Laptop HD recommendations

[limeburner]

Hi all,
I am going to get a 2.5" HD & a Fujitsu Dynadisq external USB case: http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/AU/DYNADISQ_Brochure.pdf
,but dont' know what the best option is to get as far as brands are concerned. I am looking at a 5400RPM 80G 8M, so far the choices are Fujitsu ($169), Toshiba ($195) Samsung ($160), WD ($165), Seagate ($185) & Hitachi($185). Any reccomendations for relaibility & performance? I have heard the samsung are pretty good.

[gto-pontiac]

one thing make sure you get the right interface for the HDD, lile ATA or SATA.
but it should be ATA, ok i had a look at the brouchure it ATA.

out of all thoses i would stick with Fujitsu (makes OEM HDD for Apple used to), Toshiba or Hitachi. for the Laptop HDD thire have been in the game for the longest.
i don't recomend Samsung HDDs, i had 3 HDD from Them and all died with in 3 weeks,....

try searching the internet for reviwes.

[limeburner]

Thanks for the tip, i'm leaning towards the Toshiba as it has a 16M buffer, do you think this would improve performance much? Not sure of the Toshiba warranty, but the Fujitsu has a 3 yr warranty which i think is also good.

[anandasim]

I haven't bothered with hard disk warranties much except for one which expired within a few months of desktop use. AFAIK most hard disks from major brands (barring "big mistake" phenoms like one problem with the IBM model) have similar lifetimes. That's assuming that they are not portable and sit always in the computer. But if your hd is in a portable usb case, I think the frequent movement/transport of the hard disk and laying the package onto the table (a.k.a. slapping) will contribute more to failure than anything else.

I am not overly impressed with USB2 comms - no matter how fast the hd is, the USB2 interface seems to transfer quickly for a short burst of say, 1 minute and then you can see the transfer rate slow down markedly. Firewire is said to/seems not to be affected by this.