Reliable HDD That Keeps Going 10 Years Later
346740
Bought this drive (though not from Amazon) back in 2008, but I feel I still have to write a review about it...
To this day, this external HDD still holds strong and I still use it for redundant backup storage basically because I can and I'd feel bad if i wasn't using it. Even though it may be more on the obsolete side now with it's usb 2.0 connectivity and large size, the thing just works and the drive inside has proven it's reliability. It's seen much use over the years.

As a small project I recently tried to upgrade the drive inside it (WD5000AAKS - Mfg. 2007), to a more modern WD 4TB Blue extra drive I had, but I was disappointed to see the SATA controller in this only supports up to 2TB. And yes, I plugged the new drive into my desktop which saw the full 4TB. Even tried 2x separate 2TB partitions on the 4TB drive but then Windows will report it as not initialized and still only see the 2TB over USB. Oh well! But if anyone still has this and is okay with the USB 2.0 speeds and wants to upgrade it to 2TB it should still work. Mine will have to stay with the old reliable 500GB drive for now. (There is a more updated model in a sleeker chassis with a blue LED on the front instead of the green circular light, so maybe this has a higher upgrade capacity, but I can't say for sure. I just have the one with the green light.)
1767061
Have had for several years.. Fast and reliable.
1871596
I have built computers for 15 years now and only use Hitachi/HGST drives. I average 6 to 7 years and have experienced no failures before building the next new computer. These are 5 star reliable drives.
3930478
I had two of these, just in case one goes bad. I back up on both of them and store one at work (in case of house fire, storm, etc) in a locked file cabinet and the other at home. I bought them both in late 2008. Well, after about 1.5 years one of them went bad. When plugged into multiple computers the computers do not recognize it. I will reluctantly buy another WD because it is supposed to be good quality. Seagate does not have a good reputation. And another off brand one died on me about 2 years ago and it was under a year old. Always, always back up in more then one place, no matter where you back up. All the other attributes of this hard drive are pretty insignificant if it dies on you. When it does work, it is very nice. I don't use the enclosed software; just manage my items like any flash drive/SD card. It took probably 8 hours to initially load 200 GB of photos, but once loaded the speed is perfect.
2791155
Time will tell how reliable this is but it's been great so far.  The performance is great and my Windows Experience Index increased after replacing my old hard drive with this one.  I've had a WD Caviar Black in my laptop for a few years before purchasing this one and I've never had any issues with that drive (although I do use my laptop much less frequently than my desktop).  I've seemed to have good luck with hard drives from all the major bands with the only hard drive failures occurring on IBM Deskstars, AKA Deathstars.
4071337
still is working after years of use, outdated now unless you still have IDE drives to use
4862189
After owning for a year this HD has proven itself to be very reliable.  I run my system software on it for my gaming computer, with the majority of Apps on another drive.
2174079
Love this Drive Extremely reliable I have used these drives for years repairing computers regularly
1194802
So far, this has been a fast, reliable drive.  I've had no over-heating issues [something I was worried about] and have had no drive-access issues.  I'm hoping we'll be together for several years =)

UPDATE:  Now, almost 2 years later, this drive is still whirring on and working well.  I'm impressed and have loved this drive.  I recently replaced it with a 5TB drive as my collections have grown, but I keep this one as a backup for important files and photos.
3433953
I bought the 4 bay Drobo in December of 2008, and have had ZERO issues. I have 3 2TB WD Caviar green drives, and a single 1TB drive, and it run quietly, the fan will spin up every now and then, but the noise coming from outside drowns it out.

It has survived being FedEx'd 2000 miles when I moved, having the power cut unexpectedly, and being dropped.

After adding a new drive about 4 months ago, it took about 26 hours to "optimize", but the device was still usable, albiet not as fast.

Overall, if your looking for a simple RAID-like setup, you cant go wrong with a Drobo
1017369
I've had this drive for over a year now, and it's still working fine with Windows XP.
Here are some random comments about the drive:
1) Despite the fact that USB2 is mathematically faster, in reality, at least with this drive, I've found firewire to be about 35% faster in data rates.
2) The drive gets rather hot... I'm not sure if all the drives are like that, or just mine, as mine still works regardless, but I thought it'd be worth mentioning.
3) You simply plug it in, and that's it. Hell, you can even install Windows XP on it even while it's plugged in externally.
All in all, there's not much I can really say about the drive. It works as advertised, is fast, is a nice 200GB of extra storage, I've had it over a year, it hasn't crashed, and I'm happy. In fact I've never had a Western Digital drive fail on me, the other drive that's ever failed on me was an IBM Deskstar. I even had an old 13GB Western Digital drive that would click a lot as if it WERE damaged, but lasted three years, and then I gave it to a friend who I think still uses it as a small drive for music.
1086979
This is a solid, and reliabel portable hard drive that is perfect for transporting sensitive data.  Have been using this drive for a little more than a year on a nearly daily basis, and have never had a problem.  Highly recommended.
4580943
I always have good luck with WD Blue. It may not be as fast as Black, but it is reliable.
3931952
This hdd just failed on me after 4 years of use in a HTPC (which I think is the life-expectancy norm). It got the job done well as a secondary hdd for storage. Just make sure to backup anything important, especially when it's approaching that 3-4 year mark.
4251777
I have had this drive for a while now and it just continues to work with no problems.
2493803
Lol, this is funny. This drive came with my computer. It was released August 2009... I got it December of that year. So basically I'm telling you i've been running it for like nearly 6 years. And I haven't been hearing anything spooky and while nothing crazy in CrystalDiskInfo's drive health, cuz reallocated sector count (only started using the software recently) hasn't changed over the past month or so. I hope this drive still lasts me but suffice to say it lasts A WHILE.

Works well too. you'll get like... idk 90-120 speeds when transferring between drives. Meh it has worked this long for most everything, although there would be times that I wished I had a faster drive, which is why I bought an SSD recently
940733
This little drive has held up for me since 2010.  I use it in the SUV to play movies on the headrest monitors and it gets used daily.  It's lasted through 7 Arizona summers... and that means it'll be 130+ degrees inside the truck for days on end.  Still fires up and plays movies.  It's not the fastest drive I own, but none of them have lasted this long with this many reads.