Firewire Drive as Scratch Disk

EG
Posted By
Ed_Gerson
Sep 3, 2006
Views
202
Replies
4
Status
Closed
I’ve used Maxtor 3.5" HD’s mostly. (The case said Maxtors, the HD inside said Toshiba).

Anybody got any specific experience one way or the other with Western Digital’s HD’s? How do they compare, reliability, speed, cost, support?

Lots of WD stuff out there now I noticed. – Ed
Related Tags
disk drive firewire scratch

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

B
Buko
Sep 3, 2006
WD’s have the worst record of all drives.

I wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole.

Stick with Seagate.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Sep 3, 2006
WDs also have a very short warranty period — which should tell you all you need to know … .
H
halinsalem
Sep 3, 2006
This has been a question that the experts have argued about since the first hard drive was put in a computer. Personally, I NEVER put any component to SLEEP. It is either On or OFF. I leave my Mac and the external HD connected to it ON 24/7, but I turn the monitor off when I quit for the day. Like Ramon, I once lost a Maxtor external HD, but in 20 years that is the only HD I have had fail me. I turn my Windows PC off when it is not being used, but that is because it does not get used as much as the Mac. I personally believe that the consistent cooling down and heating up is more apt to damage the chips on the motherboard than it is the hard drives.

My son-in-law, who is an electronic engineer working for the past 20 years in R&D for a major electronics company always turns off his computer when he is not using it, unless he expects to come back within two or three hours – but overnight, it is OFF. If he isn’t an expert, I don’t know who is.

The experts do not agree, so my advice is: do what YOU feel most comfortable with! Personally, I do not like the "Sleep" status and thus I do not use it, but I certainly am not going to advise anyone else to practice that.
AS
Ann_Shelbourne
Sep 3, 2006
I have sleep set to "NEVER" for the Computer and HDs but I do turn my computer off every night.

I run Cocktail last thing and have it set to "Shut Down" the computer when it has finished its tasks.

On the other hand my monitor is set to "Sleep" after an hour of inactivity.

This routine may be what has made this G5 the most trouble-free computer that I have ever owned.

How to Improve Photoshop Performance

Learn how to optimize Photoshop for maximum speed, troubleshoot common issues, and keep your projects organized so that you can work faster than ever before!

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections