750g external drive in pcworld e129

fl4pj4ck

just got as external drive for mac mini, with this price, it can't be wrong!

its maxtor, priced at e149, but including the discount they now do works out as e129 at the register

only usb 2.0, and afaik the drive is IDE, but still worth the e129

zod

none left in the naas/newbridge PCworld .. said they are expecting more in a few days

projectgtr

sweet might pick one up and rip the drive out of it

SLIM19198

What discount do you use for this?

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

just got as external drive for mac mini, with this price, it can't be wrong!

its maxtor, priced at e149, but including the discount they now do works out as e129 at the register

only usb 2.0, and afaik the drive is IDE, but still worth the e129

fl4pj4ck

it seems that they have discount for everything now in the shops, picked up a mac mini, toshiba laptop and this drive, got 20-40% off the price shown on the shelf

Gadgetman496

Pitty it's a MAXTOR :eek:


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PaPsToNy

What's wrong with MAXTOR?!

Gadgetman496

PaPsToNy wrote: »

What's wrong with MAXTOR?!

Not meaning to burst anyone's bubble, but they have a well documented "High Failure Rate". Anyone in the business would recommend that you steer clear of them if at all possible.

Here's an example of a very recent post:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055208136


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soccerc

PaPsToNy wrote: »

What's wrong with MAXTOR?!

Almost as bad as Western Digital.

I bought a Dell Dimension in 2001 with WD drive. It failed within a week, and was replaced numerous times, (technician used to laugh everytime he called, it was next day business support and he always brought a new HDD)

Eventually they changed to a Maxtor drive and guess what, it failed within a month.

Dell upgraded the PC, as I rejected the goods, to a 5400 with Maxtor drives. Within a few months that too failed and since 2003 is sitting redundant in the attic, lifeless. Thankfully I backed up daily to the then very expensive Seagate 120 external hdd.

Since then I've gone with Samsung and Seagates

Gadgetman496

A study by Google a while back concluded, among other things, that if the drive doesn't fail within the first year (so called "infant mortality") it's actually likely to have a relatively long and healthy life.

I am many years in the computer business & have had great results fro WD drives. My experience with Maxtor however, has not been good.

One thing is for sure though, MAXTOR have a bad reputation.

I suppose at the end of the day it's a matter of opinion really.

You can be unlucky with any brand if it's from a dodgy batch.

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BostonB

Always have 2 or 3 backups and mix your hard disk brands.

Gadgetman496

thimblefull wrote: »

Since then I've gone with Samsung and Seagates

A lot of people don't realise that Seagate, are the parent company to Maxtor.

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Gadgetman496

BostonB wrote: »

Always have 2 or 3 backups and mix your hard disk brands.

Pretty sound advice there, BostonB

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JC 2K3

But Maxtor are Seagate now.....

EDIT: ^Got there before me

soccerc

JC 2K3 wrote: »

But Maxtor are Seagate now.....

EDIT: ^Got there before me

Completely different manufacturing facilities and product design*






* Seagate ISO standards have not yet been accredited at maxtor plants, source senior Seagate manufacturing engineer who is Irish but US based

Gadgetman496

JC 2K3 wrote: »

But Maxtor are Seagate now.....

EDIT: ^Got there before me

Luck of the draw JC

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BostonB

JC 2K3 wrote: »

But Maxtor are Seagate now.....

EDIT: ^Got there before me

Regardless of that, I would have to say that over the years I've found Seagate to be more reliable than Maxtor. Or WD.

conzy

Most people "in the know" would go for Samsung, WD, Seagate, Hitachi or just about anyone other than Maxtor

BostonB

conzymaher wrote: »

Most people "in the know" would go for Samsung, WD, Seagate, Hitachi or just about anyone other than Maxtor

With experience would be a better way of putting it. Still you'd be mad to rely on a single drive and a single brand.

Bargain_Hound

These drives use seagate drives inside them, the last time I opened one up a few weeks back it had a SATA Seagate drive inside. That was the 500GB version of this drive, but I recon it would be the same with this 750GB.

Good price alright for the 750, there is no " discount " on these drives, I guess its just the price they are. Coincidence it runs along the cheap clearance stock mac mini's for 249/299.

I have 2 of these maxtor drives ( 500GB versions ) over a year now without one single problem, along with 2 Seagate 500GB drives with equally no problems. The main problem with these "cheap" external drives is the power supply's they use or come supplied with, they are generally of low quality and made in china for peanuts. Any poor electrical supply, bad electrics in houses, electricity spikes and these power supply's are goners!

kendragon

Amazing... I can remember a time when Maxtor were the must-have HDD and you would pay for the privilege of getting one. Amazing how times change.

fl4pj4ck

well, I am using different brands, have 2x500g hitachi, 2x250 samsung, 1x160 maxtor even couple old 80g WD's - no problems at all


good thing is - it has 5 years warranty

311

I've had about 18 hard drives altogether and the only one that gave trouble was a maxtor drive.

I got about a week out of it ,rang dell and they sent out a replacement drive to swap out the next day.

I think Hitachi and WD are fine.

BostonB

kendragon wrote: »

Amazing... I can remember a time when Maxtor were the must-have HDD and you would pay for the privilege of getting one. Amazing how times change.

That must have been the 1950's.

lafors

Hopefully not a stupid question....
Do these external drives need to be plugged in or are they powered by usb?
I normally use smaller 2.5in notebook drives put in a external case and they're powered by the usb.

I need one soon, my last 100gb external notebook drive died the other day, just after I changed my laptop and I lost everything as I hadn't copied everything back to the new laptop from it

Gadgetman496

BostonB wrote: »

That must have been the 1950's.

Yep! They had steep competition from IBM I recall



IBM 350 1 Ton 5mb Harddisk-1956


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Gadgetman496

lafors wrote: »

Hopefully not a stupid question....
Do these external drives need to be plugged in or are they powered by usb?
(

Yes, they need to be plugged in to a wall socket.


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fl4pj4ck

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Yes, they need to be plugged in to a wall socket.


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the 3,5" must be plugged to a socket, if you need 1 without a power adapter go for 2,5" one -> pcworld has 250g for e139 not (it's wd passport)

and no, i dont work for dsg

SLIM19198

Went to pcworld in mahon cork today and they were pulling these off of the shelves saying they were faulty?????

I think they just mispriced them as the then tried to sell me a 500gb for 180

Kramer

These contain Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA2 drives but are reduced from €169.99 to €149.99. They aren't €130 as the OP stated (checked today).

Even at the €150, they've obviously been mispriced by PC World - they are never competitive on price IMX.

They are ugly looking though, made of flimsy plastic with a garish bright white light on the front but do have a 5 year warranty.

fl4pj4ck

i can post the recepit if you like

7 5 0 G B

for

e 1 2 9


let me know

Supercell

kendragon wrote: »

Amazing... I can remember a time when Maxtor were the must-have HDD and you would pay for the privilege of getting one. Amazing how times change.

Well I dunno what time that was, but in the 10 years I've been in the business I'm in( I see hundreds of servers and desktops every month), Maxtor drives have consistently been crap, year on year, they fail more than ANY other brand. Maxtor = Shít drives..year after year...model after model (imho)

I wouldn't touch one of them with a barge poll, in fact i wouldn't take one for free as what point is free storage if you are going to (in all likelihood) loose your data?

barneysplash

Maxtor are indeed rubbish.

But for a bargian external hard drive, keep an eye on Aldi/Lidl

They do their "Tevion" branded ones, but sometimes they are
Western Digital Caviar drives, I have had one for nearly 2 years no bother.

Firetrap

I've got a 500GB Medion external drive that I got from Aldi a few weeks ago. It's going back to the shop this week as it's calved. My fault really for taking a chance with it:mad:

Kramer

fl4pj4ck wrote: »

i can post the recepit if you like
7 5 0 G B
for
e 1 2 9

I'm not saying you didn't get one for €129 but, today, in PC World Limerick, they're shown on the shelf at €149 & scan at the till at €149.
Does your receipt show a discount? Like €149 - €20 or similiar?
It would be interesting to know if they've corrected the price or were running a special discount yesterday etc.

As for the Maxtor vs Seagate debate - these drives aren't Maxtor, they are SEAGATE drives!

barneysplash

Firetrap wrote: »

I've got a 500GB Medion external drive that I got from Aldi a few weeks ago. It's going back to the shop this week as it's calved. My fault really for taking a chance with it:mad:

Really? At least Aldi have a 3 year no quibble guarantee.

SLIM19198

What time did you buy your drive?

As I said earlier, they would not sell one to me in cork at 5pm, said they were all faulty and were pulling them off of the shelves and back in to dtoage!!!

Gonna go in wednesday and try again!

Kramer wrote: »

I'm not saying you didn't get one for €129 but, today, in PC World Limerick, they're shown on the shelf at €149 & scan at the till at €149.
Does your receipt show a discount? Like €149 - €20 or similiar?
It would be interesting to know if they've corrected the price or were running a special discount yesterday etc.

As for the Maxtor vs Seagate debate - these drives aren't Maxtor, they are SEAGATE drives!

kendragon

BostonB wrote: »

That must have been the 1950's.

Yeah... it was a ten meg hard drive and it was the size of a small town.


Happy New Year folks

BostonB

I find a lot of these bargains in PC World are hard to get. Either they are store specific or people are getting something mis priced.

ixoy

Another negative for Maxtor - a flatmate bought one once and I backed some of my own data on to it. Within a week it was making crackling sounds and it died a death. Never had any hassle with my other drives, which have primarily been WD (particularly fond of their MyBook series).

Ronan|Raven

Having worked RMA for a large disty. There is sweet fook all in reliability and drive failures among the different manufacturers. For X quantity sold for any of the main brands there was nearly always the exact same amount of returns.

dxhound2005

Got one in PC World Dundalk 31 Dec. Was not on the shelves and when I asked they said that they had been withdrawn as faulty but then got one from the back for me and said it would be OK. Paid €149.99 and if it works it is still a good price IMO. Havent tried it yet. Asked about €129 price but they said no.

I have 2 WD Notebook 500's for over a year never gave me any trouble.

Rashers72

If you had a choice between the Maxtor and this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Essential-USB2-0-External/dp/B000SKJDWS/ref=pd_rhf_p_3
which would you go for, considering the WD is more expensive?

jpfahy

The five year warranty that comes with Seagate Drives speaks for itself

kmb

Well i got mine in mahon cork saturday i think it was for €149 and it was also in the store.
I had seen them previous day and asked for the price and took it @ 149
Have been using it since with no problems.
I also have been building systems and repairs for 12 years for friends and family and never found maxtor to be problematic so had no hesitation purchasing this.

regards,

Kieran