[BC] Comparing computers & parts

[Kevin Tekel]

Willie wrote:
> Interesting! I thought it was Seagate? I remember they were *the* HD
> manufaturer back in the day when 20 megs was "The Cat's Meow". ;)
> I remember reformatting from MFM to RLL and getting 50% more space,
> and thinking "Wow!" ;) Now, of course, a 30 meg drive is nothing more
> than a doorstop!

Western Digital was IBM's OEM for hard drive controller boards in the
PC-AT, and they co-developed the IDE interface.  When WD was introducing
their very well-regarded line of "Caviar" IDE drives in the early '90s,
Seagate was mostly focusing on SCSI, and really dragged their feet in
terms of getting Seagate IDE drives on the market.  But WD's quality took
a stumble when they introduced a line of failure-prone "budget" drives in
the late '90s, and since then it seems like they've always focused more on
price than on quality.

Oh, and remember MiniScribe?  Yikes, their drives were horrid -- slow,
NOISY, and poorly constructed.  Even brand new, they were loaded with bad
sectors.  But MiniScribe was among the first to have affordable 3½" hard
drives on the market, so they were popular... until they got caught
cooking their books and went bankrupt.  Maxtor bought out MiniScribe, then
they bought out Quantum, and then Seagate bought out Maxtor... so you can
say there's a little bit of MiniScribe in Seagate today -- but thankfully
it hasn't shown in the quality of their products!

p.s. And as for building your own computer... I've learned from experience
to be wary of the stuff you find at computer shows.  Most of it is no-name
Chinese-made garbage, and even the name-brand stuff can easily be a
counterfeit instead of the real thing.  These days I just go to computer
shows to laugh at the Chinese ripoffs and to scavenge for good used
equipment.  I've seen them selling "Creative Lab" sound cards -- no "s"!



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