD, but my Western Digital 80 Gig 8MB cache, special edtion just died last night, and i'm currently in the process of a RMA for it.

[Wiggo]

1/ WD as I've swapped out more faultly Maxtor's than I care to remember (almost as bad as IBM's in my books) and there is no real world difference between WD's ATA100 rating and Maxtor's ATA133 one.
2/ 8MB caches will sustain a longer data burst rate than a 2MB cache plus more data is available without physically readin' the drive disk so often.

[Beefy]

Either drive. I'm currently running 5 Maxtor drives, and haven't had a problem with any of them, and WD drives are held in high regard by most people.

8MB cache is worth it.

[Mista K6]

No difference between Maxtor's and WD's performance wise, I've had both, had a WD die, My two maxtor's are still running strong. THat doesnt mean a thing though, drives from each side die, its part of the HDD life cycle : peace: . Ahem, back in reality, Maxtor's are quieter, so I'd go with them just for that fact. Also, 8MB cache's really do give you a nice performance boost, especially in games when you're loading a level, etc. So yes, the 8MB cache is definitely worth the extra $10. : peace2: Mista K6

[Thoric]

i run 2x WD's in my box, no problems at all. i am yet to hear of anyone i know that has had a Western Digital fail on them :thumb:

[Beefy]

i run 2x WD's in my box, no problems at all. i am yet to hear of anyone i know that has had a Western Digital fail on them :thumb:

Did you read this thread? :)

[AsianBatman]

Well i have a maxtor 160 gb drive running in this rig, no problem what so ever. :p
Also have a wd 40 gig running in my dad's rig. Both are good. Only hdd that failed on me was my Seagate.

[Thoric]

yeah :confused:

just saying i find Western Digitals are quite reliable...i have tried Seagates and IBM's as well.

[Wiggo]

Well Thoric I personally know of 2 WD's that died but with other brands there have been more that I personally know of.

[Fiercest]

Thanks alot for your replies/advice guys. Appreciate it a bunch.

Unfortunately, my problems seem to multiply whenever I solve one...........like freaky IT ****roaches or something....

Thanks again though, and if you'd like to help somemore, I point you to this: http://forums.tweaktown.com/showthre...threadid=17202

Nursing a headache...
-Fiercest