Question 1

One of the reviews is titled " Great drive but mount holes non standard.".  Could an owner provided specifics about the mount holes?

Accepted Answer

It is not so much as non-standard as that the new generation of very large drives are using a new standard. Side to side is the same, length is different at 4 inchs instead of 1 3/4 inch. This is only on bottom mounting with screws. Not side mounting. If using tool-less mounting would never  see any difference.

Question 2

Are these 16 tb drives sold by Newegg OEM or Retail?

Accepted Answer

I received mine today, it's an OEM drive and Seagate's warranty checker also stated that it's not covered and to contact the vendor. FWIW, the vendor I purchased from was PlatinumMicro.

Question 3

This is the new HAMR based drive, correct?

Accepted Answer

This drive is not HAMR. It is PMR. I am very happy with these drives so far. Solid performance. I have 3 of them running. 2 in a NAS and 1 in my PC tower.

Question 4

Is this really a HGST drive with a Seagate label on it ?

Accepted Answer

HGST is owned by Western Digital, last I knew, but I have been using Exos drives for a few years now. I have the 10TB, and 12TB models, which I haven't seen a single one fail yet. I have a total of 6 Exos drives.

Question 5

What is the optimal allocation unit size (NTFS format) for Windows 10?

Accepted Answer

TLDR: Just keep the default 4k size.

It depends entirely on what you're storing on the drive. The allocation size is the smallest a block will ever get. So if you pick a large allocation size and put small files on the drive, then you're wasting space. (For example, if you picked 64K allocation sizes, and store a 2K file in there, you would have 62K worth of empty space that cannot be used for anything else. On the flip side, you get better performance out of sequential reads. So if you're storing large files, then the larger block sizes are more efficient at storing and then reading that data off the drive. So if you're using the drive to store surveillance camera videos for example, larger block sizes would make more sense.

If you have both types of data, or you just don't know.... stick with the default 4K. The overwhelming majority of Windows users will (and should) just stick with the default.

Question 6

Are these hard drives retail are OEM? I don't want to buy a drive only to find out that it lacks a proper warranty.

Accepted Answer

Mine was a full Vendor legit 5 year warranty drive. I did have to return it b/c I used bitlocker and bitlocker got corrupted (not the drive) and Seagate gave me an RMA anyway. It was awesome support.

Question 7

what cables do i need to connect this to a 850w power supply?

Accepted Answer

Just a standard SATA connector that comes with most any new power supply these days.

Question 8

How does it compare sound wise vs other hard drives?  Are helium sealed drives just as loud or perhaps more quiet?

Accepted Answer

I find them good sound wise. You would only hear them when having lots of random read/write needed. Straight reads or writes are quiet. A 5400 RPM or ironwolf non-pro would be quieter. Helium drives I find better across the board vs regular.

Question 9

Do I need to buy a sata data cable?

Accepted Answer

If you are REPLACING a HDD, you will already have a data cable and can reuse it. If you are ADDING a drive, however, yes, you will have to buy another SATA cable, since the price includes the drive and nothing else.

Question 10

Are these new old stock or are the recently manufactured ?

Accepted Answer

The product was first available on December 23, 2022.

Questions & Answers