Seagate vs Maxtor: A Comparison of Speed and Noise in 7200 RPM Hard Drives

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around a comparison of Seagate and Maxtor 7200 RPM hard drives, focusing on their speed and noise levels. Participants share personal experiences, benchmark results, and brand perceptions, exploring both technical specifications and subjective user experiences.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant claims that benchmarks indicate the Seagate drive is faster than the Maxtor, and notes that the Maxtor is noisier.
  • Another participant asserts that Maxtor generally produces lower-quality drives compared to other brands.
  • Some participants discuss the impact of data density on transfer speeds, suggesting that the Seagate's higher data density allows for faster data transfer rates.
  • Experiences with Maxtor drives are mixed; while some participants report reliability, others express dissatisfaction with their quality.
  • One participant mentions the popularity of Maxtor drives in Malaysia, noting their lower price compared to Western Digital drives.
  • Concerns about the noise levels of hard drives are raised, with one participant sharing an experience of a previously quiet drive becoming noisy over time.
  • There is a mention of RAID configurations, with one participant discussing their use of Maxtor drives in a RAID5 array that has been functioning reliably beyond its warranty period.
  • Questions arise about RAID technology, prompting a request for explanations of software and hardware RAID.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing opinions on the quality and reliability of Maxtor drives compared to Seagate and Western Digital. There is no consensus on which brand is definitively superior, as experiences and perceptions vary widely.

Contextual Notes

Some claims regarding performance and quality are based on personal experiences and benchmarks, which may not be universally applicable. The discussion reflects a range of user experiences and brand perceptions without definitive conclusions.

Saint
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I have a Seagate Barracuda 60GB and a Maxtor Diamond 40 GB, both are 7200 rpm,

the benchmark shows that seagate is faster than maxtor,
and i can hear that maxtor is noisier than seagate, seagate is quiet.

therefore, buy seagate!
 
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Yeah, of the major brands, Maxtor generally makes the lowest-quality -- and cheapest! -- drives.
 
One thing to remember: since both disks are rotating at the same rate and the seagate has 50% higher data density data moves past the read/write heads 50% faster so its going to transfer data as much as 50% faster (sustained).

I've owned a couple of Maxtors and they really aren't bad. Right now I am using Western Digital because of their 8mb cache drives.

And didn't WD or someone buy Maxtor recently?
 
I've owned a couple of Maxtors and they really aren't bad. Right now I am using Western Digital because of their 8mb cache drives.
Me too, I have the 80Gig model. I purchased a 160Gig Maxtor with 8MB cache a couple of weeks ago but it hasn't had time to arrive by mail yet.
I've not really had too many problems with hard drives. Sadly one exception is my WD 20Gig that started out whisper quiet and now has become obnoxiously loud in the 'whining' department. I saw once an enclosure you could put around a hard drive to quite it down but I don't know how the heat gets dissipated in such a unit.
 
In Malaysia, for the same capacity, WD costs about 20 ringgit more than Seagate or Maxtor.

However, Maxtor is the most popular HDD here,
and they are made in China.
 
Originally posted by Saint
In Malaysia, for the same capacity, WD costs about 20 ringgit more than Seagate or Maxtor.

However, Maxtor is the most popular HDD here,
and they are made in China.
How many sea shells could I purchase with 20 ringgit?
 
Originally posted by damgo
Yeah, of the major brands, Maxtor generally makes the lowest-quality -- and cheapest! -- drives.

::looks at stack of broken maxtor drives unlovingly::
 
I'm relly gun-shy regarding WD drives, but we bought a couple of 80gb/8MB cache drives solely for the 3-year warranty.

I'm also trying a software raid5 array on four samsung 80gb drives. They were low-priced but also have a three year warranty.

As for Maxtor - I'm still using three 60gb drives in a raid5 array that's been up and running continously since January of last year. Three months past the warrnaty and they still work!
 
What is RAID ?
 
  • #10
Originally posted by Saint
What is RAID ?

There's software RAID - explained here. This is written for use with Linux, however it does a great job explaining RAID.

For hardware RAID you should probably look at a manufacturer's site such as 3ware.com or adaptec.com.
 

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