Narrowed Down Choices, Need Hard Drive Advice

[jerobi]

My upgrade Series2 box just had its 40GB hard drive slave fail. The master is a 160GB and seems fine. Wow, how capacity changes over just a few years.

So now I'm looking at:
a) add a new 320GB slave
or
b) dupe the master onto a new 320gb or 500gb and use it as a single HD unit (for less strain on power supply and less noise)

After much reading and searching, I'm down to three main choices:

I was SO close to grabbing this 500GB 7000.9 Seagate over lunch, but lately all the forum posts mention that it is pretty loud. The 5 year warranty is enticing, as always. Then again, in two years 500GB will be probably be cheap enough to replace anyway.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=168899

My next option seems to be this 320GB WD3200JBRTL Western Digital, with the assumption that the "JB" line is DVR-focused for constant use and lower noise. Of course you only get a one year warranty.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007VNGLC/ref%3Dnosim/niftynews-20/

Lastly, there is this 500GB WD5000JB-Retail Western Digital. I wish the model number was a little more exact, but I assume they mean WD5000JBRTL.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000O9T5IA/ref%3Dnosim/niftynews-20/


Price per GB is almost the same. Ideally more space is better, but in either event I'm looking at 3x my current total capacity so I guess it isn't too important. I'm tolerant with the noise but the comments on the 7000.9 line scare me when folks say that they actually yanked a new drive just because of noise.

I know the Samsungs are also a valid option, but they are harder to find in stock and ideally I'd like to order this and get it installed by Saturday evening.


Anyone want to chime in and sway my opinion like a flag in the wind? Thanks!

[rbtravis]

if you want quiet WD3200JB is the quieter of the two. Seagate Model number for a quieter DVR drive is DB35 or 7200.3 (or 2) for DB35, You can get them at www.thenerds.net for the quieter Seagate Drives. :)

[jerobi]

Thanks rbtravis. I read a decent bit about the Seagate DB35 line but they sounded considerably more expensive. I guess that changed in the last few months. The price is now only a little more than what I was happy to pay for a regular 500GB.

I ordered the ST3500830ACE from TheNerds.net as you suggested. Many thanks - that's a preferred drive at a nice price ($140 + $9 shipping).

[rbtravis]

Glad I could help, enjoy your new drive :D

[ericr74]

I'm having real trouble with thenerds.net. I ordered the 500G DB35 on 11/17 early in the morning.

Two business days later (Tuesday the 20th) I called because the shipping info had not been updated. They said the order had been canceled. (Huh? No one told me!) They thought it was because of lack of inventory, but they now have 18 in stock. So I placed a new order over the phone (through Kim), stating several times that I only want one of these, not two. She promised to make sure the old order was really canceled and get back to me; that never happened.

This morning (4 1/2 business days after original order, 3 business days after the replacement order) they still have not updated status on EITHER order, and charges for both orders appear on my credit card. I called again, and Thomas tells me it looks like the original order was canceled but they aren't really sure if either one has shipped out. Thomas promised to get back to me in half an hour to 45 minutes; at this point it's been two hours.

These guys are NOT organized! I would not use them if I had this to do over again. They have a really good scorecard on pricegrabber.com (http://reviews.pricegrabber.com/thenerdsnet/r/178/) with plenty of reviews, but I plan to give them a lousy review.

[rbtravis]

try this:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3167558&CatId=525
I have three drives they are made by Seagate, the last one I ordered came in three days, They are very quiet, faster than the stated Seagate seek speed and worked very well in my RCA DVR40's with a 16MB buffer:D

[ericr74]

I called thenerds again, and talked to John, who at least was friendly. After putting me on hold he says that the replacement order was shipped, and that he will call me tomorrow morning with the shipping info. He also says he'll ensure that the charge for my original order is removed. Hopefully he follows through; he did give me his extension. Maybe it will all work out ok, but they are very disorganized. Just a word of caution.

[ericr74]

I did receive my order on 11/29. I didn't receive a call as promised, but I did finally get an email providing me with shipping info. I had to call back one more time to get them to finally provide a credit for the original order. Kind of a big hassle but it all worked out.

[rbtravis]

Sorry you had such a hassle, please report back how the drive works after 24 hours of burning in. Thats so all the re-indexing has time to complete. Good Luck.:)

[ericr74]

It seems like the hard drive is working fine. I don't have anything quantitative, but I haven't had any problems so far, and it's really quiet. Winmfs was really easy (especially because I borrowed two USB-SATA connectors from work).