Seagate vs Western Digital

[Guest]

I have the option of choosing either a Seagate or Western Digital hard drive for the new build I am doing for my parents. I only need a relatively small hard drive (320GB would be fine) but I have heard that there are some problems with Seagate firmware recently. I need reliability over anything else. Wht would you recommend?

Thankyou.

 

[Lavarin]

Western Digital for me. Actually, which model lines are you comparing, the 7200.12s and the Caviars?

 

[Guest]

I was comparing something like Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA 1.5Gbs ($69) vs Western Digital Caviar SE 320GB 7200RPM 16MB SATA 3Gbs($88). Its about $20 more, and I don't really care about transfer speeds of the hard drive, so it seems like a waste of $20 (unless Seagate has had problems with that hard drive, in which case I would choose WD).

 

[jsc]

The .11 Seagates had the firmware problems. Fixed in the .12's. Having said that, I prefer WD.

Where are you planning on buying your drives? $88 for a WD 320 GB seems high. For less than that, you can buy a WD 640 GB Black from newegg.

 

[aford10]

That particular seagate is one of the models with the faulty firmware. There is an update for it on seagate's site. However, I would go with western digital anyway. WD is high quality and the prices are reasonable.

 

[aford10]

+1 to jsc

The WD black is a great drive and is ~$75 on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

Here is the WD 320G drive ~$55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074