From: "Dotan Cohen" <dotancohen@xxxxxxxxx>
On 16/06/06, fredex <fredex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, Jun 15, 2006 at 11:44:26PM -0400, Ric Moore wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-06-15 at 06:23 +0100, Keith G. Robertson-Turner wrote:
> > Dotan Cohen wrote:
> > > I bought a Maxtor 160GB 8MB cache IDE hard drive that Fedora Core 5
> > > would not install to. I've replaced it with an identical Western
> > > Digital unit, and it's installing now. What would cause this
> >
> > I've had Maxtor drives before that were fine, in fact I don't think I've
> > ever had a bad one, but I don't think that generally they are up to the
> > quality of WD. IIRC they do run quite hot, so if you don't have adequate
> > case cooling there might be a problem.
> >
> > Sometimes, however, the problem lies with the very strange ways that
> > Windows handles hard drives geometries (or not, as may be the case).
>
> I think Linux also has a problem recognizing drives set to cable select
> instead of the Master / Slave pin settings. I have had problems with
> that in the past. Ric
I always configure 'em with CS, never a problem. Been using Linux
since '95. At the moment, this machine has a combination of WD and
Maxtor drives in it.
As for which brand to buy, I'd go with whichever one has the longest
warranty.
Three years on the both of them!
If quality and reliability matters do not purchase commodity drives
from either manufacturer. I have a severe case of WD phobia dating
back a decade or so, so I cannot address them. However, Maxtor makes
some excellent drives with longer warranties. Check out their
DiamondMax line or modern equivalent. They cost more. They are quite
solid drives. And the warranty service is OUTSTANDING. (I had a
problem which turned out to be a faulty Promise RAID controller. It
created bad spots on drives, at the same spot on multiple drives.
The bad spots turned up on Maxtor's PowerMax tool. So they replaced
the drive's for free. They're wonderful people IMOAO. Later on when
the new drives developed bad spots at the same place I started going
around with the Promise folks. They ended up replacing the board. And
now everything is running smooth as silk for Promise board and the
Maxtor disks.) The drives I have came with a 5 year warranty.
And of course today Seagate, Maxtor, and Quantum are all one company.
<sigh> That leaves WD, perhaps Hitachi, Samsung, and Seagate. If I
did not purchase Seagate I'd probably go for Samsung. Their drives are
solid if unimpressive performers in my experience.
{^_^}
