WD WD Blue WDBAAX5000ENC-NRSN 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Retail kit

Pros: Easy to install

Cons: It crashed after 6 weeks of use. Have to send it to WD for a repalcement.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD Blue, as this is not the typical experience with the product. It is unfortunate that you have experienced a drive failure, as our drives are all rigorously tested to ensure they are in good working condition before leaving our warehouse. There are many variables that could affect the drives integrity between leaving our warehouses prior to being installed in a computer. We recommend installing and running our Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows (WinDLG) utility for Windows users, or running Disk Utility for Mac users. Information regarding our WinDLG utility and Disk utility can be found at the following link.
How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940
How to test a drive for defects or problems on a Mac
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/866
Regardless of the reason for your drives defect, we stand by our product, and would like to replace your drive for you directly.
How to get an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) or replace a defective product under warranty http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: Purchased for my gaming PC. Only thing I use it for is to save iRacing videos and it works great. My old computer would take several seconds to store the replays; this new computer saves them instantly, there is no delay by the hard drive.

Cons: I cannot think of any. Item works great

Pros: Good capacity, and WD is probably the most reliable hard drive maker left. Read/write speeds are fine. Thorough testing of all the data surface areas showed zero errors on both drives purchased.

Drive failures make for good practice at reinstalling, and configuring, operating systems, etc., in record time.

Cons: Perhaps I've just had the back luck of getting drives from a bad batch, as many others have had a good experience with this model of drive, as most of the other reviews show.

The first drive I bought began, after a few days, making an unpleasant scratching/screeching noise constantly when the computer was running - not merely when the hard drive was seeking or read/writing but ALL the time. Also, the drive hummed/vibrated constantly, making the whole computer case moan. Even with the drive suspended in the case - with no direct contact with any metal part - it was still unacceptably loud. Fortunately, I was able to return it for an exchange, and the second drive, though it has a vibration/hum problem, is not nearly as bad as the first, and so far, it hasn't began screeching... yet. To keep the case from vibrating, though, it was also necessary to suspend the second drive, too.

Both drives checked out fine as far as data surface integrity goes, but quality control seems to be lacking with the motors, and, possibly, the balance of the spinning platters.

Other Thoughts: If these are the best, most reliable mechanical hard drives left after the OTHER big company bought up and shut down the most of the rest of the competition, I fear for the future of magnetic drives.

Prior to the floods which led to the steep rise in hard drive prices, these drives sold for about 40 dollars. I could better accept the poor quality control if prices were still so low...

Having a hard drive fail, after only a few days of use, is quite shocking to me, as is putting up with the hum. I have half a dozen 8+ year old 80 and 120 MB drives that still operate as new; error free and whisper silent and with negligible vibration. What the heck happened to hard drive quality control?

The WD sata drives were bought at a chain store, famous for office supplies, rather than from the 'egg.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD Caviar Blue 500GB, as this is not the typical experience with the product.
Each of our drives is rigorously tested before leaving our warehouses to ensure that they are in good working condition before leaving our warehouses. There are many variables that could amount to a drive emitting unusual sounds when powered on. To test our drives health, we have our Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows (WinDLG) utility, and Mac users can of course use Disk Utility and First Aid. For information on how to use the WinDLG utility, please view the information provided by the following link.
How to tell if the noise or sound the drive is making is normal
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/568
How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940
How to access Disk Utility on a Mac computer
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1362
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: 500 gb hdds last longer than 1tb hdd?
Run cooler
No hangs
Fast
Quiet

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: Since I have replaced many a new 1tb hdd 19 to be exact with these 500 gb in the past 3 years none have come back with problems so that gets me to wondering what up with the terabyte hdds

Pros: Don't know. It was DOA

Cons: DOA

Other Thoughts: The only good news is that I received it fast fast fast!

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD Blue drive, as this is not the typical experience with the product. We are very sorry to hear about the drive arriving in a non-working condition. Western Digital does rigorously test and verify all of our drives, prior to shipping, with burn-in and diagnostic tests. We stand behind our warranty for the duration of the products provided warranty period, and as such, we are here to support our products regardless of the circumstances. We would like to assure you that what you have experienced is extremely abnormal, and replace your device directly, at no further cost to you.
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience, with a positive resolution. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: -500 gigs is all i need, plenty of space
-no problems
-installing was simple
-standard hdd

Cons: !NOTE! does not come sata cable

Pros: Drive runs smooth and quite, a fantastic buy!

Cons: none

Pros: Western Digital is the most reliable HDD company out there.

Cons: You are going to occasionally get a bad. It happens with all computer parts.

Other Thoughts: In regards to the comment that gave it a two eggs stating it failed and had to reformat. If a drive is bad a reformat isn't going to fix it. If you were truly a level 5 tech you would already know this. You occasionally are going to get a bad drive as a quote un quote level 5 tech you should know this as well and it wouldn't have pushed you to give it 2 stars. As an advanced tech you would have installed lots of these drives and know that the fail rate is the lowest with Western Digital. And Seagate has been terrible ever since they bought out Maxtor. Our computer repair shop switched from Seagate to Western Digital over 3 years ago and have had far less DOA drives since.

Pros: it shipped fast from newegg

Cons: it failed after about a week, and needed to be reformated. Thanks.

Other Thoughts: I would have gotten a seagate with more storage, and sata 3, for only a few bucks more.

Pros: Well, I called into tech and they gave me an RMA pretty quickly...

So it'll get 2 stars, all the other WD's I have had worked fine, well one died after a couple years thus this purchase.

Cons: DOA, or not quite. Worked long enough to format and start putting some files on it, then POOF

It vanishes. Not to be seen in Bios or detectable by Win7 at all.

Other Thoughts: I have been through everything, tried every sata connector, updated all drivers, OS re-install...

My other WD HD works fine a\on all the same connectors and it's over 3 years old. As does my DVD player.

Bummer it's dead, the only one I found in town was promptly dropped on the floor by the cashier... So new egg, wait... bad Hdd.