Western Digital Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: I purchased this drive in 2007 to update a mini PC that was transported often. I ran it for about 2 years in that box without any issues and regular use, then moved it to my workbench for testing PCs I was repairing. I must have run dozens of reformats and drive wipes on this drive for the better part of a year and it very rarely gave read/write issues, and if it did they weren't noticeable. The final computer this was installed in was a replacement PC for my mother. She used it regularly in a computer that was always on, and it lasted around a year and a half.

The drive speeds were average for a 7200rpm drive. At this point the drive I own is 5 years old, so the mechanical pieces inside started making significantly more noise, but nothing that would bother the average user.

Lasted 2 years beyond the warranty before dying.

Cons: What finally killed this drive was a dead controller board. I was expecting to have bad sectors or a dead read/write head, but the heads still worked great until it started kicking the bucket. Initially the OS wouldn't boot, but you could plug the drive into another system and read all the contents. Midway through copying all of the data off it fully failed. Cost to repair the drive and recover the data is too high, so it's now a paperweight.

The cost of this drive had dropped in the last few years, but is now back up to the same price as it was in 2007, mostly due to the drive shortage from the flooding in Thailand.

Overall Review: Some of my old IDE drives lasted 10 years before failing, newer drives tend to last only a few years. My guess is that the amount of data being packed onto the platters and the number of platters has made these drives more susceptible to damage, this is why I was surprised that it was the drive controller that failed. 95% of my drive failures come from the read/write heads, and the few dead controllers I've had have been DOA from manufacturing issues.

Pros: Works perfectly if you have the right system. This is my 2nd review of this drive. The 1st review said 1 of 2 I bought was DOA. It wasn't!

Cons: ISSUE 1: The AAKS drive is SATA II 3.0 gb/s. It autonegotiates to 1.5 if your system is SATA I. WD site says this FAILS on some VIA and SIS chipset MBs. That's why I thought I had a DOA!

ISSUE 2: This is not a "RAID" drive. See WD site for details. This "desktop" drive has a long delay after error correction that can cause a RAID sytem to fail it.

ISSUE 3: Runs hotter than others. I have 1 WD AAKS and 2 S**G HD501LJ's in an Infrant NAS. S**G temps are 33&35C, WD is 42C. OK here, but not in home theater PC (raises fan noise.)

Overall Review: DOA problem (issue 1) easily solved by jumpering to 1.5 gb. OEM drive doesn't include jumper.


Newegg could save lots of RMA's by taping a note and jumper to each AAKS drive!