Yes, Seagate drives are slower than equivalent Maxtor and WD drives, that is to say if Maxtor's and WD's 7200RPM drives have an 8.4ms read/write time, Seagate's 7200RPM drives have an 8.9ms read/write time. However, they have a reputation for being quieter and more reliable.

At the time I bought my hard drives, first an IBM 60GXP (came out after the 75GXP, a bit more reliable, but still known to crash and burn *not literally burn*) then my Seagate Barracuda IV, they were both considered "the best" by techies at the time. Within 2 months of buying the IBM drives, all the nerds were complaining about how unreliable they were, though statistically they weren't as bad as the 75GXP series. Within 2 months of buying the Barracuda IV, WD's Special Edition series came out and those seem to be the cat's jammies lately.

So in other words, **** it. Let the tech nerds argue over which computer peripherals are best. I spent a few months following "the buzz" and all it got me was a sub-par mobo and an IBM drive that may crash on me one day. *knocks on wood*

But the reason I posted was to say avoid IBM hard drives. They once were the best, but lately (past two years) things have gotten sketchy.