Customer Reviews

Western Digital Caviar Green 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 16 MB Cache, 5400 RPM SATA II WD10EACS

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Apparently the previous reviewer didn't understand this is the bare drive version. Amazon will be happy to sell you the package version of the drive for an additional $20 or so, if you need or want screws or cables.

I put the drive in an Antec MX-1 USB/e-SATA 3.5-Inch Hard Drive Enclosure, then connected to the DVR's eSATA port and rebooted. The process takes a couple of minutes and couldn't be easier.

There is an even better version of this drive out, Western Digital WD10EADS 1TB SATA 32MB Cache Green Power Bulk/OEM Hard Drive. Look for that version instead - it has better speed, and lower power consumption. Tom's Hardware says "We have to advise against getting the first generation Caviar Green drive--the WD10EACS--because the current model WD10EADS is just so much better. ... If you want an efficient drive go for the WD Caviar Green WD10EADS, not the WD10EACS."

After reading G. Hanson's review at Amazon.com on this drive, I decided to give it a try.

So instead of purchasing one of the 'prebuilt' 1TB external drives offered at Amazon, I bought the Antec MX-100 3.5" USB Aluminum Enclosure for SATA Hard Drive along with this drive.

- The hard drive is so quiet that it's almost noiseless.
- It runs smoothly.
- Extremely cool operation.
- This is the OEM version, there are no cables, manuals, cds. Just the bare drive, which is good if you want to save on stuff that you will probably not use.
- I created a single NTFS partition.
- The total capacity after formating on NTFS (XP SP2) is 931.5 GB.
- Highly recommended.

This is a great drive - high capacity and it uses less energy and runs cooler than most competitors drives, especially important because it is used in a multi-drive array.

This is the OEM version of the drive - there is no cable, instructions, mounting screws, etc. included with this drive. If you need those, purchase the Retail drive.

I've had this drive running for one day now, and so far it is very quiet and seems to run cooler than the 500GB Western Digital drive that it replaced. I'm planning to replace my other 500 GB WD drives with this one if it continues to perform well over the next few days.

A word of warning for users of Silicon Image (SIIG) SIi3114 SATA controller cards (and perhaps other SIIG cards). When I first received this 1TB hard drive, I got an error. Although my SIIG 3114 controller recognized the drive (i.e., correctly reported the model number), it did not recognize the size, and my machine would not boot. To cut a long story short, I fixed the problem by downloading the latest BIOS for the SATA controller from SIIG's web site. The latest version is 5.4.0.3. In order to flash the BIOS, I needed to use the DOS version of SIIG's BIOS flashing utility (this is also a download from their web site). It is called UPDFLASH. The Windows version did not work for me (perhaps it had difficulty addressing hardware through the XP kernel).

The above problem was entirely caused by my drive controller being unable to communicate with ANY 1 terabyte drive (not just this model of drive). It in no way reflects on Western Digital or on this drive. I've described the solution in the hope that it will save someone some time.

I chose this drive because I was pleased with Western Digital's responsiveness when any of my four old 500 GB drives failed (and they did fail, but usually when they were new). Through a process of returning failed drives, I ended up with four drives that have now worked reliably for between 18 months and two years. I'm hoping for at least as good service from this 1 TB drive.

UPDATE: I've now had four of these drives running for nine months and one has failed. Hard drive failure is something we should all expect and prepare for, and I was again impressed with Western Digital's efficient and painless procedure for getting the drive replaced under warranty. When the time eventually comes to replace these drives (probably a year or two from now), Western Digital will again be at the top of my list.

I had the Hard Drive about 2 days and had been working on reinstalling all my programs. I got close to the end and then it just died. I tried everything I could think of to make it work and notta. I even tried placing it into another computer.

This is my biggest stress reliever because this drive does what technology is supposed to do - JUST WORK! Guys I am almost 60 and I now have 3 of these drives that I use in my Drobo - the best back-up tool I have ever used for my Mac/VMWare Windows desktop and laptop. This works great for my small business. The drives make no noise and my Drobo is always cool to the touch. I don't have to do anything. These drives are simply plug and work. They just automatically back up both my laptop and desktop (unfortunately the Drobo wireless accessory does not work with Macs yet so I have to plug in the firewire cable into my laptop when I want to back it up but that's all I do). I live overseas and despite my trembling fingers on the first drive I installed into the Drobo - these drives push in like a VCR tape and you've got instant back up and oodles of memory. It sure beats the drives I was continuously buying every few months and wondering what to do because I couldn't afford the RAID and other servers. With the Drobo and Time Machine backup is idiot proof - this basically has your info on two drives in case one drive fails. When I had another drive and it failed within days after the warranty expired, I called the manufacturer and the tech guy said - "You need to reformat your drive. So where's your back up?" - I said "this was my bloody back up." No more pain with these affordable and reliable drives and my Drobo. We have already recovered info because of a mistake syncing data that ended up getting overwritten. I thank the guys at the Apple Store in MD for telling me what to buy and Amazon for having them at a reasonable price.

I purchased one of these to update my available hard drive storage. I had a WD 320gb in the machine and was satisfied that this would be a good choice. A few weeks before I purchased this drive, I purchased a 500gb WD internal drive. Both are in my machine now. I have my Vista os and programs on the 500gb drive and use the 1tb drive for my data files. Both are fine after about six months. I'm pleased with these WD drives. Since they were without instructions and installation hardware, I took them to my computer repair guy and he installed and I feel like I have my "dream machine" now. I can comfortably recommend this drive.

This drive was so easy to install it was unbelievable. I only wish they would include the Serial Cable with the disk drive. I had to buy a cable for it online. If you are replacing a drive, it works great. If not, then you have to buy a cable. I found one online for about $6.00.

Shannon

How quiet? Even though I'm running programs, burning DVDs, doing things I just KNOW is demanding intense hard drive activity, I can't tell the thing is running. It's fast enough for iMovie, iDVD and is a good "replacement" for the stock 320 gb HD that came with my iMAC. Store the old drive somewhere safe in case your iMAC (or, God forbid, this drive) ever crashes so you can replace it before you take your iMAC in for service.

Buy one.