Hard drives - Seagate, WD, Buffalo

I'm building my own external hard drive, so I'm trying to find a quality hard drive that has been known to be reliable. I'm looking into Seagate, Western Digital and Buffalo hard drives, but all the reviews I've been reading are flip-flopping between which of the three is the best.

I'll read some WD reviews that say WD suck and Seagate is better, while reviews on other HDD models say the opposite.

I'm looking for a HDD that is 250 GB to 320 GB and 5400-7200 rpm (7200 preferred).

Any suggestions from personal experience of owning a brand for several years?

 

I think Seagate offers a 5-year warranty on most of their drives.
But I like Hitachi and WD, though Seagates tend to be cheaper, because I read (here), that they are manufactured in China, whereas other drivers are manufactured in Thailand/Korea etc.
3.5" or 2.5" ?
USB/FireWire/eSATA ?

 

Cheap doesn't necessarily mean better... so I am willing to spend a little more $ to get a better HDD. Are HDD manufactured in Korea/Thailand better than others

Right now 2.5" or 3.5" doesn't really matter to me - just as long as I get a reliable, quality HDD.

Both Seagate and WD seem so wonderful at times, but then also so bad.

I've never thought about Hitachi - are they reliable? Ever hear anything about Buffalo technology?

 

Seagate drives are good. But I have never bought one. I like Hitachi, and I am a recent WD fan.

I believe I got a USB enclosure alongwith the Hitachi 7K200 Retail Kit.

All HDDs are prone to damage, and all 3 companies provide good after-sales support.

Buffalo - only seen Retail, assembled external Hard drives.

What interface - USB/firewire/esata ?

 

My dell inspiron 1520 laptop supports USB 2.0 and Firewire (1394a - the 4 pin type).

In case it's needed, my OS is Windows XP

 

I believe seagates are the best out of all of them. I used to be a western digital fan until both of my drives died in the span of a month.

I believe its cheaper to buy a pre-made external hard drive

 

If you can find a cheap deal, on an assembled external drive with Firewire support, then go for it.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=469
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=371

Else, you can buy a Seagate 5400.5 or a Hitachi 5K320 (250/320GB), and buy an enclosure such as this and provide power via USB.

 

Tough to beat the price, but who knows how low they'll go. I've had two Seagate drive in a row. Both have been fast and quiet, though your mileage may vary. People get worked up over the specs, but in real world performance they'll all be similar. Seagate does offer a free copy of DiscWizard which is a limited copy of True Image. It's a nice backup utility if you don't need anything fancy.

Link

 

I've always used Western Digital hard drives for my desktop builds. Quiet and very reliable. Hitachi is also a dependable brand. I have an external Seagate FreeAgent Pro and so far it works wonderfully. If it'll continue working for a full year and many years after that, then i'll know for sure.

 

I was going to get pre-made, but I can get great discounts on hard drives, enclosures, etc that making my own is actually quite cheaper.

I was leaning towards Seagates because of the 5 year warranty, but I've read in reviews that the customer service in replacing drives through the warranty are very problematic.

Is it true that 7200 rpm HDD require an external power source?