I need help with my next upgrade, I want to buy a reliable 500GB hard drive but I'm having a hard time deciding between these two brands. It will mostly be used to store & edit my photography, also sometimes to make photo dvd's. If other brand please specify the details for choosing it.

I had a WesternDigital Ex-HDD before and it crashed on me. ..

I'm using Maxtor now. So far so good.

Seagate would definitely be my first choice of there (but you'll pay more for it ... I guess you're aware). I've only ever been let down by a seagate drive once (and that was a scsi drive in highly unusual circumstances really), whereas pretty much every other brand will leave you down on a regular basis.

My 2 cents anyway

Seagate

The greatest shopping equation ever discovered.

Moderate to Expensive = Quality(True in most scenarios)

Indeed, really like my two Seagates as well, they're more silent as well too compared to other HD-drives

it is better to buy 2 or 3 smaller HD
If the 500Gb HD crashes then you'll lose a lot of data

well with a 500 GB i surely say buy a HD cooler too.
And i go for Seagate as they are trustfull to me..
WD is also ok ofcourse.

I have good experiences with Seagate, so I'd choose that one

Thanks for all the opinions , they always help. If you're curious to which two models I had in mind here are the links:
http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsa...081,725,00.html
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=214
Any better recommendations welcome.


Which cooler would you recommend ?

well RaidSonic has great coolers.
Hmm or well check this:

http://www.acryan.com/_xtor/ACR-HD4098.shtml

has to wd because its quicker and and more quiet than seagate or any other brand

seagate by far!!

WD , seagate is crap , WD Raptor