There are some general properties that one looks for in a hard drive I will detail some of them here as well a let you know which brands not to buy.  The first thing to know about hard drives is that they all fail.  hard drives are the only part of a computer that will without a doubt fail, it is only a matter of time.  Always have a backup.  There are certain things that I look for when assessing a hard drive, speed, cache, noise, size, etc.   Please note that in this section I am referring to desktop 3.5 inch hard drives, laptops have different specifications due to their restrictive size and will be covered in the laptop section.

I will start with the speed.  Each drive is listed at a certain rpm, the higher the number the faster the drive generally.  5000rpms is generally considered slow, 7200rpms is median, and 10000rpm is considered fast.  One thing to remember is that anything that spins as fast as this is prone to wear out, and a general rule is that the median drives are reasonable fasts but also reliable.  The faster drives wear out sooner , and the slower drives just slow the whole system down.  Another Drive specification that affects the performance is Cache.   The cache is a fast electronic type of memory that communicates between the motherboard and the hard drive.  More is always better, but also more expensive.  Generally they come with 16MB, more cache will improve hard drive performance, getting a modern drive with less than 16MB is not recommended.  Be sure to find out.

Unbeknownst to most noisy hard drives are not only irritating, they are also problematic.  Noisy hard drives are a sign of bad manufacturing and may fail out of the box, or within the first three months.  Drives that become noisy over a period of time are warning you of imminent failure.  Drives that seem to last the longest in my experience are usually nearly inaudible in a closed case at three to six feet away.  The distance you would generally be when using your computer.

Size of Hard drives is also a factor to consider.  For most 80-160GB is plenty, only those with large media librarys consisting of mostly music and videos will need more.  More is not always better either.  Ultimately they are putting more storage in the same amount of space increasing the chance that a minuscule particle of dust could completely ruin the drive.  Try to get a drive that has enough storage for your use plus some extra, if you need more you can usually add a second hard drive to the system or get an external drive.  Drive failure rates seem to take off above 200GB.

Manufacturing processes change all the time so you should take my recommendations lightly because I only see the results of these changes 3 months to 2 years after they happen.  One rule of thumb is check the length of the warranty.  The manufacturers willing to back their hard drive the longest usually are going to at least be the most reliable.

Hitachi

     Hitachi hard drives really cover the band.  I see most of their drives in laptops, but they do make desktop drives as well.  Hitachi drives tend to be not very noisy, and mid to upper range performers.  Failure rates seem par for the course.  Overall a very middle of the road hard drive maker.  You should not consider yourself to be unlucky to have a Hitachi drive.

Maxtor

     This is a manufacturer I currently try to steer clear of.  Most of their drives, particularly their diamond max series are a disappointment.  The first thing you will note if you purchase one of these drives is that the noise they produce is almost excruciating.  This noise is also a testament to their reliability, these drives fail often.  The next thing you will not about these drives is the speed.  They are middle of the road performers at best.  You would think they would be faster for all the noise.  On the up side Maxtor make replacing a drive under warranty fairly easy.  However Maxtor has now been bought by Hitachi, hopefully this will bring improvements to the Maxor hard drive line after all two heads are better than one.

Quantum

     Quantum is known for very fast hard drives.  Unfortunatly 4 out of 5 of these hard drives that I have come across are failed.  I don’t see a whole lot of these drives as they are not very popular.  I think that that speaks volumes right there.

Seagate

Seagate drives used to be one of my least favorite.  However recently my opinions of them have changed.  They are generally quiet, extremely fast, and most importantly reliable.  The final straw here is the mother of all hard drive warranties.  5 years, I have never even heard of a 3 year warranty on a hard drive let alone 5.  Bottom line is these are outstanding drives, and whats more is they are not particularly expensive either.

Western Digital

Fairly reliable drives not but particularly fast.  Not much to say about Western Digital, a fairly mediocre company. Though i have had quite a few bad drives from them in the past.