🚀 go-pugleaf

>>    [ ...at some length I said... ]  The *proper*
>>question to ask is, "What is the *most*reliable* 20-40 Meg disk my
>>friend can buy?"  [...as opposed to "what is the cheapest"...]

>     [ ...then ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Piper Keairnes) said...]
>	David, for many people in the world, cost is the most important
>matter regardless of what their needs are. 

	I assert that an *unreliable* hard drive can never be economical
at *any* price.  The agony tales told in this forum testify to that.
See also the recent posting by John Heckendorn of BMUG, where he says:

> In the sense that a hard disk is the heart of a computer, you're best
> off with the best one available.  Besides, over the life span of most
> drives (4 - 5 years) the difference in cost amortizes to something
> much less considerable than a comparison of list prices would lead you
> to believe.

	John, I don't know you but I like your style...

> [Piper goes on...] As far as prices to quality relationships are concerned
> it all depends upon the company that is doing the reselling.... many of the
> products are exactly the same.... just have a different case and label...

True, the drive mechanisms come from very few factories.  However, the
cases, the power supplies, the wiring, the cables and connectors, and
the training and supervision given the assemblers ... all these are
usually different and can have an effect on reliability.  Also, the
vendors' support policies differ widely.  Usable tech support and
liberal return policies are not cheap!  In all these factors, "better"
costs the vendor money and has to be reflected in the price.  

Granted, there are bargains if you have the knowhow, time and luck to
find them.  But the market is so price-competitive, there are so many
vendors chasing buyers who are so price-concious, that the correlation
of price to quality has to be fairly close.  (But let me quickly qualify
that w.r.t. Apple: they have something approaching a captive market for
internal hard drives, and the high price they charge does not have to
reflect quality better than other vendors.  It certainly doesn't reflect
the cost of a better warrantee!)

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