Hard Disk Review : Which do you prefer to buy?
You may be looking a lot of hard drive reviews on the net but can't find a technical review but rather marketing reviews. Of course, most sites do a marketing review to mark up sales and any Hard Disk Drive is good as long as it sells. With today's technology, reliability and performance are no real big issues. Even new storage technologies are emerging and one that is so promising are Solid State Drives or SSDs.
Regarding SSDs its primary advantage is the reduction ( some says total removal ) of shock problems, lesser weight, more portable, and faster data transfer rate. And the downside? Yes there is, lesser data capacity than Hard Disk Drives can handle and way too expensive as compared with bytes per $. That is why hard disk drive will still thrive in the market as long as SSD technology cannot surpass the advantages of hard disk drives. Now if you ask me which hard disk drive is most preferred to use? Take a look at the review below according to my 43 computer technician friends.
Top 5 Hard Disk Drives According to Computer Technicians
5. Maxtor
- Maxtor had been around for quite some time until it has been bought by Seagate Company. HDDs made by Maxtor was greatly appreciated because it doesn't produce much heat as compared with the other bands of drives. This is the sole advantage of Maxtor. I know it's quite harsh but that's how the technicians had experiences with it. Maxtor is slow and doesn't lasts long. It may be because it is so sensitive to shock and power disruption. Anyway, you won't be buying Maxtor these days because Seagate already had.
RATING : 5/10
4. Samsung
- Samsung originally makes optical drives then until hard drives. Samsung hard disk drives are not recommended by most technicians because it does not last long. It's common problem is overheating. This may be the cause of the possible warping of the platters or the actuator heads and cause squeaking sound inside the HDD as it ages. This can somehow be temporarily resolved by freezing the drive to be able to do file backup. Samsung however is new to the game, give it some time to perfect its hard disk drive technology.
RATING : 6/10
3. Hitachi
- The response was positive when the technicians were asked. Hitachi hard disk drives
are commonly used by laptops ( 2.5" ). Hitachi hard disks are designed for anti-shock and can has higher heat capacity. However, the 3.5" drives used for desktops cannot outrun the performance of the top hard disk drives. It usually has problems with longevity. It will just crash in some moment but will it take a longer time yet before it does.
RATING : 7/10
2. Western Digital
- This may sound unfair but that is how it has been rated by our technicians. WD hard drives are data reliable because it is fast and not so expensive. The only flaw we knew of Western Digital is that is produces a lot of heat. This intense heat may be the cause of the squeaking sound in the hard disk drive as it ages. The squeaking is caused by the heads brushing the platters. This disadvantage does however fair with the top brand. Why? Because the drive seldom fails to be detected during POST. I once had a Western Digital 20 GB hdd which I left and thought to be defective in my storage room and just recently tested it and it ran.
RATING : 9/10
1. Seagate
- Seagate has somehow "perfected" the hdd technology. Of course there is no such thing as a perfect technology but this brand so far has met our needs. It may not be as fast as Western Digital, but it can handle greater heat and shock tolerance. Its major drawback however is that if the hdd starts to squeak, you need to backup your files because the drive wouldn't last long. The price? Worth it if you want a reliable data storage.
RATING : 9.5/10
