PCA Forums

Normally I stick with Maxtor 7200rpm and sometimes WD 7200 rpm drives.

I'm wanting some extra drive space mostly for storage. Playback of video and MP3 files ect.., not for working.

Are there any BAD brands to stay away from besides IBM Deathstars?? Any problems running 5200rpm for play back of video and such. Course I still want GOOD drives, I don't want to lose my files in a crash, but max speed is not needed.

I'll be using my Maxtors for Capture and working drives, the new ones are just to keep the files on awhile when I don't want to delete them.

I've seen some low cost Samsung drives, and I used to like Seagate back in MB drive days. Haven't had a seagate though since we moved to gigs

spend what you can afford -they are all about the same- !
look for some used drives if that will work but get them from people you know on the forums -like nexus 7 he has a couple of good deals right now

the new ibm drives are fin, hitachi is incharge of them now. You want to say away fror drives liek fujitisu and crap like that. they have a much higher failure rate.

I say Maxtor, WD, and Seagate are the top 3 in no order (I use them all and have good feelings about them all)

if its just storage 5400 is fine I guess, but if you are gana save $ you can find a better place to do it then in your HD. Remember HD's are the #1 bottleneck of your system.

Greg

I wouldn't bother with a 5400 unless it's a steal. Generally the 7200s aren't much more expensive and it'll have more resale value later.

I like Maxtor right now - WD has let me down a lot lately and it seems like their quality control is not what it should be.

I would avoid Fujistu and Samsung like the plague. My opinion, but I'm an IT tech and I see a LOT of bad drives. Those two brands are used a lot in budget E-machine systems - 'nuff said.

Check Office Depot, Office Max, Best Buy, etc for a sale. Seems like one of them has a drive on sale every week.

Ok, I'll stick with maxtor 7200's then unless it's a great deal on something else. I do like Maxtor.

Most of what I want the extra storage for is like captures I may want agian latter, but done with now!
Like a play I recorded for the cast. It's eating up all my space, lot's of files, and I basically have no use for them now. But of course I want to keep them for awhile yet before deleting them.
Some I may just burn to DVDr as data files for latter use and keep them stored that way. Heck I guess on the PC I can even play them back that way too, just not on the DVD player.

Avi is an Avi I geuss, rather on Hard Drive or DVD R!

I'll look for Nexus deals

You might try a DVDr.
But you can usually find a 160gig special for $100-120

Originally posted by FlyingPenguin

Those two brands are used a lot in budget E-machine systems - 'nuff said.

this is off topic but i have a friend who wants to swap me an e machines eveiw17 17" moniter for my 15" ibm moniter + optimus 5.1 sound speakers. does e machines make crap moniters too? do they subcontract to companys like sony. hp ibm then rebadge them? im thinking its not worth it unless the moniter be a rebadge "good" brand.

I don't know for certain, but I would think the monitors are also crap.
Even if they were rebadged from a big maker, probably factory seconds!

I was looking at a Wallmart E-machine package deal once. Came with Lcd monitor! Far too cheap a deal to be a decent LCD monitor in the box.
Whole package wasn't much more than the price of a KDS 15" lcd by itself.

To give you an Idea, I have 3 KDS Xtreme flat 17" monitors, I love them, that's why I keep buying more
They are only $118 plus tax at wallmart here! Haven't had a problem with any of them, oldest one is about 2-3yrs I think. Probably gonna buy another one for the 4rth system, or else a KDS 15" lcd.

It's certainly a rebadge - there's really only a half dozen montor manufacturers.

However I would say the quality is crap. I've never been impressed by an emachine monitor.

It's not like it's going to blow up, but it probably has a lousy dot pitch and a very curved tube. I'd take a look at the picture quality and see if you can live with it. A new 17" will set you back around $100 so if it's worth it to you go for it.

FP,
You get much used stuff, like trade ins or left overs when doing upgrades??

I'm looking for alot of good stuff right now, but don't want to buy used from E-bay or people I don't know.

One of the things I want is EPSON STYLUS COLOR PRINTER 1520 soon.

Hard drives too of course, a few good cheap 20-40gigs would be nice.

Yeah, sometimes, but I generally re-use or re-sell most things that are worth while fairly quickly.

All I have right now are a couple of 4 year old 17" monitors and a Lexmark printer that doesn't have any cartridges (not worth spending the $70 on carts to test the dang thing so I should throw it away although it's only a year old).

No hard drives bigger than 6 Gb (got a whole box of <6Gb drives for you collectors!), lots of PCI cards, but nothing great (mostly modems, NIC and older vid cards).

Too bad shipping is so high on Monitors.

If those little drives work and aren't too costly I might be intersted in them. I still have my 486 Dx 4 100 and a pentium 133 I am thinking of digging out of the closet, again.

Pm me what you'd want for a box of assorted ?gig drives
Also if you got any that don't work you just want to toss in I might be able to use some parts. Depends on how that type is made inside. I haven't been in a moden type drive.

Do they still use magnets?