Question 1

does it include a sata cable?

Accepted Answer

No.  This was an OEM drive.  SATA cables are cheap however. I have a bunch of spares if you want to stop by :-)

Question 2

Does this item come with all the necessary cables for install?  Thanks

Accepted Answer

No. It is a bare drive that arrives very well wrapped and protected. Your psu should have the power hook-up if it's newer than 2010, and if you have ordered a new mb with SATA support then the mb should come with the SATA hook-up. Just make sure you attach it to the 6.0 port on the mb, as there are sometimes both 6.0 and 3.0 ports. The 6.0 should be a different color.

Question 3

Does this Hard Drive come with mounting and SATA cables?

Accepted Answer

Drive Only - You will need to provide your own cables, screws, and any other mounting hardware. This drive mounts in a 3.5" bay or tray.

Question 4

Hello, I would like to know if this hard drive come with a cover like in the product pictures? If this was a dumb question I am sorry for wasting your time.

Accepted Answer

It is a good question since the pictures show the platter and other parts exposed. This drive has a metal cover on one side, as shown in the pictures, and a plastic cover on the other side. I do not know why the product pictures show the drive with the back cover removed, as it would be a terrible idea to run a drive with the mechanisms exposed like that. This is an internal drive, so it must be installed in either the PC or in an external drive case. I have one of these drives in a cheap Rosewill drive enclosure and it works great.

Question 5

Does this come with any type of software to copy data from an existing hdd that is failing and needs replaced?

Accepted Answer

The Western Digital version of Acronis True Image is available on the Western Digital support site. It allows you to clone your current drive onto the WD drive.

Question 6

What would in need to purchase with this product to install it in a new build?

Accepted Answer

Aside from whatever OS you plan on running,  maybe a sata cable. Other than that,  nothing.  Most cases come with the bracket needed to mount the drive,  otherwise pick one of those up too.  Hope this helps.  - Phil

Question 7

I have a 2011 Dell 580 Inspiron computer with a 1.0TB Samsung SATA 7200rpm hard drive that failed.  I made up two recovery disks just in case this happened.  If I purchase this hard drive will I be able to use the recovery disks and restore the operating system?  I know that it will not except a 0.5 TB hard drive since I did try one.
Thanks.

Kevin

Accepted Answer

I don't and never did have a Dell, however, I've been building my own computers since 1981, except for my laptops.

That being said, my laptops are a similar situation.  I cannot restore them to a smaller hard drive, however, I have restored my ASUS to a larger hard drive and changed it from a disk to solid state drive that was 20 gigs larger than the OEM drive, to give me a little more storage, and an hour more of battery life.

Inasmuch as your Dell came with a 1.0TB SATA drive, installing the W/D should not change anything.  I believe that your system should see the drive as equal because of it's 1.0TB size. I've never heard of a computer requiring an "identical" hard drive in order to work.  Except for the fact that you've had a Samsung HD and now you'll have a WD, theoretically, the computer should work fine.

For the record, I have purchased several of the WD1003FZEX 1.0TB Drives and they're working flawlessly.  If it were my Dell computer, I wouldn't hesitate to get and install the WD drive.

I believe that the reason you couldn't restore your computer from the restore disks is that the restoration information file says you have a computer with a 1.0TB drive and the first thing it did was go our and check to see that it was restoring to a 1.0TB drive.

Good luck.

Question 8

Is this designed to fit in a standard laptop bay or only for desktop towers?

Accepted Answer

This hard drive is 3.5" , you need a 2.5" hard drive for a laptop. NewEgg has some great deals on laptop drives, I would recommend sticking with Western Digital Brand Blue or Black edition. I have been servicing and building computers and servers for many years. WD drives are as reliable as it gets. Hope this helps.

Question 9

good for gaming?

Accepted Answer

For a 7200 RPM high storage capacity SATA with a 64 MB cache, that's about as good as it gets. I don 't game a lot but, for better transfer rates, I'm now looking at reliable 10000 RPM WD SATA drives with at least 64 MB caches. 
My root drive is always a 256 GB SSD but any game will always be installed on a mechanical SATA drive. Reliability will always be more important than speed when it comes to constantly changing data transfers on any drive, SSD or mechanical. My WD 1 TB drive has been reliable since I purchased it and it does OK. Of course, that's with 16 GB RAM and a GTX 960 video card though, They're more important than the drive. Of course, your buget will always be the primary concern. I don't have deep pockets.

Question 10

Thinking about getting this hard drive to replace my WD 6400 hard drive (640 GB). Have Windows 7 installed on computer. Heard there can be trouble with Windows 7 recognizing this 1TB hard drive. What do I need to do to avoid this problem?

Accepted Answer

I have never heard of Windows (7 or otherwise) having issues recognizing any 1TB WD Blacks.  I have heard of older Operating Systems having issues with the larger drives, due to addressing limitations.

However, I have also heard of issues with the SATA/RAID controller not recognizing the drive under certain settings at the BIOS level, which in turn makes it unrecognizable by Windows.

Typically, controllers have 3 settings: SATA, ACHI, and RAID.  If you do plan on buying two or more of these drives and setting them up in a RAID array, the RAID option *should* work fine for you.  Otherwise, you will need to set it to ACHI.

Hence, before you buy this drive, I would recommend that you check your BIOS options to see if your motherboard (i.e. your SATA/RAID controller) supports ACHI mode.  If not, you might have trouble getting this drive to work in your system.

For any other potential issues with Windows 7 not recognizing this drive, tech forums may prove more useful than this Question/Answer area.

Interface	SATA 6.0Gb/s
Capacity	1TB
RPM	7200 RPM
Cache	64MB

Features	Inspiring performance and capacity WD Black performance storage is designed to enhance your PC experience across heavier computing tasks whether you are a digital artist, video editor, photographer, or gamer. Available with an impressive 256MB of DRAM cache on higher capacity models, the WD Black PC drive is optimized for drive performance so you can spend more time experiencing the things you love most. Enhance your PC's performance even further when you combine a WD Black drive with an SSD for a dual drive configuration, allowing you to benefit from the additional caching of your operating system onto the SSD for increased performance. For Creative Professionals When it comes to storing your creativity and entire digital portfolio, look no further than WD Black performance storage for your best solution. Use the WD Black drive for storing your large multimedia files of photos, videos, games or applications and programs because with a WD Black drive, you get the best combination of speed, capacity and large cache sizes. For Gamers The WD Black drive is the perfect storage solution for your gaming machine by offering large capacities to store your game's downloadable content (DLC), large cache sizes, and it is the perfect compliment for maximum system performance when combined with an SSD. The WD Black drive also includes StableTrac Technology (2TB and larger models) for more accurate data tracking and help to reduce any impact due to vibrations from additional gaming hardware. Increased Reliability The WD Black drive is equipped with StableTrac Technology (2TB and larger models) by securing the motor shaft inside to increase reliability and help reduce impact due to system-induced vibrations from other components. By stabilizing the platters inside, the WD Black drive results in more accurate tracking in a particular sector during read and write operations, optimizing performance and reliability.
Usage	Gaming Hard Drives

Form Factor	3.5"
Height (maximum)	26.10mm
Width (maximum)	101.60mm
Length (maximum)	147.00mm

WD Black 1TB Performance Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD1003FZEX

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Model
Brand	WD
Series	Black
Model	WD1003FZEX
Packaging	Bare Drive

Item#: N82E16822236625