Seagate Barracuda ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Perpendicular Recording Hard Drive Reviews

• Performs Well!

  
  By A2DTRR9SEAT878 on 2007-10-31
  I purchased several of these for a striped array. They all worked out of the box without an issue. I would recommend it. Obviously don't forget to set the jumper to SATA2 if you have the appropriate controller.
  
  Also, all you get is the drive in a plain brown box. No manual and no cables.
  
  

• easy installation, no sata cables with it.

  
  By A3KBTJDLOOPGL8 on 2008-01-14
  I bought this HD to replace a crashed sangsung HD of my desktop. It has 500GB, efective capacity is 472GB. Installation was very easy, my desktop recognize it at first time. It is working not as a sata 3.0Gb/s, it is working as a sata 1.5Gb/s, no problem at all.
  
  Perpendicular Recording HD, cool!!!
  
  Just one thing, no cables at all, no sata data cable, no sata power cable, no nothing, I got one from my motherboard.
  
  4 stars, lets see what will happen with it.
  
  

• Fast AND Quiet !!

  
  By APKBGB3JBWL5X on 2008-04-28
  I found this Seagate Hard-Drive to be an excellent upgrade to my Dell 3100 Series computer, with 3.06 Ghz Pentium 4 and 2 Ghz of memory.
  The HD seemed noisy at first, but is now whisper-quiet after entering "SETUP" and changing the setting to allow Windows to select the proper Hard-Drive settings automatically.
  The Dell's factory "Default" settings overlook the processor's Hyper-Threading technology and the adjustable hard-drive functions. Spend a few minutes to tune your machine to perform the way YOU want it to !!
  My Seagate came with all the parts and software necessary for a quick and easy installation, and I'm a happy and satisfied customer !!
  
  

• Great hard drive

  
  By A2DM0F83KQSTRS on 2008-07-25
  This is a great price for a SATA 500 gigabyte hard drive. Be warned - it comes with no supporting documentation, nor does it come with a SATA cable. But the installation instructions are readily available at the Seagate website, and a SATA cable can be had for 6 or 7 bucks. In addition, you'll need to buy a hard drive cradle or caddy that fits your particular hard drive bay. Installation was pretty easy for me - plug the cable into one of my two SATA ports, hook up the power tab from the computer's power supply, and bang - you're in business with the most affordable hard drive of its type. Note - I've heard some people complain that the drive is noisy. This was the case for me at first - because the SATA cable I used had a rather bulky connector which stuck out from the hard drive and made contact with the computer case. The case itself amplified the hard drive noise. A little pad of thin rubber solved the problem completely. Keep in mind I use my computer as a digital audio work station on which I produce a radio show - so any noise would be a real problem when I record from my microphone. It's not been an issue thus far.
  
  

• super drive

  
  By A3F7USIDJBR8WU on 2007-11-08
  Not much to say about a drive.... it works as designed.
  I buy Seagate drives only.
  Tried others and I don;t want to take a chance on reliablity.
  SO, it's a Seagate drive what I use.
  
  Buy with confidence.
  
  For some reason Win-XP didn't see it, but that's not a problem, because you can get around to format it another way.
  WIN-XP may need a Seagate or other program(s) that's free on the net, to find and format the drive.
  If that happens to you don;t send it back, nothing wrong with the drive. Find on the net a program from Seagate and download it.
  
  I use Casper-XP backup and copy program and has no problem duplicating your drive or just backup.
  
  
  
  
• Beware - Very Noisy
  By A280Y51JJJWZKT on 2008-02-24
  I bought this drive about a month ago only to find that the noise level was about 10x that of my previous Seagate Barracude drive. I immediately returned it for a replacement, as I had never heard this level of noise from a hard drive before and assumed that it was defective, but I found the new replacement to be just as noisy. While I haven't experienced any additional performance issues per se, the noise level is so high that I find myself wearing ear plugs or headphones not to get annoyed. I got the drive at a great price ($109), but the savings weren't worth it for the noise it puts out.
  
  
• very good
  By A1A0HFMMMF0LH1 on 2008-07-25
  This is a little early for a complete review but so far very good product and very good service from Amazon.
  
  
  
• Fast but too NOISY for a desktop or HTPC
  By AOJA1LC8PN7K1 on 2008-02-19
  This drive is simply TOO LOUD/NOISY for a desktop or HTPC. This drive sounds like drives from the mid 90's. Over the years, I've used Seagate drives and they've all been very quiet. In fact, I downgraded to the 250GB model and it's whisper quiet so I'm not sure what the problem is. Also, the default jumper is set to 1.5GB. Why would they do that?
  
  This drive might work great for a RAID array in a low-end data center but I wouldn't put it in a desktop and certainly not a HTPC.
  
  Giving it 1 start for speed, another for low price.
  
  
• Failed after 2 months
  By A11SDWCOTJP95Z on 2008-06-29
  This drive worked great for 2 months and then it started making a horrible noise and would no longer mount. Sending back to Seagate for a replacement.
  
  
• Seems OK but is Really NOISY, not just LOUD. Hot, too.
  By A23QU283QFK74F on 2008-07-15
  I've got two of these Seagate ST3500630AS with Firmware 3.AAD in a LaCie external RAID drive and WOW! are they NOISY.
  
  The external drive has a very solid and heavy aluminum housing and even that cannot dampen the horrible racket that these drives emit. It also has a temperature controlled cooling fan that runs continuously after the drives warm up due to their higher heat output.
  
  They exhibit high levels of two kinds of noise: 1- a rough sounding spindle, or motor noise that is especially noticeable upon startup and 2- incredibly loud and distracting "seek" noise. Worse, the drives often "calibrate" themselves which results in a huge amount of seek noise even when not being accessed or even when not hooked up to a computer.
  
  These drives do seem fast and may be suitable for use in a server environment or a loud industrial setting but are a poor choice for home use by the non-deaf. Fortunately for me, mine are in an external drive used for backups so they don't run continuously.
  
  Even so, I'll be replacing them soon with cooler and quieter drives from another company.
  
  

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