Seagate VS Western Digital

[NomNom]

Hi all, I require the expertise of this forum to explain to me or at least try to explain to me which out of the following two drivers are "better". I will be using one of the following for my OS drive, if you have something else to suggest other than the two below please explain why it is better, my budget is semi-flexible.

I am looking for reliability and for it to not make so much noise, since hard drive vibrations kinda make me go crazy. :wtf: Third thing I care about is performance, I recently had a Western Digital 250GB fail on me, it was only 1.5 years old, so I kind of lost confidence in them since they are supposed to be the Bentley's of the Hard Drive industry. I am not looking for capacity, just reliability.

They are as follows

Seagate SV35 Series - 500GB Serial ATA 2 (SATA2) - 16MB Cache @ [ST3500410SV]

VS

WESTERN DIGITAL 500GB - GREEN POWER - INTELLIPOWER - 32MB CACHE [WD5000AADS]

I do notice that the Western Digital has 32mb cache and the Seagate 16mb, I'm not too concerned about this unless you say otherwise. I have heard a rumor that the Seagate is much more quieter and reliable, apparently it's used in server's/surveillance? I don't know that much about the Western Digital other than it speeds up and down according to what's required by the user.

I know about SSD's I have ruled out getting one at this time, since apparently they don't last as long as hard drives and I'm not keen to pay R1.6k for a SLC since I am looking for a OS drive.

Any help on this matter is appreciated.

 

[Conradl]

There is nothing to significantly differentiate those two drives.... The 16/32MB cache is irrelevant; basically it comes down to whether you want seagate or WD. No real technical reason to favour one over the other....

 

[NomNom]

There is nothing to significantly differentiate those two drives.... The 16/32MB cache is irrelevant; basically it comes down to whether you want seagate or WD. No real technical reason to favour one over the other....

I was hoping you wouldn't say that, but thanks for the input.

 

[kingrob]

I prefer Western Digital, since the first Raptor.

Had a Seagate Momentus in my notebook, replaced it with a WD Scorpio - and it made a huge difference. When I took the Seagate out, it almost burnt my hand, whilst the WD never gets very hot.

Guess it's all down to personal preference.

 

[NomNom]

I prefer Western Digital, since the first Raptor.

Had a Seagate Momentus in my notebook, replaced it with a WD Scorpio - and it made a huge difference. When I took the Seagate out, it almost burnt my hand, whilst the WD never gets very hot.

Guess it's all down to personal preference.

Good point in that case I would lean towards the Seagate.

 

[Gadget Man]

Just had a Seagate almost die on me ... have many drives and I have had no problem with WD or Samsung. Seagate is about 7 months old and started clicking.

 

[NomNom]

Just had a Seagate almost die on me ... have many drives and I have had no problem with WD or Samsung. Seagate is about 7 months old and started clicking.

I've had 4 Samsungs fail on me within +-2 years (never again), 1 Western Digital within 1.5 years (only owned one so far) and 1 Seagate fail (lasted quite long, not sure on how long but was longer than 2 years)

So coming here and telling me that your Seagate is failing within 7 months doesn't really mean much, other than me feeling sorry for you.

There is no actual benchmark that everyone will have certain amount of failures, they don't package hard drives with a "I will fail within 3 months" sticker on them

If you could however post what model number it is I would be grateful.

 

[bierman]

try hitachi, sofar i got a 1TB running 24/7 and its not made any hiccups or not even getting that hot, and comes with a 3 year guarentee

 

[Conradl]

There is no actual benchmark that everyone will have certain amount of failures, they don't package hard drives with a "I will fail within 3 months" sticker on them

Not quite, but they do have an average failure rate - look at the specifications and you will see it rated as a percentage e.g. 0.80%....

 

[Budza]

I have had a Seagate fail. Was on 4.5yrs, took it back to shop and got a brand new one. (possibly reconditioned, though was a newer model with more cache- I was happy )

Had a WD and an old Toshiba laptop HDD die- they were worked long and hard though. Worked harder as they reached the end, as they became expendable. Just make sure you back up older disks more regularly.

My preference is towards the 5yr warranty. That has to mean something if the maker is willing to back their product like that...

afaik, the WD Black drives now also have 5yrs- something to consider.

 

[froot]

Seagate SV35 Series - 500GB Serial ATA 2 (SATA2) - 16MB Cache @ [ST3500410SV]

VS

WESTERN DIGITAL 500GB - GREEN POWER - INTELLIPOWER - 32MB CACHE [WD5000AADS]


You can't put these two drives next to one another. They server two different purposes.

The SV35 series has a 5 year warranty. It's not the standard Seagate harddrive. It's made for network/server/enterprise purposes, so it's capable of being run for 24h a day, 7 days a week. I have one myself and it runs like a dream. It's silent and maintains excellent speed when copying large or small files. And don't be deceived by the 16MB cache either.... it hasn't left me dry yet.

The WD Green Power drive has a variable rotation speed, which has proved to lack somewhat up to now. They're working on that though so the new drives should last longer. It's not made to run 24/7 and neither is it a high performance drive.

If you want something for your OS I'd much rather lean towards the Seagate if I have to choose between these two.

 

[NomNom]

try hitachi, sofar i got a 1TB running 24/7 and its not made any hiccups or not even getting that hot, and comes with a 3 year guarentee

hmmm I will look them up thanks, btw the Seagate I have listed above also comes with a 3 year warranty.

Not quite, but they do have an average failure rate - look at the specifications and you will see it rated as a percentage e.g. 0.80%....

what does that mean exactly? 8 drives will fail out of 1000?

 

[froot]

hmmm I will look them up thanks, btw the Seagate I have listed above also comes with a 3 year warranty.



hmmm what does that mean exactly? 8 drives will fail out of 1000?

The SV35 has a 5yr warranty

 

[NomNom]

Seagate SV35 Series - 500GB Serial ATA 2 (SATA2) - 16MB Cache @ [ST3500410SV]

VS

WESTERN DIGITAL 500GB - GREEN POWER - INTELLIPOWER - 32MB CACHE [WD5000AADS]


You can't put these two drives next to one another. They server two different purposes.

The SV35 series has a 5 year warranty. It's not the standard Seagate harddrive. It's made for network/server/enterprise purposes, so it's capable of being run for 24h a day, 7 days a week. I have one myself and it runs like a dream. It's silent and maintains excellent speed when copying large or small files. And don't be deceived by the 16MB cache either.... it hasn't left me dry yet.

The WD Green Power drive has a variable rotation speed, which has proved to lack somewhat up to now. They're working on that though so the new drives should last longer. It's not made to run 24/7 and neither is it a high performance drive.

If you want something for your OS I'd much rather lean towards the Seagate if I have to choose between these two.

wow THANKS supper post, it's what I needed to hear, my Pc will basically be running 24/7, I have spoken to the guys at NGR and received the following reply:

"All Seagate Internal Hard Drives come with a Three Year Warranty. "

 

[Conradl]

As mentioned, that seagate is optimised for Surveillance; not sure if that will translate into improved speed for normal use though.... But it definitely has a 5 year warranty.

 

[distantclarity]

Seagate tends to fail, a lot... do a google search for 'seagate problem....
That said, I have a WD green, and yes it's a nice drive, however not for running an operating system on as it's 5400rpm - ideally you want 7200rpm (or better )
I recommend WD Blue or WD Black.

Western digital has a very good track record. I'm running 7 WD hard drives right now - 4 External, 3 Internal, 2 of them are 'green' (1TB and 2TB), one is 'blue' (1TB) and the rest are from before the colour scheme (320GB, 250GBx2, 120GB)... They've all served me VERY well...
Whereas i personally know a bunch of people with failed seagate drives.

 

[froot]

As mentioned, that seagate is optimised for Surveillance; not sure if that will translate into improved speed for normal use though.... But it definitely has a 5 year warranty.

No it doesn't give "more performance" compared to the regular 1TB Seagate, but it's made to keep that performance for longer without having to worry about the drive crashing after 3 months of constant use.
And yeah, definitely has a 5yr warranty.

 

[Conradl]

No it doesn't give "more performance" compared to the regular 1TB Seagate, but it's made to keep that performance for longer without having to worry about the drive crashing after 3 months of constant use.
And yeah, definitely has a 5yr warranty.

According to the website it offers: ATA-7 streaming commands optimize video streaming performance and integrity. I have no idea what that is; perhaps somebody can shed some light?

 

[NomNom]

The SV35 has a 5yr warranty

As mentioned, that seagate is optimised for Surveillance; not sure if that will translate into improved speed for normal use though.... But it definitely has a 5 year warranty.

I find it strange that NGR said it only has a 3 year warranty, must be a lower model or something, never the less I will be grabbing myself 2 of them in due time, thanks to everyone for your help, and as for the people who suggested I get a Western Digital/other, if I come back in 3 months time asking for forgiveness you have my permission to say the following: "We told you so"

 

[flarkit]

I've used Seagate and Samsung drives with few complaints for years. Mount them so that the case's front fan blows air over the drives and there should be no temperature problems. WD drives are as reliable IMO