Western Digital WD Green WD5000AZRX 500GB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Pros: Great Drive, bought three of these drives two for my kids machines and a one for a data backup. Drives are nice and fast for being the green setup, very quite which is great since the kids leave the machine on a lot also another reason for wanting the green drive.

Cons: not the fastest thing out there but speed is not a big thing when buying a green type drive.

Pros: I ordered this to replace my sisters failing hard drive almost a year ago and it's still running strong.

Cons: nothing really

Pros: this is a nice drive, I got it for a main drive (oops, did get the difference between green and blue at the time) but I have not had trouble from it yet (3 months). I am thinking about getting a wd blue just incase the green isn't made for it.

Cons: no problems yet

Other Thoughts: wanting to get a WD blue to use as a main drive instead.

Pros: I worked. I have had no problems. 64 cache. It's quiet.

Cons: My pc shows only 465gb, not 500gb, but this is no big deal.

Pros: First "Green" HDD I have purchased. OS loaded without any hiccups. With 64MB of cache and SATA 6.0Gb/s makes loading programs a breeze.

Cons: N/A

Other Thoughts: I usually get the black HDD, but due to this being a budget build, I chose this green drive instead. So far it has worked well. NewEgg packaging was very good being wrapped with many layers of bubble wrap and stuffed inside a sturdy cardboard box.

Pros: Runs quiet and does a good job. I'm using this as a second drive just for data storage and it seems to do everything well, silently which is all I could ask for. Bought it cheap but it runs good.

Cons: Would like it to be 7200 but I would have had to pay more so can't complain after getting it for 54 bucks I think.

Pros: Easy to install (if not for you, flip the latch around)
Speed & Price
has some heat sink

Cons: I put more heat sink on mine.. for $3 how could hurt

Other Thoughts: For price cant go wrong

Pros: Allowed me to rebuild a MyBook Premium II disk pack.

Cons: Western Digital

Other Thoughts: I received this from Newegg and bought it on sale. Newegg is great and it shipped immediately!

As for the drive itself, it is a typical Western Digital drive. I have been buying hard drives since the days of MFM/RLL interfaces, and build quality of WD drives and enclosures has, in my direct experience, gone down dramatically in the past 10-15 years.

This drive will fail, suddenly and without warning, just as its predecessor did. I had to buy another WD drive, as the MyBook series of disk packs seem to use a soft-RAID approach that requires WD drives. At least, Western Digital specifically says that if another drive is used, your data is at immediate risk.

Much as I hate WD, my data is more important than the amount of money required to feed the best with another hard drive purchase.

I'll maybe take this drive (slow, but "green") with me to a future "cold-storage" external enclosure.

Long story short: sure, it works (for now), but had I any choice in the matter, I WOULD NOT TRUST A WD DRIVE TO HOLD MY DATA.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD Green, as this is not the typical experience with the product. WD puts our products through extensive Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T) prior to any product launch. This testing ensures our products consistently meet the highest quality and reliability standards of the WD brand. WD Green hard drives are tested and recommended for use in PCs as secondary storage, external enclosures and other applications that require cool and quiet operation. We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device or your experience directly. You may contact us at 1 800) 275-4932, or via our support website at the link below. http://websupport.wdc.com/rdsfdc.asp?linktype=home&portaltype=wd&custtype=end&fs=&ss=&lang=en 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: Works as it should and faster than i expected.

Cons: n/a

Pros: This drive is quiet, and supposedly doesn't take a lot of power. Good to keep the electric bill down on a build that is on 24/7.

Cons: Slower than I'd expected. It's been a while since i bought a 5400RPM, and now I remember why.

Other Thoughts: Going for 7200RPM for all drives in the future. What's the advantage of a 6G/s transfer speed if the rotation can't keep up with it?