Recommend me a new (cheap & reliable) HDD

lostkat · 18-05-2007, 14:27

My HDD corrupted last night and won't boot anymore. I'm really hoping that all my photographs are still on it :undecided:

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced 100+ gig HDD which has a decent reputation wrt reliability.

My last two were Seagate Barracudas and they both corrupted. Probably my fault for not religiously re-formatting every 6+ months.

Davey_Pitch · 18-05-2007, 14:35

I've had Western Digital drives for a few years now and they've never given me any trouble, even if I don't reformat for months on end (probably not done it in 2 years or so). Assuming you want IDE there's several you could pick from here - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/searc...olShowAll=true

Admiral Huddy · 18-05-2007, 14:38

You can't go wrong with the Samsung Spinpoint P120 (250GB) @ £36 from scan

or the Hitachi Deskstar T7K250..

Both good hdds.

Feek · 18-05-2007, 14:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostkat

My last two were Seagate Barracudas and they both corrupted. Probably my fault for not religiously re-formatting every 6+ months.

Slightly OT but that's rubbish, you should be able to run drives for years and years and years without having any data corruption problems and without having to regularly reformat.

Admiral Huddy · 18-05-2007, 14:42

I've had three drives go in four years

I lost my pics of my holiday last year.. I should have known better.. but the backup software became corrupt as well.

semi-pro waster · 18-05-2007, 14:43

I would have suggested Seagates normally but I could understand if you weren't keen to buy another one so then my suggestion would be WD as Davey suggests.

You shouldn't need to reformat a drive, it has no impact on whether it is likely to corrupt as far as I am aware.

Good luck getting your photographs back, a program such as Get Data Back has a reasonably good reputation for that sort of thing but if it is a total failure it might not do anything much.

Daz · 18-05-2007, 14:54

Samsung have never given me any trouble

Think Huddy's onto a bargain there.

Get the drive to me Kate, I'll tell you if anything's recoverable. Sata or Pata?

Davey_Pitch · 18-05-2007, 20:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by semi-pro waster

You shouldn't need to reformat a drive, it has no impact on whether it is likely to corrupt as far as I am aware.

Indeed, though I've known a low level format to fix bad sectors in the past which have caused a PC to become unbootable.

That actually gives me an idea. Kate, you could try something called the Ultimate Boot CD, which I can send you if you need it. It has a lot of HDD utils on it which can fix bad sectors and fix drives. Obviously if it's majorly FUBAR nothing much will help that, but I've sorted out two laptops in work with it, so it's worth a try

lostkat · 21-05-2007, 11:56

Thanks for the advice guys, will have a look at the WD ones as well as Samsung as I've heard good things about them in the past.

On a positive note, the PC now boots. I booted with the Windows Disc and ran recovery on it. However, it's still a bit unstable and has thrown up several errors and rebooted itself randomly a few times, so I'm going to get a new HDD as soon as I can afford one. Then I can use this one as a slave and sort out all my important files (i.e. photos) so they're easily backed up onto DVD.

The exact same thing happened with my other Seagate HDD, but that was coupled with a new mobo, so it obviously didn't like it anymore. All I did with this one was try to plug in the floppy drive and it just decided that it wasn't playing anymore. Bloody thing!!!!

One more question... when I get the new HDD, I know that accessing this one will be a pain in the ass because it comes up with some blurb about authorisation (it happened last time). Can I stop this by just removing the administrator password??

Thanks again for all your help/advice. So glad that it's not as bad as I first feared.

Dr. Z · 21-05-2007, 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by lostkat

All I did with this one was try to plug in the floppy drive and it just decided that it wasn't playing anymore. Bloody thing!!!!

Sounds to me like your power supply might not be all that? Similar things have happened to me and inevitably the problem was traced back to a crap PSU. Happened so many times that I dont bother with anything but PSU brands that I know and trust

18-05-2007, 14:27	#1
lostkat Good Cat Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,550	Recommend me a new (cheap & reliable) HDD My HDD corrupted last night and won't boot anymore. I'm really hoping that all my photographs are still on it :undecided: Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced 100+ gig HDD which has a decent reputation wrt reliability. My last two were Seagate Barracudas and they both corrupted. Probably my fault for not religiously re-formatting every 6+ months. __________________ Oooooh Cecil, what have you done?

18-05-2007, 14:35	#2
Davey_Pitch I iz speshul Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Liverpool Posts: 6,296	I've had Western Digital drives for a few years now and they've never given me any trouble, even if I don't reformat for months on end (probably not done it in 2 years or so). Assuming you want IDE there's several you could pick from here - http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/searc...olShowAll=true __________________ Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

18-05-2007, 14:38	#3
Admiral Huddy HOMO-Sapien Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Chelmsford Posts: 6,692	You can't go wrong with the Samsung Spinpoint P120 (250GB) @ £36 from scan or the Hitachi Deskstar T7K250.. Both good hdds. __________________ I just got lost in thought.. It was very unfamiliar territory. Techie Talk \| My gaming Blog \| PC spec \| The Admirals log

18-05-2007, 14:42	#5
Admiral Huddy HOMO-Sapien Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Chelmsford Posts: 6,692	I've had three drives go in four years I lost my pics of my holiday last year.. I should have known better.. but the backup software became corrupt as well. __________________ I just got lost in thought.. It was very unfamiliar territory. Techie Talk \| My gaming Blog \| PC spec \| The Admirals log

18-05-2007, 14:43	#6
semi-pro waster Provider of sensible advice about homosexuals Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: London Posts: 2,615	I would have suggested Seagates normally but I could understand if you weren't keen to buy another one so then my suggestion would be WD as Davey suggests. You shouldn't need to reformat a drive, it has no impact on whether it is likely to corrupt as far as I am aware. Good luck getting your photographs back, a program such as Get Data Back has a reasonably good reputation for that sort of thing but if it is a total failure it might not do anything much. __________________ "Your friend is the man that knows all about you, and still likes you." - Elbert Hubbard

18-05-2007, 14:54	#7
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	Samsung have never given me any trouble Think Huddy's onto a bargain there. Get the drive to me Kate, I'll tell you if anything's recoverable. Sata or Pata? __________________ apt-get moo

21-05-2007, 11:56	#9
lostkat Good Cat Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,550	Thanks for the advice guys, will have a look at the WD ones as well as Samsung as I've heard good things about them in the past. On a positive note, the PC now boots. I booted with the Windows Disc and ran recovery on it. However, it's still a bit unstable and has thrown up several errors and rebooted itself randomly a few times, so I'm going to get a new HDD as soon as I can afford one. Then I can use this one as a slave and sort out all my important files (i.e. photos) so they're easily backed up onto DVD. The exact same thing happened with my other Seagate HDD, but that was coupled with a new mobo, so it obviously didn't like it anymore. All I did with this one was try to plug in the floppy drive and it just decided that it wasn't playing anymore. Bloody thing!!!! One more question... when I get the new HDD, I know that accessing this one will be a pain in the ass because it comes up with some blurb about authorisation (it happened last time). Can I stop this by just removing the administrator password?? Thanks again for all your help/advice. So glad that it's not as bad as I first feared. __________________ Oooooh Cecil, what have you done?