Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1001FALS
by Western Digital
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List Price: Our Price: $151.21 You Save: $18.78 (11%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1001FALS
Customer Review: Black Caviar of Drives
Summary: 5 Stars
A very good drive (I bought it from [...]) and an excelent value for the money. I added it to my DELL XPS410 because I was running out of space. Since I have an aftermarket Power & Cooling PSU, I had plenty of extra power connections. What I didn't keep in mind, unfortunately, was that this is an OEM drive, meaning it doesn't come with anything (like a SATA cable). I bought the SATA cable separately and was on my way... (After installing, for all you newbies out there, if you can't see the drive, it usually means you have to enable that particular SATA location in BIOS menu.)
I must also mention that my DELL had nice L-shaped SATA connectors that didn't stick out too far (since my drives are located perpendicular to the tower that is an issue) but the one I bought is a I-shaped connector taking up more space (not a problem for me, since one of my tower panels are permanently off.)
PACKAGING: I've read a bunch of bad reviews that Amazon has bad packaging of this particular product. Other products from Amazon I recieved had similar packaging: a big bubble on one side of a product. For books and yo-yo's that may be alright, for electronics that is obviously too little protection. My drive (from [...]) arrived taped several times around in bubble-wrap (the small veriety) so that when I made a mistake of dropping it at the beginning, it just bounced up like a basketball and amazingly IT STILL WORKS FINE (it's been more than 6 months)!
For the price IMO this drive cannot be beat! You will do good to buy it.
Customer Review: So Pleased with One - I Bought a Bunch of Them!
Summary: 5 Stars
Great drive! Fast! Quiet! Just plug & go! Incredible noticeable performance difference compared to original Dell stock drive.
I have over several hundred thousand personal files on my computer--over and above Windows, installed software, installation backups. I have 150+ GB mp3 files, pictures, etc. One thing I want to avoid at all costs is losing a hard drive. I researched & found this to be the best on the market when I bought it. I was so pleased I bought another, then another, then.... With few exceptions, I believe Amazon has the best prices for these.
Using two drives, I have a backup strategy using Acronis True Image Home 2009 and Microsoft SyncToy 2.1 in which I periodically clone one WD 1TB drive to another. I then keep them in sync using SyncToy. The time & effort is negligible. They are easily scheduled. Cloning takes only about 45 minutes, if that. I like this better than a RAID setup. The configuration is simpler and a failure will be easier to recover from--just change the SATA cable. Besides, RAID in no way prevents the spread of viruses, spyware or malware across several drives. It duplicates everything!
These drives were a great choice!
UPDATE: So far I have bought and installed seven of these for myself and others: 5 1TB, 1 750 GB, and 1 640 GB.
Also, I bought two drives from other vendors, thinking I was getting a bargain. They arrived DOA. I personally think Amazon's packing & shipping makes a difference. They were always packed well-protected.
Customer Review: So far these drives are great!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have gotten two of these drives so far. I did not get them at the same time. One was for a new computer build back in january of 2009. Another one was bought in july of 2009. The other drive was for a security system DVR. So far i have not seen any problems with these drives. I am not really sure what happened with other people and failing drives. Also these drives are not as loud as people are saying they are. They probaly installed incorrectly and are loose shaking around in the computer case. Mine are installed in a coolermaster haf932 case. The packaging that both drives came in were in great condition with a box inside of a box. The hard drive came in a smaller box filled with foam padding that let little to no rattling around while in shipment. So people that got drives with poor packaging. Also, not really sure what they are talking about either. My drives were bought with a pretty big space between them and both came the same exact way in which they should ship drives. Maybe it is caused by which warehouse they are coming out of. Not sure. I would like to know what western digital says about the warranty for these drives tho since they are OEM. If i ever have a problem within 5 years and western digital says contact the OEM dealer. I am coming right back to amazon.com and they better replace a bad drive. Other than that, these drives are great. I am thinking on getting another one because my other one is filling up quick with back-up's of windows vista ultimate edition 64 bit.Customer Review: New arrival running fine
Summary: 4 Stars
I have been evaluating 1TB hard drives to replace a failed RAID array. I had just bought a WD Green 1TB drive, but it was DOA. I returned it to Amazon without problems. Then I started reading a lot of reviews online.
The decision came down to a Samsung Spinpoint F1 or a WD Caviar Black 1TB. [[[***Note to those of you looking for hard drives for RAIDs, Drobo, or constant, heavy use: WD Blue label drives and Green label drives are not specifically certified for RAID-type use. The WD Black label isn't, either; but note that it has a 5-year warranty instead of the usual 3-year standard drive warranty. There was conflicting warranty information about the Samsung drive (though it is RAID-certified); some sites said three years, others five.***]]]
The WD drive so far: quiet, fast. I've had a few WD drives fail, but overall, WD still is my favorite for reliability and quality, as well as problem-free operation. And this drive features a 5-year warranty. . .seems worth your consideration for that rare feature alone!
A caveat to Amazon: I'm not impressed with the packaging on this drive or the DOA drive I received several weeks ago. Two bubble bags are not sufficient to immobilize the product in the shipping box. Granted, the drive heads should be parked after manufacture to prevent platter damage, but I don't think the product getting slammed around more than it needs to inside the box does it any good. Please pack hard drives better, Amazon!
Customer Review: Nothing wrong with the drive, but packaging was laughable
Summary: 4 Stars
The quality of this drive is already well documented so I can't add much there. I had to initialize and format it over a USB port in order for Vista to recognize it on the eSATA port, but that's a Vista issue, and could be there was an easier way to go about it that I just didn't know.
I did want to add some comments on the packaging. I was expecting to get something similar to the photos and descriptions others have left, but what I got was a little worse, a little better. I ordered mine through Tiger Direct (via Amazon) and received it in an oversized box, loose, simply wrapped in a single sheet of craft paper. No styrofoam, no bubble wrap, no anchoring blocks. Just a piece of paper.
In fairness, though, the unit was not just loose in a static-bag as some of the reviewers' photos show -- mine came in one of those hard plastic clamshell covers that you can only open with like a razor knife or poultry scissors. On the top and bottom the case did have kind of a double walled conctruction, ostensibly to provide shock protection. I don't know how much, if any, additional protection this really provided vs the bag-only shipments people have gotten from other sources. The drive was functioning and shows no errors, but it does have me wondering if it was compromised in any way. My recommendation would be to either spend the nominal extra $ to order a retail unit and consider it a packaging, insurance, and peace of mind fee.