Data Storage
Is That Support?
12/12/07 01:43 PM Filed in: Technology
Western Digital, how
I've always trusted you with my files. I'm not a fan
of Seagate. I can't stand Maxtor. Hitachi ... they're
alright. But Western Digital I've always heard
wonderful things about, and I've always been
completely comfortable putting all of my sensitive
data on their Hard Drives.
Until now ...
You would think when you fork out over $300 for a Hard Drive, you would have reliability. Not only reliability, but proper support. So when my Hard Drive stops turning on regularly, and when I finally do coax it into turning on my computer won't recognize it, I tried calling technical support.
Apparently I can't get support for my Hard Drive. Apparently the only thing $300 gets you is a Hard Drive and the ability to call for an RMA number to exchange your Hard Drive for a working Hard Drive. Hey, WD, I've got news for you! I have over 100 GB on this Hard Drive. Data that I don't want to lose! Between 60-80 GB of that data is music and movies. All but about 400 songs can be accounted for on my iPod, but the movies and videos I have no way of recovering.
Lucky for you, WD, I have all of my uber-important data (school documents, etc.) on my interal Hard Drive, which has never failed me.
More recently, when I get the Hard Drive to power up, I can put my ear against it an hear a repetitive *Tick**Tick*Tick*. Please don't be the drive head ...
I don't want an RMA. I want support to get my files back! Duh! Is it too much to ask you to pick up the phone?
Until now ...
You would think when you fork out over $300 for a Hard Drive, you would have reliability. Not only reliability, but proper support. So when my Hard Drive stops turning on regularly, and when I finally do coax it into turning on my computer won't recognize it, I tried calling technical support.
Apparently I can't get support for my Hard Drive. Apparently the only thing $300 gets you is a Hard Drive and the ability to call for an RMA number to exchange your Hard Drive for a working Hard Drive. Hey, WD, I've got news for you! I have over 100 GB on this Hard Drive. Data that I don't want to lose! Between 60-80 GB of that data is music and movies. All but about 400 songs can be accounted for on my iPod, but the movies and videos I have no way of recovering.
Lucky for you, WD, I have all of my uber-important data (school documents, etc.) on my interal Hard Drive, which has never failed me.
More recently, when I get the Hard Drive to power up, I can put my ear against it an hear a repetitive *Tick**Tick*Tick*. Please don't be the drive head ...
I don't want an RMA. I want support to get my files back! Duh! Is it too much to ask you to pick up the phone?
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The Terabyte
04/09/07 06:35 PM Filed in: Technology
Hitachi Ltd., based in
Japan, is a diverse company that produces anything
from batteries, lamps, kitchen appliances, power
tools, remote controls, industrial construction
machinery... they'll even remodel your home if you
want them too! They're also the parent company of
Hitachi Automotive Products, which manufactures the
parts for a car I'm sure all of you have heard of:
The Ferrari.
For being a company that produces such a wide variety of products, the first thought that comes to my mind is that they aren't good at any one thing, thus they have to cover all the bases to keep revenue coming in. Just the opposite with Hitachi. All Hitachi products that I know of are top of the line.
It's no surprise, then, that since Hitachi has it's hand in every other production market, it might as well be in the electronics/computer business as well. Let's talk about Hitachi Hard Drives.
Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, and Hitachi are, in my opinion, the "king's" of Hard Drives, external and internal. Since Seagate recently bought out Maxtor, I guess that leaves the race down to three.
I think Seagate has always been the, "Get the biggest drive we can out there as quick as possible!" type. Granted, they're out there selling 400GB and 500GB Hard Drives while the rest are stuck back at 120GB, but the physical mass of a Seagate drive is usually quite a big larger than the other companies... which is logical.
Western Digital is all about a beautiful, sleek external appearance, and "whisper quiet." In general, Western Digital drives have a smaller capacity, smaller physical mass, and smaller price tag. Western Digital is also thought to be the most reliable and most trusted Hard Drive company on the market.
Hitachi Hard Drives aren't quite so common at a store like Best Buy, but that doesn't mean they're not up to par. In fact, most of the time you won't know you have a Hitachi Hard Drive, if you get one. Hitachi, like Western Digital has been known to do occasionally, releases it's drives under another case name. Simply put, it sells the drives to a drive case company and that company basically takes the credit (or heat) for the drive. Hitachi uses a company called SimpleTech most of the time.
Now, for the first time ever, you can buy a Hard Drive with a storage capacity of 1.0TB (Terabyte)! That's 1,000GB, 1,000,000MB, 1,000,000,000KB, or, in case you're curious, 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. There's potential for a lot of binary there...
For $399, you can own a 1.0TB Hard Drive from Hitachi. The first of it's kind, and the first of many to follow, I assure you. The prices should drop fairly quickly as Seagate and Western Digital strive to catch up. The release of the first Terabyte Hard Drive is a BIG DEAL! With everything moving to digital these days, Hard Drives have been the biggest issue. Always too small. Never enough space to fit ALL your programs, ALL your music, and ALL your movies on there. And with applications (and Operating Systems... *gag*) getting larger and becoming more and more of space (and MEMORY *cough*) hogs, bigger Hard Drives are definitely a necessity.
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB SATA Specification:
Capacity: 1TB (1,000GB)
Interface: Serial ATA 3.0GB/s
Rotation Speed: 7200 RPMs
Buffer Size: 32MB
Media Transfer Rate: 1070MB/s
Interface Transfer Rate: 300MB/s
Latency: 4.17ms
Seek Time: 8.5ms
For being a company that produces such a wide variety of products, the first thought that comes to my mind is that they aren't good at any one thing, thus they have to cover all the bases to keep revenue coming in. Just the opposite with Hitachi. All Hitachi products that I know of are top of the line.
It's no surprise, then, that since Hitachi has it's hand in every other production market, it might as well be in the electronics/computer business as well. Let's talk about Hitachi Hard Drives.
Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, and Hitachi are, in my opinion, the "king's" of Hard Drives, external and internal. Since Seagate recently bought out Maxtor, I guess that leaves the race down to three.
I think Seagate has always been the, "Get the biggest drive we can out there as quick as possible!" type. Granted, they're out there selling 400GB and 500GB Hard Drives while the rest are stuck back at 120GB, but the physical mass of a Seagate drive is usually quite a big larger than the other companies... which is logical.
Western Digital is all about a beautiful, sleek external appearance, and "whisper quiet." In general, Western Digital drives have a smaller capacity, smaller physical mass, and smaller price tag. Western Digital is also thought to be the most reliable and most trusted Hard Drive company on the market.
Hitachi Hard Drives aren't quite so common at a store like Best Buy, but that doesn't mean they're not up to par. In fact, most of the time you won't know you have a Hitachi Hard Drive, if you get one. Hitachi, like Western Digital has been known to do occasionally, releases it's drives under another case name. Simply put, it sells the drives to a drive case company and that company basically takes the credit (or heat) for the drive. Hitachi uses a company called SimpleTech most of the time.
Now, for the first time ever, you can buy a Hard Drive with a storage capacity of 1.0TB (Terabyte)! That's 1,000GB, 1,000,000MB, 1,000,000,000KB, or, in case you're curious, 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. There's potential for a lot of binary there...
For $399, you can own a 1.0TB Hard Drive from Hitachi. The first of it's kind, and the first of many to follow, I assure you. The prices should drop fairly quickly as Seagate and Western Digital strive to catch up. The release of the first Terabyte Hard Drive is a BIG DEAL! With everything moving to digital these days, Hard Drives have been the biggest issue. Always too small. Never enough space to fit ALL your programs, ALL your music, and ALL your movies on there. And with applications (and Operating Systems... *gag*) getting larger and becoming more and more of space (and MEMORY *cough*) hogs, bigger Hard Drives are definitely a necessity.
Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB SATA Specification:
Capacity: 1TB (1,000GB)
Interface: Serial ATA 3.0GB/s
Rotation Speed: 7200 RPMs
Buffer Size: 32MB
Media Transfer Rate: 1070MB/s
Interface Transfer Rate: 300MB/s
Latency: 4.17ms
Seek Time: 8.5ms