Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST2000DL003

2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST2000DL003
by Seagate

Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST2000DL003

I'm using previous Seagate 2TB LP (ST32000542AS) for over a year now. And, I was never very pleased by the older model: it make some strange noises that scared in the beginning. All four ST32000542AS units that I have do the same strange "click" noise. Googling I discovered that this annoying noise is normal for the first LP generation. This is a problem when you have 5 of then working together in a NAS. 

So, the first improve I noticed in STL2000DL003 is the quiet operation. Then I made some benchmarks using HD Tach: 

- Compared with ST32000542AS (firmware updated to CC35) the unit is faster in average read (113MB/s against 97.1MB/s) and uses less CPU (2% against 3%), but has worst Random access (17.4ms against 14.2ms). 

- Compared with WD20EARS: the unit is faster in average read (113MB/s against 100.6MB/s) and same CPU use (2%), but has worst in Random access (17.4ms against 16.2ms). 

Anyway, it's a nice HDD for the price. 

Other Thoughts: Some people do prefer WD hard drives, but in my experience there is no advantage in this particular brand. In the past I need to use worldwide RMA (from Brazil, to be specific) from WD and from Seagate. More than one time for both companies. Seagate was always fast and painless: no more than one week between send the defective unit and receive a new one (again: outside USA!).But with WD was a nightmare every time! More than one month to receive back the same unit, but refurbished. Guess what? The defective unit that they refurbished and sent me back has become defective again... Another "over a month" waiting for a solution. This happened more than one time, first with external HDD then with internal HDD (green caviar)! Since these events, I never bought a WD again and I don't recommend to anyone. 

So, in my opinion and my experience, the Seagate costumer service is another highlight for this HDD.

Western Digital My Book Essential 2 TB USB 3.0/2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

First, the packaging. Western Digital (WD) does an impressive job of securely packaging this hard drive with a minimal amount of waste. There's no unnecessary plastic or cardboard. 

This 2 TB drive has to be plugged into the wall socket as well as powered with a USB cable. One of my major complaints about electronics products are the ridiculously short power cables. This My Book Essential External Hard Drive has an impressively long power cable - which is a plus for any experienced tech user. WD figures the customer is smart enough not to accidentally strangle themselves with a long power cord. So many products I buy have a cord that is so short as to make the item almost unusable. 5 stars to WD for trusting the intelligence of the buyers of their products. 

Here are the results I obtained after testing out this drive: 

The drive did not have to be formatted before I used it. It worked with my Windows XP-based computer right out of the box. 

It took approximately 70 minutes to copy 35 GB of data from my old external drive to this one. This is impressively fast. The manufacturer claims it should take seven minutes and 42 seconds to copy 2000 standard MP3 songs onto the hard drive. These times are using the standard USB 2.0 technology. The drive is also designed to accommodate USB 3.0. 

I didn't check out or try to install the backup software or the other extras that came with the product - these installation files are located already copied onto the drive. Another 5 stars to WD for not forcing this software onto the computer user with an automatic installation setup. My impression is that WD trusts the intelligence of the consumer to make their own decisions about how to best use the product. A toll-free international help line is available for anyone who does need some assistance with the installation of the hard drive. 

The outside of the package mentions that the data on this drive is capable of being secured with a password and also comes with a 2-year limited warranty. There's almost no product literature included inside the package - only a small fold-out booklet which refers the customer to the company's website for a user manual. 

A drive with this many features should probably come with more basic literature inside the box - such as, there is a physical cable lock port option - you can secure this drive with some kind of an external lock (the locking device isn't included with the drive) and there are no other clues inside or outside the package to explain this security option. 

So this drive was easy to install right out of the box and it worked without any difficulties or technical headaches. I would definitely recommend this product.