looking for a new hard drive... need info
 

well, my 40 gig is about full(9.8 gigs free... and thats cause ive gotten rid of games so im not near full), i think im going to throw a 80 gig in. what are some good companies to look at and how much should i look at spending for a decent hard dirve? im pretty much clueless besides i know the faster the rpm of the hard drive the faster it can read, and the cache helps speed up the HD also...

im competant enough to install, just wana make sure i get a good piece

well look for transfer rates- the bigger the better
look for seek times -> smaller the better
look for cache -> bigger the better
and if u use 2 hard drives get a 40 pin 80 cable IDE ribbon. that will make things a lot faster

The best drive company is probably Western Digital. My dad swears by them (he's been building computers for ages). The best prices are actually from best buy, because you can get mad mail-in rebates. As for prices, I dont know, i've been out of the market for a while.

THe problem is, these days when you buy a new drive, itll have tons of bad spots from the factory. My dad explained it as these drives are so huge these days, that that many bad spots is still within error tolerance. You'll see what I'm talking about once you buy your drive and format it. Watch it format for a while itll talk about bad allocation units, etc.

GO to Able Shoppers They usually have good deals on hard drives...you just have to look for them.

can you throw some numbers in there that are acceptable. this HD will be primarly for games and applications, im going to keep my 40 gig for my odds and end personal use, mp3s, and windows... possibly linux also since i'll have the space

no offense to anyone but i think that WD drives are crap. i had wd replace 3 times one of my 10 gig hdd's in one year. i'll never buy wd again.

and chris look for a buffer of 8mb, 7200rpms, somkething less than 8.9 average seek time

what do you suggest brand wise then? I'm not arguing, because I could be wrong. I've just never heard of any other current brands that are better. I've also been out of the game for a while.

For a new drive, the WD 80+ gig, 8Mb cache drives are nice. I have 2 running flawlessly 24/7 in different computers.

i dunno because i've been out of the game for a while. i think any brand will do as long you are not tieing your tongue in knots when you try to pronounce it ;)

what did they run you apeice?

I agree WD is crap. We used them for a while where i worked and about 2 of 10 have died in less than a year. IBM is the best IMO but they are the most expensive also. Maxtor is alos decent.

Newegg is an awesome place to order online. You will never get screwed over and they are always great about RMAs.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...roperty&DEPA=1

there is a quick search i did.

IBM. heh. the Deathstars! gotta love that name hack.

No way I'm putting an IBM hd in my computer.

I also suggest the 80gb WD Special Edition (8mb cache). Ran me around 95 in November. Best drive i've ever owned. by far.

If not WD i'd go for the maxtor 8mb cache drives.

yea with the exception of those...;)

nice sig drdingo.. too bad its not really you :p

Around $100