Hitachi GST Deskstar 0S03230 3TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Pros: Still hasn't failed. I have been using this drive as a time machine back up for my iMac, and its been on 24/7 since I got it.

Cons: makes more noise than my iMac

Pros: High density, 3TB in one disk!

Cons: You run the risk of losing your data.

Other Thoughts: I bought this drive about 10 months ago. It worked pretty well and fast. Recently had to RMA though due to hard drive clicking. Still though not a bad drive.

Pros: Large disk space

Cons: This was my first Hitachi disk drive purchase, and I haven't been totally happy. The first drive immediately started throwing RAID errors. However, Hitachi has no software to diagnose their 3TB drives (Really!). So it was impossible to tell what was really going on. I RMA'd the drive by their recommendation. The second drive shows similar symptoms. I moved it from my desktop system to my Synology NAS to see if it was the system. It tends to hang my NAS as well. After a long RAID test, it seems to do some sector remapping and work ok for a while, then back to problems.

Other Thoughts: I also have 3 - 2TB Hitachi drives in the same NAS and am totally happy with them. However, without diagnostic software from Hitachi that actually works on 3TB drives, this drive seems to limp along - never getting quite bad enough to have boot problems, but never working quite smoothly as well.

Pros: I ordered 5 of these drives in total (at different times for different sales) over the past year. I am running them in a software RAID on my Linux server.

They provide a ton of space, they're quieter than the fans in my server, and they provide quick transfer rates. I'm running 4 of them in a software RAID 5 and I'm getting 120MB/s transfer rates from the array. Good enough for my use case.

Cons: Haven't run into any yet!

Other Thoughts: According to Gnome Disk Utility, these are actually 5700 RPM drives, not 5400 RPM as NewEgg's specs claim.

Pros: Worked okay for about ten months.

Cons: Died after ten months.

Pros: It's big. It's fast! And it uses standards!!!
After a decade using Hitachi drives, they are consistent performers. Looking forward to another quality experience.

Cons: The over 2 TB issue has been a pain; OS, controller and such need to be carefully evaluated. Don't expect to drop into your PS or connect t your old USB to SATA cable and get access. Also, due to size, things (like format, RAID build) can take a while (hours, days...). Also, the RAID manager is a bit odd and takes a little while to get the hang of.

Other Thoughts: During shakedown I tried a lot of things that did not work. Ultimately, a quality (not expensive) SATA card and Linux were the way to go. Even then the Motherboard freaked on the storage system and the OS wanted to put the boot track on the larger drives... As with any new technology, plan to play with it for a while before putting into service.

Hitachi: Give the SSDs a run and pull out all the performance stops. Multiple parallel read logic, larger cache and inline crypto are great differentiating features.

Pros: None

Cons: No advance replacement, all other HDD manufactures offer advance replacement but not HGST.

Other Thoughts: Will never buy another HGST/Hitachi.

Pros: Tons of room.

Cons: Cannot use all 3TB as a boot drive! Make sure you know this before you buy it.

Other Thoughts: The HDD prices are still out of control, I bougt a similar drive early last year for barely over $100. Are the HDD manufacturers deliberately keeping prices high as a gouge or to drive people to pay the extra for an SSD?

Pros: Nothing. They don't run that cool and they aren't that quiet.

Cons: Purchased 5 of these and within a year, two have gone bad.

Other Thoughts: Light usage on Windows Media Center.

Manufacturer Response:

I'm sorry to read of your drive experience. Please contact the Technical Support Center with the serial number of the drive, so that we can further explore this issue with you. Please let us know that you are responding to a Newegg review. Thank you.

http://www.hitachigst.com/contact_support

Hitachi Technical Support Center

M-F 8AM to 6PM PST at 1.888.426.5214

Pros: $119.99 when I got it... GREAT PRICE!
I've owned this drive since 6/9/2011 and it streams media to my a110-pch's on a daily basis for myself, wife and kid (often simultaneosly). I've had ZERO issues with this.
I've even had it make a couple 3 feet drops off my desk switching between machines.

Cons: Price has Gone Up.

Other Thoughts: I'd buy more of these if the price dropped back below $120.
They would be perfect for my home-built nas.

Also, I've used this drive in and out of a SATA docking unit for a couple months without any issues there either.