My current (failing) hard drive is Caviar Black. Is this HD the same as "Caviar" Black? i.e. Did WD drop the Caviar branding completely?
2077887
As far as I know, this is the same as Caviar Black, with same 5 year warranty. I don't think anything is marketed as Caviar anymore, maybe due to newer technology?
2077888
Yes, according to PCMag, Western Digital dropped "Caviar" from their product branding.
2077889
Yes, it's the same. No idea why they did it, but they decided to go with colors instead of fish eggs. :-DSorry to hear about your failure. As I comment elsewhere here, it's particularly unusual. I've had about a dozen different WD Blacks in the last 13 years, never ever had one fail, even after about 9 years of use. Every one that I've retired was retired because it became inadequate capacity (LOL: 200gigs) rather than because of failing functionality.
2077890
The Western Digital website no longer refers to Caviar Black. The hard drives are branded Blue, Green, Black, Red and Purple. The Black is the only one with a five year warranty. It looks like they dropped the "Caviar" branding. I have purchased the Caviar Black in the past. My last purchase was for the Black. I certainly didn't notice a difference. Seems the same to me. I've had no issues with the 1TB version.
891990
Hi there. First of all, I dont recommend any WD green line hard drive as a system (C:) drive, because the speed. These drives are excelent as a external storage (via usb or esata cables). Try a new sata cable in a different sata slot. For format use operative system tools (avoid and unistall every acronis software, even the free one). Do not intent repair or manipulate in any form the drive with any tool. Try a RMA from WD. Hopes this helps.
1268994
I don't know, but I am no longer buying any more WD hard drives. All the ones that have crashed and burned are, guess who? I have other brands that have lasted 8 years. Even the so called white lables that are generic from WD crashed within one year. No more WD.
882158
J. Welch is right. I own 6 WD Blacks and they are 5 year warranty. Don't forget to register the drive on WD's website. You will register for an account login and password. But you can check the status of all your drive warranties there, from now on.
38731
Sorry, no idea. I bought WD (Western Digital) Passport as replacement. That seems better.
556784
TonyP - With great appreciation for Matthey Dittrich's post of the following URL. URL: http://www.cavalrystorage.com/en-cahdd-u3c.aspx It will resolve this issue. Scroll down to the list of Features. The last bullet item states '"Support current model 3TB hard drives". So that is that. and Matthew posted this URL back in March of 2013. It pays to read through all the responses. I hope this helps you. Best Regards TP
1392537
I need to swap the print circuit board, since PC cannot detect this drive any more. I have tons of data on this drive that needs retrieval. So I placed another order again. Hope I will get exact model as I bought in Nov, 2010. The model I received last time is also WD20EARS-00MVWB0. Can someone report what's their model number now, if they bought it recently? Thank you. I will report mine once I get it on Monday.
275754
That is no rule of thumb I have ever heard in my 15 years in IT. Seagate/Maxtor makes up the 'lower tier' of drive brands. Hitachi/Samsung are slightly more reliable. WD is still reliability king. Even if you get a good Seagate/Maxtor drive they are prone to fail after a few years, right after the warranty expires. The large capacity drive firmware issues they've been having this last year or so has just sullied their reputation even further and the kind of bugs they've had recently in fully released firmware is inexcusable. Seagate has recently earned their rep as the bottom rung hard drive supplier firmly and deservedly and that by a country mile.
382736
No the hard drive doesn't work anymore and it's less than a years time. Also wd would not rma the product for me.
2095134
I have Sata II WD Black drives in mine. However I would suggest a different Raid bay. This one has its own raid card and it works intermittently. There is a lack of support for the card and its very cumbersome.
2127235
i have all ways used blue, never had a problem with blue hd. Western Digital Caviar Black VS Blue.>>http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1858471/western-digital-caviar-black-blue.html
629559
I just had a Western Digital 2TB My Book fail miserably (miserably!!! Dead!) after two months. I've never had any other drive fail (and I've used much smaller capacity WD external drives w/out issue in the past). But i'm now a Seagate (1TB Freeagent) user because I won't trust the larger WD's any longer. Once bitten! ;) Since the failure, many of my colleagues have admitted the same type of failure from their WD's and are using Seagates with good results. If you search online, you'll see very mixed reviews with similar negative views of the Seagates, but I can only speak from my own very frustrating experience with my WD. I just had a Western Digital 2TB My Book fail miserably (miserably!!! Dead!) after two months. I've never had any other drive fail (and I've used much smaller capacity WD external drives w/out issue in the past). But i'm now a Seagate (1TB Freeagent) user because I won't trust the larger WD's any longer. Once bitten! ;) Since the failure, many of my colleagues have admitted the same type of failure from their WD's and are using Seagates with good results. If you search online, you'll see very mixed reviews with similar negative views of the Seagates, but I can only speak from my own very... » Read More I just had a Western Digital 2TB My Book fail miserably (miserably!!! Dead!) after two months. I've never had any other drive fail (and I've used much smaller capacity WD external drives w/out issue in the past). But i'm now a Seagate (1TB Freeagent) user because I won't trust the larger WD's any longer. Once bitten! ;) Since the failure, many of my colleagues have admitted the same type of failure from their WD's and are using Seagates with good results. If you search online, you'll see very mixed reviews with similar negative views of the Seagates, but I can only speak from my own very frustrating experience with my WD. « Show Less
2182826
Bare oem drives are quite different when it comes to warranty. Either buy the extra warranty offered or get the retail package. WD will not replace a bad OEM drive. TRUST ME, personal experience everyone.
629560
Seagate vs WD. I've used them both over the years, along with Maxtor. For myself and some people Seagate=good and WD=bad, and for others, just the opposite. What's interesting in these comments is that the usage habits are not known, i.e., how intensely is the hard drive being accessed (applications, pro versus consumer, etc), and, in what environment is the hard drive being used (air quality, room temperature, humidity, appropriate case cooling, physical vibration, etc.). Those are the useful comparatives that would help in these reviews. Otherwise, it's just comparing one's FOTD (flavor of the day). Seagate vs WD. I've used them both over the years, along with Maxtor. For myself and some people Seagate=good and WD=bad, and for others, just the opposite. What's interesting in these comments is that the usage habits are not known, i.e., how intensely is the hard drive being accessed (applications, pro versus consumer, etc), and, in what environment is the hard drive being used (air quality, room temperature, humidity, appropriate case cooling, physical vibration, etc.). Those are the useful comparatives that would help in these reviews. Otherwise, it's just comparing one's FOTD (flavor... » Read More Seagate vs WD. I've used them both over the years, along with Maxtor. For myself and some people Seagate=good and WD=bad, and for others, just the opposite. What's interesting in these comments is that the usage habits are not known, i.e., how intensely is the hard drive being accessed (applications, pro versus consumer, etc), and, in what environment is the hard drive being used (air quality, room temperature, humidity, appropriate case cooling, physical vibration, etc.). Those are the useful comparatives that would help in these reviews. Otherwise, it's just comparing one's FOTD (flavor of the day). « Show Less
1041569
Typical you would want a Western Digital purple drive. You can try this drive. It should work tho.
1237820
I have no idea other than to say it likely is. Check the specs on your existing drive, and if they're similar, I'd get it. It's a very good, fast and seemingly reliable drive. Easy to install. Do not buy the WD!
926434
Although I don't own this particular drive, I am here as I am looking to buy this one also to add to my two other Seagate 500gb Freeagents that I already have that have been working flawlessly for me for over 12 months now. I honestly think that your experience was most likely caused by a faulty unit. Without knowing your computer configuration (windows, mac or linux) it's hard to say if any extra steps would need to be taken to set it up, but for a windows or linux based pc it should be simply plug and play in my experience. As you see on this site, there is only one bad review of the product. If you think about how many of these must get sold every year, one bad review is pretty good as almost everybody will take the time to complain, but very few will come back to write a positive review as a working product is what most people expect. So I guess the short answer from me is yes, I would give this drive a second chance, but then again, i may be biased by my great experience. I hope that this is of some help to you..