If I was alone in experiencing high failure rates amongst maxtors, I wouldn't have posted. Lots of friends and colleuages of mine who also do what I do also experience the same. Plus, I experienced the higher filaure rates when I worked at a local vendor that sold ALOT of hard drives. Not to mention, Im not the only one here on slashdot who's experience higher failure rates amongst maxtors.
If I was alone on this issue, I wouldn't have posted. But Im pretty sure Im not alone here
So in other words, your summary might as well just have said:
"This guy seems to hate Maxtor for no reason, and this guy just feels like telling an anecdote about some sob-story he had with a Maxtor"
The truth of the matter is, personally, I dont use Maxtors much (at all), so my experience with a Maxtor drive screwing me personally has been non-existent (in general, Ive been lucky with hard drives). I have no personal gripe with Maxtor. If anything, failed hard drives end up making me more money, because I'm the one many people call to fix/replace said hard drive. And honestly, I dont give a crap. If a hard drive fails more than another - fine, whatever, it's money in my pocket. However, I have a moral obligation to my customers to recommend the best and most reliable products, so based on my experience, completely un-founded or not, I don't recommend Maxtor. Simple as that. And there's nothing you can do to change that.
But I'm going to have to pull the trump card here, and say that from the looks of it, I'm definately not alone in the slashdot community.
First of all, as I already replied to the specific person, my experiences do factor in sales numbers. Like on of the other users here, I've done bulk-purchases of computers for companies, and I've seen high failure rates when Maxtor drives are being used.
And this does not suprise me that so many other people here also concur to my statements. Almost every tech I've talked to has confirmed that they replace a lot more maxtors than any other drive.
If I get a service call for a flaky hard drive, I can count on that approx. 80% of the time, it's a maxtor.
Ive worked as a tech for 10 years now, and for every 1 problem I've seen with a Seagate or Western Digital, I see 3 problems with a Maxtor. Both in retail sales and repair, I've just seen too many problems with Maxtor's over the years. They fail about 3x as much as any other brand.
I know there's people out there who have had problems with all the brands, but overall in tens of thousands of drives I've sold or replaced, the majority of those are Maxtors. A few collueages of mine who also have been doing PC repair for 10+ years also have had the same bad luck with Maxtors.
This doesn't really suprise me. Although none of my clients' machines will be affected by this, as I haven't put a maxtor in a machine for god knows how long.
You are certainly mistaken. Since when was vista supposed to be released in 2003? It was vaporware at that time (besides the codename 'Longhorn', virtually nothing was known about it). XP was just starting to mature, so what would make you think they were wanting Vista our in '03/04???
Vista was supposed to be released sometime this year (likely fall), but nothing concrete was set to begin with. It's 'late' by Microsoft's original estimations, but that's about it. Also, from day 1 Microsoft (Bill Gates) said Vista wouldn't be released until it is 'fully ready', so by that indication, nobody should have been relying on any original release estimates or expectations.
I'm a windows user through and through, and this is the first Microsoft OS in a while that just doesn't excite me at all. There's just isn't the usual 2 or 3 slam-dunk features which sell me on the OS.
-I don't need a spanky, glossy interface.
-I don't need windows popping up all the time telling me something is making a minor change to my OS.
-Some of the minor features like System Volume Shadow Copy service is nice for some of the computers in my office for backing up of 'always-used' files, but for Joe windows user, I don't even think they'll know what it is or how to turn it on.
I will be very interested to see how successful vista is. Besides a bit of a cleaner and better UI, there just isn't anything to sell me, or anyone, on vista.
This is fine for a system enthusiast, but remember 90% of computer users out there no little about the computer they are using.
This is why *nix won't work, unless it has an ultra-shiny, no hassle experience like a Mac. I have yet to find a *nix distro that not only is compatible with most 3rd party programs out there, like games, which is a large segment of the market right there, but will also run, and install devices with minimal hassle. Yes, windows has its downfalls, but for the most part someone with basic driver knowledge can install something. That's a negatory on *nix, IF there are even suitable drivers in existence for the device to begin with.
*nix just isn't a viable option for the average joe. *nix can do ALOT of things that windows can't, and better, but on the flip side Windows can do alot of things that *nix can't, like games.
I have yet to find a distro that to operate it and manage it to a respectable level, doesn't need CLI knowledge. There are some distros that are coming close, but lets not forget that half of the point of *nix is the power and control of the CLI.
Im not one of the html coders. Belive it or not, not everyone on this planet knows html. Im one of the network admins who does alot of server admin and desktop support (and a variety of other misc stuff).
We are an internet company of about 30 employee's total. We publish alot of information out on the net, mainly medical (interactive demonstrations, etc). Here how it all chops down as far as the technical side goes.
-2 Network Admins (1 for most server and back-end stuff, the other for desktop support and some server administration (email, etc))
-2 Graphic Designers
-4 Animators (we do alot of animations and such)
-2 Developers (XML and database programmers)
-1 Java Programmer
-2 Audio editors.
Non-technical
-2 Project managers
-1 Senior project manager (has a bit of oversight on all projects)
-1 Chief Technical officer (final say on all technical matters)
-Other (accounting, CEO, reception, etc)
Slashdot Mirror
If I was alone in experiencing high failure rates amongst maxtors, I wouldn't have posted. Lots of friends and colleuages of mine who also do what I do also experience the same. Plus, I experienced the higher filaure rates when I worked at a local vendor that sold ALOT of hard drives. Not to mention, Im not the only one here on slashdot who's experience higher failure rates amongst maxtors.
If I was alone on this issue, I wouldn't have posted. But Im pretty sure Im not alone here
So in other words, your summary might as well just have said:
"This guy seems to hate Maxtor for no reason, and this guy just feels like telling an anecdote about some sob-story he had with a Maxtor"
The truth of the matter is, personally, I dont use Maxtors much (at all), so my experience with a Maxtor drive screwing me personally has been non-existent (in general, Ive been lucky with hard drives). I have no personal gripe with Maxtor. If anything, failed hard drives end up making me more money, because I'm the one many people call to fix/replace said hard drive. And honestly, I dont give a crap. If a hard drive fails more than another - fine, whatever, it's money in my pocket. However, I have a moral obligation to my customers to recommend the best and most reliable products, so based on my experience, completely un-founded or not, I don't recommend Maxtor. Simple as that. And there's nothing you can do to change that.
But I'm going to have to pull the trump card here, and say that from the looks of it, I'm definately not alone in the slashdot community.
First of all, as I already replied to the specific person, my experiences do factor in sales numbers. Like on of the other users here, I've done bulk-purchases of computers for companies, and I've seen high failure rates when Maxtor drives are being used.
And this does not suprise me that so many other people here also concur to my statements. Almost every tech I've talked to has confirmed that they replace a lot more maxtors than any other drive.
If I get a service call for a flaky hard drive, I can count on that approx. 80% of the time, it's a maxtor.
This IS in comparison to the SALES numbers.
Ive worked as a tech for 10 years now, and for every 1 problem I've seen with a Seagate or Western Digital, I see 3 problems with a Maxtor. Both in retail sales and repair, I've just seen too many problems with Maxtor's over the years. They fail about 3x as much as any other brand.
I know there's people out there who have had problems with all the brands, but overall in tens of thousands of drives I've sold or replaced, the majority of those are Maxtors. A few collueages of mine who also have been doing PC repair for 10+ years also have had the same bad luck with Maxtors.
This doesn't really suprise me. Although none of my clients' machines will be affected by this, as I haven't put a maxtor in a machine for god knows how long.
You are certainly mistaken. Since when was vista supposed to be released in 2003? It was vaporware at that time (besides the codename 'Longhorn', virtually nothing was known about it). XP was just starting to mature, so what would make you think they were wanting Vista our in '03/04???
Vista was supposed to be released sometime this year (likely fall), but nothing concrete was set to begin with. It's 'late' by Microsoft's original estimations, but that's about it. Also, from day 1 Microsoft (Bill Gates) said Vista wouldn't be released until it is 'fully ready', so by that indication, nobody should have been relying on any original release estimates or expectations.
It's a bit of a stretch calling it 'late' as-is.
I'm a windows user through and through, and this is the first Microsoft OS in a while that just doesn't excite me at all. There's just isn't the usual 2 or 3 slam-dunk features which sell me on the OS.
-I don't need a spanky, glossy interface.
-I don't need windows popping up all the time telling me something is making a minor change to my OS.
-Some of the minor features like System Volume Shadow Copy service is nice for some of the computers in my office for backing up of 'always-used' files, but for Joe windows user, I don't even think they'll know what it is or how to turn it on.
I will be very interested to see how successful vista is. Besides a bit of a cleaner and better UI, there just isn't anything to sell me, or anyone, on vista.
This is fine for a system enthusiast, but remember 90% of computer users out there no little about the computer they are using.
This is why *nix won't work, unless it has an ultra-shiny, no hassle experience like a Mac. I have yet to find a *nix distro that not only is compatible with most 3rd party programs out there, like games, which is a large segment of the market right there, but will also run, and install devices with minimal hassle. Yes, windows has its downfalls, but for the most part someone with basic driver knowledge can install something. That's a negatory on *nix, IF there are even suitable drivers in existence for the device to begin with.
*nix just isn't a viable option for the average joe. *nix can do ALOT of things that windows can't, and better, but on the flip side Windows can do alot of things that *nix can't, like games.
I have yet to find a distro that to operate it and manage it to a respectable level, doesn't need CLI knowledge. There are some distros that are coming close, but lets not forget that half of the point of *nix is the power and control of the CLI.
Im not one of the html coders. Belive it or not, not everyone on this planet knows html. Im one of the network admins who does alot of server admin and desktop support (and a variety of other misc stuff).
We are an internet company of about 30 employee's total. We publish alot of information out on the net, mainly medical (interactive demonstrations, etc). Here how it all chops down as far as the technical side goes. -2 Network Admins (1 for most server and back-end stuff, the other for desktop support and some server administration (email, etc)) -2 Graphic Designers -4 Animators (we do alot of animations and such) -2 Developers (XML and database programmers) -1 Java Programmer -2 Audio editors. Non-technical -2 Project managers -1 Senior project manager (has a bit of oversight on all projects) -1 Chief Technical officer (final say on all technical matters) -Other (accounting, CEO, reception, etc)