[conspire] question about EIDE ATA hard drive to buy

[Edmund J. Biow]

>
> Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 19:22:27 -0800
> From: Darlene Wallach <freepalestin at dslextreme.com>
> Subject: [conspire] question about EIDE ATA hard drive to buy
> To: conspire <conspire at linuxmafia.com>
> Message-ID: <4588AC73.3050908 at dslextreme.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
>
> Mark Weisler was showing me Monarch Computer and Newegg on Saturday.
> Unfortunately, the Samsung 300GB UATA listed on Monarch on Saturday
> at $87.99 is no longer available.
>
> Using Google, I found "Samsung / SpinPoint T133 / 300GB / 7200 / 8MB /
> ATA-100 / EIDE / Hard Drive" on TigerDirect.com
> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2430430
> for $99.99
> SNIP
>
> Anyway, do people have experience good/bad with:
> Samsung, Western Digital, Seagate?
>
> Is there a recommended place to buy a hard drive?
> I have a VA Linux 420 with IDE 30GB hard drive that I
> want to replace with a larger drive.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Darlene Wallach
>   
Darlene, I would shun TigerDirect, since they have one of the poorest 
reputations of any large vendor. 
http://www.resellerratings.com/store/Tiger_Direct

Monarch has a better reputation, but I was always put off by the "We 
support our troops" logo they used to sport on their web pages, but 
that's just me.   I would have preferred a dignified "Gött Mit Uns" on 
the masthead. 

I've had drives from all major manufacturers fail.  My worst experiences 
were with OEM drives since that really increases the vendors temptation 
to substitute a refurb for a new drive.  All things being equal I prefer 
Seagate, because of the longer warranty.  The nice thing about RMAing a 
drive 2.5 years after it was made (which is when the warranty typically 
tolls, not when you purchase it) is that you often get back a much 
larger drive (I got 120s for the above referenced OEM 80s, though of 
course it wasn't worth the hassle).  The current crop of Seagates are 
also pretty quiet.

Particularly if you are not adverse to mail in rebates the big box 
stores are often cheaper than online vendors.  Check SalesCircular:

http://www.salescircular.com/ca/computer/hdiskp.shtml

This week CompUSSR has a Western Digital 250 GB drive for $60 after $50 
MIR.  That comes to about $59 after tax assuming the MIR comes through, 
about 23.6 cents per gig.  Best Lie has a Seagate 250 GB for $80 
straight up.  I got a pair of the later at BB for $60 (no MIR) on Black 
Friday (the day after Thankgiving), and if you don't mind jostling with 
the crowds there will probably be similar deals announced for the day 
after Xmas. 

The 400 GB Newegg Samsung for $116 & tax that Daniel mentioned looks 
pretty good.  That is about 31¼ cents a gig after tax and shipping.

-e