Hitachi TravelStar 5K160 120 GB

Advantages: Quite, low power consumption, high capacity
Disadvantages: Expensive

...I have been using a Hitachi TravelStar for a long time now, I have had not problems with it and I have given it a good run for the price I paid for it. I originally started out with the 80gb model of this hard disk. I had absolutely no problems with it. (I now have the 100gb model as the laptop it was in was broken in a car accident). I had the 80gb model for a year and never gave me any trouble. It was: · Fast · Reliable · Quite · Super low power consumption · Had a quick spin up time · Very quick seek time · Standard 5 year warranty · Very helpful warranty/customer support Hitachi's customer warranty claims support is like no other that I have come across before. You go onto there website, fill out a warrant claim form; package the device (hard disk in my case) in the way they require. Once you have sent it to them... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Great value for money
Disadvantages: Only ATA100

...IBM/Hitachi are very well known for their quality hard drives, well at least up until their 120GXP range which had abnormally high returns rates within a few short months of purchase but thankfully the problems they had with the 120GXP have been ironed out in their 180GXP range. I have had my 120Gb 180GXP for around 5 months now and the only problem I have had with it was last week when it suffered a bad sector that prevented me from booting but was sorted out no problems using Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test utility. I have my hard drive split into 3x40Gb partitions (which I soon regretted due to the amount of data I have). With quick access rates it proves a great drive, especially with its 8Mb of cache and is also fairly quiet which is what most people need these days with them being left running for longer periods of time... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: High speed transfer, power consumption low, quiet
Disadvantages: usual HDD shock issues

...The Hitachi TravelStar is the newly developed model from Hitachi Co. specifically designed for notebooks. It varies in storage capacity, but the important factors are: the rotation speed of 7200 RPM, S-ATA 1.5 GB/s interface, and what Hitachi says "a 22% performance increase". Let's see what are the improvements: -Having tested the model you get a random access time of 14ms which is extremely faster than it's predecessor and it's competitors; -A Sequential Transfer rate of 71.5 MB/s (let me say wow-it's very fast) -It's almost noiseless, you get a 42dB/A idle noise at 3mm distance from the HDD; -and it's power consumption was reduced(in full load it uses 3W and in idle mode only 1.1W), which means it is very economical. -the price is in reach; I think this motivates you in at least trying one... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful