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Luckily I have it installed in a Drobo. However, this is the first Seagate drive failure I've ever had. Good drive up to the point that it broke. So I had no data loss.
I'm thinking one of the WD Green drives might be a better option for a passively cooled external hard drive enclosure. For an internal system though, I fully recommend this one.While louder than some drives, the noise on these things isn't that bad; I for one kind of like hearing when it is reading/writing. I don't think it gets nearly hot enough to hurt the drive or the enclosure even on a hot day, but it does get noticeably toasty. No bad sectors, no weird noises, just a reliable workhorse.I picked up a second one for an external hard drive, but though I'm thinking maybe that was a mistake. The drive is fine, a tad hot and makes some noise, but I've had no issues. A pretty standard drive, I've had one of these in my main machine for over a year now. I treat my stuff kind of hard sometimes and it takes it all in stride. Sometimes I'll run a fan across the enclosure to drop the temp a little.
Clicks started up again and finally the OS (XP Pro) got incredibly slow due to the number of necessary re-reads (and presumably re-writes). I ran some deep scans and several sectors were found to be defective (though the data was recovered). It was still under warranty, so it's heading back to Seagate.I usually have very good luck with Seagate, so hopefully this one was just an anomaly. I had a ST3500630AS in a well cooled Antec case. The drive started with the "click of death" about 12 months after I installed it. Replaced the drive and did a successful disk clone and now the system is MUCH faster (lending credence to the theory that that slowness was due to the ST3500630AS starting to fail).
It came in an anti-static bag and lodged between two custom plastic pieces to keep it from moving around in the box. It was easy to install and works perfectly. This hard drive worked out perfectly for my Netgear RND2150 ReadyNAS Duo 500 GB Desktop Network Attached Storage. You will need to buy some mounting screws though to install it in the ReadyNAS Duo. The packaging was also excellent.
I could feel it sliding around which had me a bit worried. I've purchased 30-40 HDs in the past for my PCs and friends PC's which I helped put together and I've never had any serious problems with any of the brands including Maxtor, Fujitsu, Quantum, WD, Hitachi and Seagate. The Seagate I recently purchased, came directly from Amazon and it was shipped in a sort of loose fashion, inside the box. Probably the brand most often mentioned is Maxtor, but I've never had any big problems with any of them. However, it's working fine and I havent had any problems with it. Amazon now has some of the best prices for increasing amounts of PC hardware and musical instrument items, which they werent that competitive with in the past.
It did not come with any cables, mounting rails or screws. Now, with their low prices and free shipping, its my preferred source for many PC parts and an increasing number of other products. I did have a warranty replacement issue with WD when they recalled several HD models eons ago. I tend to buy Seagates due to their 5 year warranties though I've never had to take advantage of it. Theres always been a group of people who rabidly bash one brand or another, including Seagate. Their service was fantastic, they cross shipped the drive and they were very quick in their response.
The HD I bought was an OEM drive. I've also received a WD hard disk from Amazon a week ago. At the moment 500GB - 1 TB drives are selling at very good prices. Maxtor is now owned by Seagate so even if you didnt like them in the past, they may be different now though, like I mentioned --- I've never had problems with them even in the pre-Seagate takeover, days. It came with only the drive in a bag and the usual adequate packing.
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