I live far outside Bangkok, and the only 2TB drive I can find is Western Digital's WD20EARS.

According to my research, this drive cannot be used with XP without a special format utility by WD, thanks to a new sector size. Some say it is noisy too.

I've read good things about Seagate's ST32000542AS drive (5900 rpm), and also the Samsung F4 2tb drive (fast).

Seagate builds drives in Thailand, so I think it is just provincial thinking and economics that leads my local retailers to stock only the WD drive.

So I welcome feedback from anyone who uses these drives, to help me decide if I'm still on the right track (trying to get the Seagate and Samsung drives).

If so, can you suggest a reputable retailer in Bangkok who will allow me to order it and have it shipped to me. Too bad that tohome.com and shop4thai do not sell the drives I want either.

Thanks.

I have 2 1TB and 1 2 TB Samsung, never had any problems, forget I have them till reading forums asking about them.

Upcountry,

I run 2 of the WD 2TB hard drives in a raid system that sits less than 3 feet from me and I never hear them running. I run them on a MAc system so I can't tell you how they work with an XP system but overall I have been very happy with them.

David

Invade IT have several types available http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/internal-hard-drives/2-tb/

2Tb Seagate is rather noisy.

But it is not on all the time as it is my backup drive.

It is bubbling away that the moment as I do my weekly backup.

The EARS series has had some problems, may be best to avoid that one.

I've been reading more about the 4k sector issue with EARS. WD may be ahead of the curve in dealing with usable space and error checking, assuming that W7 will take over the world soon.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2888

This means that XP users have to adjust a jumper or use an emulation utility to adapt 512B sectors to 4k. This seems to result in a performance hit.

This makes me start to think harder about moving to W7. I've only got one W7 system right now. I could try to put it on my older systems when I have time (driver issues).

Or, I could format for XP now and reformat later when I'm ready. Getting a 512B sector 2TB drive might not be very future-conscious.

Oh well, transition time.

Thanks for the www.invadeit.co.th suggestion, Crossy. They don't have the Seagate I'm looking for, but it's good to find another source just the same.

About noise, I suppose it depends on the ears and environment, as well as usage (writing vs reading).

-UC