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One of my computers failed on me due to a motherboard issue. It will be replaced today.

However my second computer which is the one for eeeeverything (photo editing, video rendering and all the stock stuff) failed on me as well.

I can't replace both computers due to the lack of a raise from SS - lol

OK here is the deal. I need a reliable, SMALL SATA hard drive.

This hard drive will only be used for the OS and not storage. Since my OS drive failed, I can't use my newer computer as the secondary HD is full  

All I need is a small, reliable and preferably dirt cheap HD. Ideally I'd like to pick it up at Staples, Office Max, Office Depot or BestBuy so I can go on with my work today.

Reading reviews of ANY HD shows that some people ALWAYS had a failure within warranty time or just after. Is there a drive that usually quite reliable?

I had a 500GB Seagate that failed and I'm inclined not to get a Seagate anymore.
But online I read from other people that Maxtor and Western Digital suck and they only get Seagate  

What should I do? Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

i've never had a hard drive fail, either IDE or SATA.  But it would be silly to go out of your way to buy old IDE technology thats slow and dated. 

Buy a WD Raptor drive 10K RPM, they are amazingly fast and quiet and I love them.  Got 2, plus 1 TB 7200 RPM, 400 GB 7200 and 320 GB 7200 in my system

Thanks for you responses.

The WD Raptor start at about $130 right?

I can't afford that right now.

How about this one: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-WD3200KSRTL-Caviar-3-5-Inch/dp/B000FBSREU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1280327294&sr=8-1 for $50

It really doesn't have to be 10RPM.

If I could I'd get a nice SSD to be on the fast side... 

Another question about the IDE thing. I doubt that I would go that route but mys system doesn't have IDE ports. I just have a ton of SATA connectors. Would I have to get a converter plug or even a expansion card to get IDE connectors in there? It's a DELL XPS720 (from 2008).

You can use IDE drives by adding a PCI-e card into a free slot that drives a combo of IDE drives or SATA drives, ranging speeds from 4000-15000  rpm.  Costly... but worth the investment.

Patrick.

I am not a techy sort of person, but I have added several internal SATA drives over the years and had good luck with Western Digital.

Here's a well reviewed one for pretty reasonable:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136334&cm_re=sata_hard_drive-_-22-136-334-_-Product

If it's only for the OS+progs, OP doesn't need 500GB. He can have a 160GB one for under 40$. If your system disk is too large, sooner or later you'll get tempted to also store data on it. A hint is also to make a full backup of your clean OS HD after all is installed. Do most with the internet cable unplugged. In case you are plagued by weird locally bred viruses or worms (I do), it's a good practice to reformat every month. From a full backup, restore works like a charm.

@OP: why order online? You'll have to pay at least 8$ extra for the carrier and it will take time. If something goes wrong you'll have to ship it back and forth. HD's are a commodity. Just try a local shop and you'll have it now. If something goes wrong, you can easily bring it back. It's easier to deal with a local shop keeper eye to eye than with a call-center agent in India.

I would go with WD as well.

SATA drives are IDE !?  or do u mean PATA ??

They ALL have the same hardware, the only difference being the electronics (which are very similar).
One uses parallel data transfer, the other serial.

All modern drives are good, but will fail eventually.  It's how you look after them and use them that makes the difference in lifespan

keep them cool (more fans), use second drive as pagefile (swapfile), use UPS to protect system...etc.. 

I have used LaCie, Seagate and Maxtor over the years and haven't had an issue with any of them, though I know I read that some people do. I have only worked on 1 computer (not mine personally, but at my employers) where the internal drive failed and had to be replaced. I think it was a Western Digital.

I think you should go to Staples and get the cheapest thing you can, any one of the big name brands. I got a 1TB Seagate a couple of months back for $120 so I am fairly certain they would have something smaller for about half as much.

Just my 2 cents, probably not even worth that.

Sorry about your computer failures...

Personaly never use LaCie, I heard they are safe (and expensive),
Seagate is another alternative but I had Maxtor that failed on me and lost some data.

Sometimes drives just die.  I've had a WD Raptor die after a few years, yet other ones that are still running fine after 5+ years.  I've also seen drives fail within a few days, and others (I'm thinking specifically about a drive in my kids' computer) that are quite old (and I've been surprised that a drive with a 1 year warranty would still be kicking after 8+ years).  There's an old DG server in our data center at work that's from 1993, and it's 4G SCSI boot drive is still just ticking along.  Keep them cool, give them good power, don't kick them around, and don't flick the power switch on-off-on-off-on-off and they'll stick around for a while. 

If you are PiCi-Windojz fun in first place I suggest you to buy better power supply and UPS.
After that you can play with good mother board, ssd, and graphic cards, etc...


I have Mac dual 1GHZ 8 years old which works like old diesel tractor but at the end off they task work is done.
For some complex tasks it is slow so I have time for moaning on this forum about iStock.