HGST 4 TB 3.5-Inch 7200RPM 128MB SATA NAS Hard Disk Drive - Silver

Hitachi consistently produce good hard hard drives. My four run at 20 deg C above ambient in my Gen 7 HP Microserver.That's 10C hotter that the WD Greens that they replaced. However, the new drives are 7200 RPM and the old ones were a lot less, so its expected.That's not a negative, just a point to be aware of if they will be installed in a poorly ventilated location. The server feels a lot more responsive too.I can hear the head stepper as the drives seek but as my NAS is in my unheated garage its not a problem to me. It would be objectionable in a media server installed beside your TV.These drives have SATA 3 (6 Gbit) interfaces and work quite happily with SATA 2 (3 Gbit) but they will not fall back to SATA 1 (1.5Gbit) which would have been convenient for me during setting up.A word of warning on shopping for these HDD. There is/was at least one vendor on Amazon using the retail trade pack image and supplying refurbished bulk pack drives. I know this from experience as my first order was scrapped in transit. These drives are marked 'New' on the antistatic bag and 'Referbished' in fine print on the drive label. Do make sure you receive what you are paying for.Amazon can't possibly vet ever item from every seller.

Because of the 128Mb cache, the speed of this drive is exceptionally good. I have 7 older drives from HGST, working 24/7 in NAS, and this drive is working in my main computer. It is a bit cooler than predecessors, not loud and having good performance.

I'm using these drives in a Synology DS418j NAS. The performance has been good so far, with throughput typically around 100MB/s using an iMac connected to the same Ethernet switch. These are not the quietest drives I've used, but not the noisiest either. In a home office environment with other drives and fans, it's perfectly acceptable. The noise might be an issue in a bedroom or quiet living room.If you are using these in a NAS you should check the NAS manufacturer's website for a compatibility table. This HGST model (HDN728080ALE604) is compatible with recent Synology units like the DS418j, but their website notes: "Drive is compatible only to Synology NAS models using hard drive tray design that are shipped since June, 2014".As another reviewer experienced, one of the drives I bought was about a year old. Though it's curious that it was sitting on the shelf for so long, I don't see why this should affect the warranty period, which should start from the date of purchase.

Though I heard good things about Hitachi, in the past when buying hard drives I only took Western Digital into consideration. I own several WD hard drives now, and all of them (bar one) are still going strong after several years' worth of use.The reason I've gone for HGST this time was WD's own fault: they don't sell 7200rpm hard drives at this capacity range, apart from WD Gold that are ridiculously overpriced. My previous purchase was a 4TB WD Blue which is decent - there is nothing physically wrong with the drive, however I use it to store and watch high-res video, and the 5400rpm disk speed isn't enough to stream encoded videos. I'm constantly getting artifacting and delays because the drive is way too slow.This 8TB HGST drive arrived well packaged in a sizeable box as shown in the picture. To protect it from damage during transit, the drive is held between two large plastic spacers and comes in a sealed anti-static bag. Good packaging overall.Compared to my 4TB WD Blue it's not a lot noisier, apart from whirling up I can't hear it though it's in a standard, sealed midi case.Speeds are fantastic - relative to other hard drives, not comparing it to an SSD of course -, much better than the WD. No delays when seeking or waking up from standby mode etc. Hard drive diagnostics show that it's brand new (power on count is 1) which is a relief as some vendors are selling refurbished WD drives to the unsavvy.It also comes with 3 years warranty. You can check the end date by searching "hgst warranty portal" in your browser.Very happy with the purchase so far. I'll be coming back to modify my review in case the drive develops any faults etc.

HGST has always been somewhat of a go-to brand for HGST. I am using 12 of these in a NAS for my media center. They work great in desktops too, as I have one in my desktop for my Steam games. Cannot recommend HGST enough.

Exactly one year to the day since the drive was purchased and installed in a Synology NAS, it's dead. Thankfully, there's a warranty, but the terms are not what you might hope for or expect: the drive's replacement may be a refurbished unit. Whilst these drives receive good reviews, my next one will be from a different company. UPDATE: a second identical drive has failed. It is impossible to recommend this brand. Two drives have failed and the turnaround time for warranty attention is very poor. SECOND UPDATE: A third HGST drive has now failed. The first two drives were replaced under warranty, the third was just outside the warranty period and, therefore, has to be replaced at my cost. Fir such an unreliable product, extending the warranty period by a year does not seem unreasonable.