This drive is fast
Pros:
Very fast, virtually silent, good price
Cons:
None so far
The Bottom Line:
If you can spend an extra 20$ to get this drive, get it and don't look back. It is almost SCSI performance at EIDE price.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I recently upgraded my Pc to a P4, and was looking for the best hard drive for a reasonable price. I first got the WD800JB and was pleasantly surprised by the incredible speed, but the drive made a very annoying whining noise event after spin-up, which was getting on my nerves.
After contacting WD about it, I was told that the noise didn't seem normal and to exchange the drive. By the way, they offer decent service via email, averaging about 4 hours to respond to my inquiries.
After the recommendation from WD, I went back to the store to exchange it but they had none left in stock. Since I needed to work, I got a Maxtor 80 GIG 7200 RPM liquid bearing drive, which cost a little less, and was supposed to be just as fast and very silent.
I got home, installed it, it ran fine but it was at least 20% slower on average than the Western Digital, so I uninstalled it and went to the store again the next day, since they had received new Western Digital drives.
Finally, I got a new WD800JB and the noise is now negligible, so I guess the first one I had was defective or something, although it worked great.
Event during heavy disk activity, this drive is barely audible, compared to the Maxtor, which is quite noisy during heavy activity.
As for performance, not only is the difference evident using benchmarking software, but even while using the computer for regular tasks, you notice the speed of the drive.
In conclusion, I have been a Maxtor user for the past 4 years, but I have to say that WD has won a customer over.
----- an update to my review ------
I recently had a crash with this drive, a physical problem identified by S.M.A.R.T., and had to get it replaced by Western digital. I got a prompt replacement (2 weeks from RMA creation, 1 week after sending the drive) for the defective one, and still love the performance. In fact, I now have two of these. The only thing that I would have liked is to have the option of an advanced replacement, using a deposit from a credit card, so I would have to wait 2 weeks without a drive, it would have saved me the expense of a second one.
All things considered, I am still very satisfied with this product.
