Sandra. *shudder*

I just got two of the WD JB 80Gig special edition drives ($111 each at Newegg) and put them in a Highpoint RAID 0 array and reinstalled WinXP. It's SO freaking fast it's amazing. Did a couple of tests in Sandra, and it's telling me my array is like 25-30% faster then a 15K U160 SCSI drive.

That's what I call cost effective performance. I'm very happy with my decision!!!!!

I have an 80GB Cuda IV also. Its my first Seagate IDE drive since the days of ATA-33. It's quite speedy and silent too. Its not one of the newer ones with the 8MB cache though.

I'm beginning to seriously question Seagates reliability on the 'Cuda IV. I've had three die at work in the span of two weeks. The machines have a five year warranty on 'em, so I'm not too worried (though I worry about my 80 gig 'cuda at home...)

Originally Posted by groovyone
I await newer Seagate Drives with an 8MB cache...in terms of sound pollution, Seagate Barracudas (IV and V) rock.

Generally speaking WD 800JB are sweet drives and relatively quiet. But I had to take mine out of my SFF system because it was way too noisy compared to the Seagate Barracuda IV. Don\'t get me wrong, it\'s actually quite good but the Seagate is frighteningly silent.

ChangWang, if u reckon the WDs are silent, Seagate's Barracuda IVs will definnitely impress.

I just switched back to IDE from U160 SCSI and picked up a 800JB and 1200JB and I was quite surprised at the speed and noise. True enough they are not X15's, but they will go great in my SB51G or SN41G should Shuttle ever decide to get them out on the market.

I'm buying WD period

HD technology is moving far too slow.

Big bikkies for the company that makes solid-state, fast, high capacity storage cheap n cheerful.

Loie,

storagereview.com has a pretty extensive database where you can compare HD performance among different vendors and models.

I've got a few JBs at home (2x120 and a 100) and quite a few BBs at work (40 - 80), and the speed difference is quite noticable.

I've got an 80gb JB, and it seems to be a hell of a lot faster than my 30gb BB. Both are 7200rpm ATA 100, but the 80gb JB moves big files around so much faster.

I'd like to see TR do a hard drive review! Let's see just how fast JB really is versus BB!

We have dozens upon dozens of computers shops around here and I dont think any carry a JB model under 80 GB.

I guess the reason being that those who buy small capacity HDs are on a stricter budget and wouldnt shell out for a JB anyways.

Methinks the BBs are meant for mass OEM system builders who have to 1) hit a particular price point, 2) not worry about details like 2MB vs 8MB cache and 3) handle their own warranties anyways

Peeps like us who buy OEM drives, getting JBs is the only thing that makes performance, price, and warranty sense

I bought a 800JB a few weeks back and the thing is fast and quiet.

Kudos to Western Digital on this and the JB desicions

40 GB: http://www.pricescan.com/items/item143260.asp
60 GB: http://www.pricescan.com/items/item137617.asp

Originally Posted by dissonance
I\'ve reworked the language to reflect what I\'m seeing as pretty limited JB availability for drives under 80GB. There are only a handful of Pricewatch entries for the smaller JB drives, and I can\'t find a single local place or large retailer that carries them.

D'OH, should be 80GB!

...Only available in sizes of 80Gb or larger?

http://www.gamedude.com.au/hd.html

then what's this then? Or this?

http://www.westerndigital.com/products/products.asp?DriveID=39

AFAIK, the sizes are 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 180, 200GB

But if the price difference is so low, who'd bother with the BB?