Maxtor firewire drive - user reviews

Tanjy wrote on 4/24/2002, 11:07 PM

I found this on CNET. These are not impressive reviews. Only 54% approval?? Maxtor seems to die a lot.
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1092-418-2847665.html?tag=st.co.1092-404-2847665.urev.1092-418-2847665

I'm still looking for Western Digital reviews but was only able to find these 3 for the new 120 gig 7200 rpm drive. Comes at a good price.
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1092-418-8464348.html?tag=st.co.1092-404-8464348.urev.1092-418-8464348

Someone told me that LaCie is quite stable. Is that true?

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 4/25/2002, 9:18 AM

The problem with the Maxtor is the design... or lack of a good one to be more precise. File this under lessons learned. If you want a PORTABLE drive, do not get a Maxtor. If you want only an EXTERNAL drive the Maxtor works fine.

What's that you say, there is a difference between portable and external? You bet. I found out the hard way. I'm not on my 2nd replacement in less than a year.

The problem is if you treat the Maxtor as a portable going from one system to another, probably the main reason you bought it, it will fail. Guaranteed, because it can't take the strain of plugging in and pulling out the power cord no matter how gentle you are. The very cheesy interface card sits right behind the connection inside the case. In time it will fail simply by you adding,removing the power supply. Two have failed on me so far and I'm sure this third drive in time will fail also. As long as you plug it in and forget it, no problem, but that defeats the purpose of buyiing such a drive.

haywire wrote on 4/25/2002, 9:47 AM

I bought three Maxtor 80 Gig firewire drives about nine months ago, plugging and unplugging them on a daily basis, and I have yet to have a failure. As far as I'm concerned, they are the best bang for the buck for mass storage. If you're concerned with the power connector on the drive, unplug it from the wall.

Michael

RichMacDonald wrote on 4/25/2002, 9:52 AM

I got a Maxtor internal IDE and put it into a Pyro fireware box.
When you check the prices, it works out the same as a "native" firewire drive.
Plus, you have some more flexibility if you ever decide to turn another IDE device into a firewire device.

It works fine...except:

1) The boot cycle time is a bit slow, so when you restart, the drive sometimes (1 in 5) comes up too slow to be recognized. Solution: restart again.

2) If the system is idle for a long time (1 in 5 times if untouched for 1 day), the drive sometimes disappears. Solution: restart.

These are not serious problems and I'm happy with the system.

MoBetta wrote on 4/25/2002, 11:31 AM

I posted a a message last week regarding the same issue. My Matrox external worked fine for a short while, following the company's directions for activating / de-activating the drive, BUT now it is acting up: freezes my system, freezes during basic operations within V.V., won't recognize files from that drive and overall just slows down my system. As soon as I operate without the Matrox activated, all is fine... so it is going back and I am replacing with an additional Western Digital internal drive.

What's the point of having an additional drive as a backup (external) if you can't rely on it. Might as well dedicate my additional internal drive strictly for video storage.

ONE QUESTION: Is anyone using the Pioneer PRV-9000 DVD recorder as an (expensive) alternative for storage?

MoBetta

haywire wrote on 4/25/2002, 11:35 AM

2) If the system is idle for a long time (1 in 5 times if untouched for 1 day), the drive sometimes disappears.

Be sure you don't have the drive set to spin down after x minutes. That may make it 'disappear'

Michael