Which of these 2 hard drives?

[jrich]

I need to replace one of my hard drives because it is too loud. Prices have come down a bunch, but I still need to find a sale price.

Which of these two seems like the better deal?

Seagate Barracuda Plus 7200.7
ST3120026A
Ultra ATA 100 / 8Mb Cache / 7200 rpm
120 Gigs
$60 after rebates

OR

Western Digital Caviar Special Edition (I think)
WD1200JB
Ultra ATA 100 / 8mb cache / 7200 rpm
120 Gigs
$80 after rebates

All the reviews I've seen on the seagate say its quieter but not as quiet as the older Barracuda IV, but its much slower than the competition. But all of these reviews were not on the plus model, which I couldn't find reviews on. The Western Digital is a bit more money but I've heard better things about their speed, and that the newest ones are plenty quiet.
Hope that wasn't too confusing. I'm really just looking for opinions and why that opinion is held.

Thanks,
josh

 

[DAFFYDRUNK]

I've had good luck with either although I buy more WDs.
Never factor rebates. If I suddenlly had all the rebates I've sent in, I'd have the down payment on a Corvette I need...

 

[Stealthtech]

The WD SE's with the 8MB buffer are good drives. I've had 2 of em with no problems and they are quiet enough.

The Seagates I have never used so I cant comment.

 

[Fusion2]

the one with the best warranty and most "good/better" reviews...

 

[Bulls Hit]

I'm currently using a 40GB 7200 baracuda with no problems. It's a helluva lot quieter than the quantum bigfoot that's my backup.

The WDs are good to though.

What about Serial ATA instead of Ultra? Is it possible to retrofit one of those, or do you need a motherboard set up to take one?

 

[jrich]

Bulls Hit-

Serial ATA is still too expensive for me now, plus, I would prefer to wait til they have had a chance for all the bugs to be worked out by the next or 3rd models. I really don't want to change my setup, but my hard drive is just too loud, and for the price of an enclosure, I figure I would just upgrade to something faster anyway (the drive to be replaced is 5400 rpm)

I finally found one review with this exact model included and it was the trailer of the pack (the seagate) and supposedly louder than the WD too. I just wish it was possible to test these things out first. At this point, the extra 20 bux is huge to me.

Fusion2-
They both only have 1 year warranties, and thats just the problem, I haven't been able to find any reviews on the Seagate.

Any more input would be helpful, I have about another week and a half before I need to return the seagate if I choose the Western Digital (unless anyone knows of any good deals on the Mxtors, thats what I've used before and feel comfortable with now)

Thanks!
josh

 

[Fusion2]

Bulls Hit-

Fusion2-
They both only have 1 year warranties, and thats just the problem, I haven't been able to find any reviews on the Seagate.

josh

the w/d jb series has a 3 year warranty, 80g 7200, i've instaled over thirty for customers with no returns yet, i run over ten of the drives and like them very much, i had one go bad within a week of install, nothings perfict in this world but a 3 year warranty sure helps...

newegg.com, they were 75 bucks with free shipping last week, think i saw them at 76 or so yesterday....