Is the old rule of thumb (seagate drives = best, but reliability issues for the big drives) still true? I've made similar posts for the other Free Agent Desk products, in hopes of getting a response. I've always bought seagate externals. Last time I was in the market (06) the consensus continued to be: a. Seagate makes the best hardware at the consumer level, but, b. above a certain capacity (?at the time 300GB?) reliability issues / data corruption issues increase dramatically. At the time, I ended up buying two full docks of 250GB free agents, and am still happy with that product.Anyone know if hardware reliability / data corruption issues are still a problem for the larger capacity drives? These 'Free Agent 2.0' lines look great, but I'd hate to have issues a year or two from now. Is the old rule of thumb (seagate drives = best, but reliability issues for the big drives) still true? I've made similar posts for the other Free Agent Desk products, in hopes of getting a... » Read More Is the old rule of thumb (seagate drives = best, but reliability issues for the big drives) still true? I've made similar posts for the other Free Agent Desk products, in hopes of getting a response. I've always bought seagate externals. Last time I was in the market (06) the consensus continued to be: a. Seagate makes the best hardware at the consumer level, but, b. above a certain capacity (?at the time 300GB?) reliability issues / data corruption issues increase dramatically. At the time, I ended up buying two full docks of 250GB free agents, and am still happy with that product.Anyone know if hardware reliability / data corruption issues are still a problem for the larger capacity drives? These 'Free Agent 2.0' lines look great, but I'd hate to have issues a year or two from now. « Show Less
482504
That may be true, but I've noticed that Seagate gives you a five-year warranty while Western Digital gives you only one. As long as you don't keep your ONLY copy of something important on the drive, I would go with the Seagate knowing that you'll have at least five years of replacements in case it fails.
482505
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. 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... » Read More 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. « Show Less
482506
I have been loking around for an external drive, and I've noticed they all fail! IMO the best way to gois to have 2 of the drives and do a periodic copy of each to each. I have a free agent on my mac and it has been working perfectly, but I am looking for a drive to back up between a PC and a mac. Two cheap drives may be more reliable than a single more expensive, since they all fail and you cant "pay out" of the uncertainty. Change that: Buy two expensive hard drives and dont even fool with the Seagates..
482507
i agree seagate is not even worth looking at now just taking up shelf space. i have older maxtor, WD and other drives and still running good. I got a seagate from an expensive company that sells decent computers but after 1st power up of a 1tb single disk plugged it in and drive shut down and stopped working. i got a WD for almost the same price.
482508
Are you sure you read the warranty correctly? Seagate's Warranty FAQ has this to say:"Q. How long is the limited warranty for the replacement drive? "A. The remainder of the original limited warranty or 90 days, whichever is longer."This extends an expiring warranty by 90 days.
1173847
I am currently using a Seagate Barracuda 1TB drive, 5400 rpm, and have been for several months. Before than, for almost a year, I used a Seagate Barracuda 2TB drive, 5400 rpm. The 2TB drive is really not recommended, but it worked for me for a year, then gave out. Be aware that these drives may not last as long in this DVR as they last in your desktop. Don't be surprised if you have to replace one after a year.
1600662
It has been my experience that these drives will last for several years. I should add that I run open source operating systems and they do considerably less virtual memory caching('thrashing') to the device than the commercially produced operating systems. In my opinion, Toshiba drives are solid, reliable products.
2267226
Given that there are conflicting answers to this question on Amazon, and I really wanted to know before purchasing a drive, I contacted Seagate. Here's their response: " Unfortunately, part of the information is not provided at all. The RPM of our Expansion drives are not a provided specification, meaning the unit can run from 5400 RPMs to 7200 RPMs. We have no way to know which is it. It is not a guaranteed specification." So, it's a crap shoot. And it matters.
474696
Great question. Simple answer, performance will be about the same, so go with the lower cost with higher reliability drive. For me, the choice was easy as it was quite a bit cheaper than the 7,200 models. A year later, I still love this little drive so I don't think you will have any issues if you follow in my tracks.
1128740
I have 3 westerns in my pc i havent had a seagate in awhile. I have a seagate external drive and its ran fan for like 7 years. So i would look up some reviews of both and see which one is best.
2192896
I have been using WD drives for many years, and only one crashed on me. It was 100 degree temperature when it crashed. It was still in warranty, and WD is very good on warranty. In general, choose HDDs with long warranty period. This one has 5 years warranty instead of the average 1-3 years, and it runs cool. I use it as the primary OS drive for my desktop. But bad things will and do happen. So I (1) separate the programs and data into 2 HDDs, and (2) back up the data to an external drive everyday. In my laptop, I use a 64-g flash drive as my data HDD. I have a DOS macro to do the backing up. I have been using WD drives for many years, and only one crashed on me. It was 100 degree temperature when it crashed. It was still in warranty, and WD is very good on warranty. In general, choose HDDs with long warranty period. This one has 5 years warranty instead of the average 1-3 years, and it runs cool. I use it as the primary OS drive for my desktop. But bad things will and do happen. So I (1) separate the programs and data into 2 HDDs, and (2) back up the data to an external drive everyday. In my laptop, I use a 64-g flash drive as my data HDD. I have a DOS macro to do the backing up.
2046261
Regardless - Go with WD or even Seagate. I have 5 portable drives (2 WD, 2 Seagate, 1 Toshiba) the Toshiba is the newest. I treat them all the same but the Toshiba is the only one crapping out on me in less than a year. Their laptops are KILLER though. It's possible that I just got a dud, but that's my current experience.
1830766
Graham, In my experience, I have good luck with the Seagate drives in that model. Their reliability seems to be fairly good, in my estimation.
1502980
It's hard to say. I've had varied experience with Seagate drives. Some have lasted 7 or 8 years; and one lasted only 2 years. I've only had this one for a few months. I don't take chances. I back up my computers daily to this drive; and I back it up monthly to another large drive that I keep away from the house.I hope this helps.
504791
Yes it will work, the drive is exceptional faster than a standard, the only flaw I had seen, With Windows 7, or the bios at first instal it confused my D drive as the primary rather than the C, So I had to reformat and reinstall, the second time was all good though. I like it, It works great for me, I can hear windows booting even before my screen comes up after bios boot. Considering the price v/s solid state, I will get me another hybrid. You can never go wrong with Seagate quality anyways, that is why banks prefer Seagate in there PC's.
100780
if you want tons of storage and ultimate reliability, use this Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE1T0BW, I just got it for a little over $500 on Amazon. if you dont want to spend that much money than I used WD Blue 1 TB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, 5400 RPM, SATA II, 8 MB Cache - WD10JPVT. Both seem to work fine.
31544
will I loose all my data that is already on the 4GB, or is this an additional drive? I tried to use the Seagate 1TB external Computer drive, but it wouldn't work.
822815
Really, any of the current internal offerings by Seagate that are heavily discounted both on here and new egg would be more than suitable. I would suggest a model with at least 7,200 rpm disc speed for a smoother transfer experience. This docking station is amazing for the record. It's been my fave gadget buy of the year so far. Hope this helps, Robert
962535
I opened mine up after both of them died. They had old used drives from 2007 in them. So it's potluck if you get one you can depend on. I bought these thinking I was getting new stuff. They don't make it easy to crack open to find out the truth. They were Seagate & WD drives from 2007 so are good brands. But being used they could have been abused, or well used. I could have got 2007 drives for almost nothing if that's what I wanted.
1128745
I'll be honest, I am a fan boy of Western Digital, and ASUS btw, but they don't make HD's. In the last few years, I've had more Seagate drives fail on me, than Western Digital. That being said, I am also hard on HD's, and being in Oklahoma, my PC runs real warm through half the year. I would def. go with the Blue WDEZEX for my money.
47711
I just put a 3TB Seagate drive in one of these and it worked. One of my laptops had a weird issue, but other machines did not. TDMSERVICE.EXE consumed massive amounts of RAM (3+GB) a few times before it acted normal. A different laptop of the same make/model did not have the same problem. That first laptop has issues adding hardware anyways, so I don't think it's a combination of the enclosure and drive.