HP Personal Media Drive 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive AU183AA HD2000

by HP

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• ASIN: B002LGP3EY
• Item model number: AU183AA#ABA
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 13, 2009

Product Description

The Hewlett Packard AU183AA#ABA 2 TB SATA Hard Drive is fully compatible with PC systems.The Hard Drive connect by: Serial ATA for External utilization. Offering capacity as large as 2 TB

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If you like to gamble, April 16, 2010

By 

Brian S. Monroe (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Personal Media Drive 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive AU183AA HD2000 (Electronics)

I have been an HP customer for years and have never had any problems. That is why I usually do not do any research on their items before I buy them - but that was a mistake with this product. If I had searched I would have found that numerous individuals (including people on HPs own product forums!) are having the same problem: the drive works fine for a few weeks - then the cooling fan screams. The noise indicates that the fan blades are fighting friction and sticking. In time, the motor driving the fan will fail. The drive then will overheat and become a nice paperweight.

HPs solution to this problem is to ship the drive back to them (at your expense) so they can repair it. Unfortunately too many people have done this and either got the same drive back with no work done on it at all, or they had to fight the so-called customer service folks to get a replacement drive shipped out. My own contact with customer service started out this way but I cut them off and told them I wanted a refund. We'll see where that goes.

Is this unreasonable? No. A company that knowingly makes a defective product and sells it to their customers is not a company I want to do business with. This problem has been reported for at least a year. The troubleshooters have already stated that the cooling fan is defective. But the company continues to ship the product. There is no excuse for this. As far as their offer to repair it, I hardly see how they can be trusted to do so. After all, if they can repair this problem why didn't they do this before it left the factory?

The customer service itself is a disaster. They have off-shored it to some location overseas - the staff do not understand English and they a responding from a prepared script rather than actually understanding the problem to begin with. It is incredible that they start by recommending the drive be reformatted or checking the cables when it is obvious that the problem has nothing to do with either: it is the cooling fan. Reformatting the hard drive is pointless.

Some other posts have mentioned that the problem eventually goes away and it might not cause the hard drive to fail. I admit that is possible - but the noise is really terrific. They also suggest running the drive outside of the computer rather than in the drive bay. It makes no difference. Unplugging and replugging the drive does nothing - it will work fine until the cooling fan has to kick in and then it's over.
If I am lucky enough to get my money back it will be my last HP purchase. For those considering buying this item, you're taking a real chance. It might work - it might not.

It's a shame because aside from this problem the product is a very good product. It is simple to use and works in any computer that has a USB 2.0 port. But that's like saying a car is safe to drive provided you leave it in park. Useless.

In summary, if you are into gambling and taking chances, go ahead and buy this item. Maybe you'll be one of the few that has no problems. I don't think it is worth the price and hassle to find out.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars O.K. if you're a techie. Good interface. Plug and play., September 17, 2010

By 

Brian (Garland, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Personal Media Drive 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive AU183AA HD2000 (Electronics)

First of all I'm an electronics engineer so forgive the tech speak. Yes I had two of these with screaming fans. The fans are AD0205DX-K50 20x20x6mm with Hypro bearings. They have one ball bearing and one sleeve bearing; not my favorite. Why HP can't pop a few more dollars for all ball bearings I don't know; it may be a size thing. 2 bb's might be too big for the package. But anyway you can peel the sides off if you're a technie, disassemble the interface module and either replace or re-seat the fan. It's possible that the problem is caused by assembly rather than parts. I pulled mine apart to get the part number of the fan to replace it. A direct replacement costs about $12 in small quantities. A ball-bearing replacement (if you can find one) should be a few dollars more. I couldn't find a replacement easily so I just put the whole thing back together and it hasn't peeped since (but it works). As I said may be an assembly thing.
Interface is plug-and-play, the best kind. You don't have to do anything except choose how to open the drive. If you have only media files Windows will offer to play or show them.
It's not flawless; which it should be since it's HP and they know better. So four stars instead of five. Except for the fan thing I'd give it five stars.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars After one week, Fan noise, February 5, 2010

By 

J. Rafter "Sad HP Owner" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: HP Personal Media Drive 2 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive AU183AA HD2000 (Electronics)

After receiving this product from HP direct, after one week of use the fan started making a loud whining noise. I contacted customer support to find out that they will send me a box, which I have to send my unit back in at my expense. They will not replace the unit, but told me they will repair it, this may take over two weeks. So my brand new drive will now cost me additional shipping charges, plus the time to be without the drive. So since I purchased on 1/15/10, looks like maybe I'll be able to use it on 3/1/10. Maybe I just got a lemon, but this warrantee is unbelievable. Any other store would have just replaced the drive considering I have it just about two weeks. Thanks for the great customer care HP.