My hard drive.

[Lhadatt]

Western Digitals are good. Check their 8MB buffer Special Edition line. Seagate and Maxtor are also good.

Avoid IBMs, period. They should be out of production now, but there might still be some stock on the market.

[Calliander]

IBM reconfigured their line and now you have Hitachi DeskStar models which are better than even Seagates.

But yeah, if it says "IBM DeskStar" on it, stay away. WD is good above 60 gigs, and even in a situation like yours, Tain, the data may still be recoverable.

When a Maxtor drive goes, it goes down like the WTC Towers. Then you gotta call up one of those data recovery places and pay out the ass to get your data recovered.

I still to this day hear people saying ATI is a shitty video card.

I wouldn't say that ATI cards are bad, but I still think nVidia chipsets are better for games.

I've loved the nVidia chipset ever since the STB Velocity and I76/Daggerfall. Heheh.

[SiKrAiKeN]

I haven't had a problem with my IBM Deskstar (60GB), had it for a year and a half now. They can't -all- be bad.

[JMET]

I wouldn't say that ATI cards are bad, but I still think nVidia chipsets are better for games.

I've loved the nVidia chipset ever since the STB Velocity and I76/Daggerfall. Heheh.

The problem is this, ATI cards are now better performers and at a better price.

I own a Gainward Geforce 4 4200 pro which OC's to 4600 speeds.

I also own an ATI Radeon 9700 pro...

Both are great cards but the ATI just puts out a better picture for everything in general..

[Joust Williams]

Not too long ago, IBM's Deskstars were the fastest IDE drives you could buy...while they worked. That said, I've lost two of them now. Nowadays, a WD JB will beat it.

[GohanX]

If that Western Digital is a retail version, go to their website and get a warranty replacement. Most of their drives have a 3 year warranty and they don't bother checking on receipts. A power surge took out my last hard drive (among other parts) and I had a new, better drive in 3 days.

[gamevet]

If that Western Digital is a retail version, go to their website and get a warranty replacement. Most of their drives have a 3 year warranty and they don't bother checking on receipts. A power surge took out my last hard drive (among other parts) and I had a new, better drive in 3 days.

Might I suggest buying a UPC (Uninterupted Power Supply)? Powerstrips/surge protectors are a joke and rarely keep electricity from burning your goods. I had a power strip melt, from a bad electrical storm. My VCR died about 2 months later and the television 6 months later.

[JMET]

Good thing to tell him about RMA'ing that drive.

And yes, anyone who doesnt not have a UPS is just asking for it.

Hell I run all my consoles through one.

[skelly]

IBM reconfigured their line and now you have Hitachi DeskStar models which are better than even Seagates.

Yep, you can learn this and many other important bits of info by reading www.storagereview.com. Don't even think about buying a new HDD before doing your homework on this site. It's essental.