[Kirkman]

Hi all,

I have a PowerMac G4 MDD with two internal HDs. One of them appears to be going bad. It is making a loud clicking noise that it didn't use to make, and Disk Utility reports an unrepairable error. I can still read and write data off of it, but I have had occasional freeze-ups and my gut tells me the drive will soon be dead.

Anyway, I am thinking now might be the time to replace these 100 GB drives with two new 500 GB drives. I have never bought replacement HDs before, so I am wondering what specs to look for in a drive.

I am seeing some drives feature an 8 MB cache and others with 16 MB. Does this cache provide any significant difference in speed?

Which brands work best for Macs? I see Western Digital, Hitachi, and Seagate as options. Anybody prefer one of these manufacturers (or someone else) based on prior experience?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

--Josh

[livingfortoday]

I recommend Seagates simply based on their longer warranty (5 year vs 3 year on most others). If the price is the same, go with the 16MB over the 8MB, but I seriously doubt you'll notice any difference in speed for day to day use.