Seagate BarraCuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: Very fast drive with the 32 MB of cache. Beats my 16 MB cache 74 GB Raptor in all fields except random access, and it's not noticeable. It's a nice boot drive for sure.

Cons: TINY jumper set to SATA 150 by default - make sure to remove the jumper to SATA 300.

Overall Review: As mentioned above, the unit comes from the factory with this tiny little jumper that you need a needle to remove it. This jumper limits the drive to SATA I. Once you remove the jumper, you unleash the drive's full potential and it flies! Highly recommended.

Pros: In my machine this drive reads at over 80MB/sec. The RAID-0 array in the same box runs a little over 90MB/sec. Basically, I'm getting almost the same speed with this drive without any of the hassle or instability of RAID-0. The miracle of perpendicular recording, I guess. Outstanding drive all around.

Cons: None

Pros: Amazing performance, nice price, easy enough to install.

Cons: Only 250GB. The cache definitely makes it worth it, though.

Overall Review: Make sure you have an SATA cable, as nothing comes with this since it's OEM.

Pros: VERY quiet operation; fast reads and writes due to large cache; excellent value for the money; 5 year warranty!!

Cons: None that I can think of.

Overall Review: I bought 2 of these. Replacing my two HD's (one of which was a 10,000 rpm) with these drives was the final step in my quiet PC system rebuild. After going to the extent of rebuilding my system in a 100% passively cooled Zalman TNN 500AF case, the only components still audible were my hard drives. The old HD's had a high pitched whine, and the head on the 10k rpm drive sounded like a freakin jackhammer. In contrast, I cannot even hear these Seagates spinning unless I close all the windows and doors late at night to eliminate ALL ambient noise. Even during reads/writes, they don't generate enough noise to be a problem. I do not notice any difference in application load times or system boot times between these Seagates and my previous 10k RPM drive. I attribute this to the 32MB cache on these drives (my old drives had only an 8MB cache each). I am very happy with these drives and I would recommend them to anyone, particularly if you are building a "quiet PC".

Pros: Very fast especially if you are RAID 0. Simple Jumper settings to figure out if you want it going 1.5Gbps or 3.0Gbps. It has 32MB cache therefore... you know... its cool and you can brag you have a 32MB cache HARDDRIVE!

Cons: OEM means you have to preFORMAT it so that it can be recognized by your motherboard or be used in a Windows environment. OEM or not, you have to FORMAT it so it'll be recognized, it's not really a CON, but just a heads up on you if you're like "Ohmygosh! my motherboard says NOT DETECTED!"

Overall Review: Research a lot about RAIDing if you are going that way. Each motherboard has a way of recognizing SATA-II harddrives and configuring RAID 0 or 1 or 1,0 so be prepared to geek out Google Search.

Pros: Quiet, fast, trouble free. Using 2 of these in RAID 1 format, partitioned into two volumes; one for OS and the other for programs and data.

Cons: None.

Overall Review: PC configuration: P182 Case, E8400 CPU, Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler, P5K-E Mobo, two Asus EN8600GT 512MB Silent video cards, 4 GB Super Talent DDR2 800 Dual Channel RAM, two Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB HDDs in RAID 1, Pioneer DVR-115DBK optical drive, floppy drive, XP Home.

Pros: Have had these in RAID 0 for almost 2 years with no issues. Very fast 32mb cache for such a small drive is a plus.

Cons: Pricey for size.

Overall Review: PC on 24/7 with light I/O have had 0 issues.

Pros: Quiet and fast drive.I have had no problems what so ever.I am going to order second drive and use it for Ubuntu.This will be perfect for a dual boot

Cons: None

Overall Review: I really do not understand all the complaints.Makes one think it's human error and not the drive