Western Digital Caviar Black 2 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Internal Desktop Hard Drive - WD2002FAEX

I purchased this harddrive to replace a suspect failing (Hitachi/IBM) harddrive of similar size used for file backup purposes. This was my first purchase of computer hardware components from Amazon. The WD Caviar Black HD was ordered from Amazon early Thursday afternoon and was delivered the following afternoon by UPS with no problems or complications. I paid around $20 extra for next day delivery, but the HD was around $10 cheaper than my usual "egg" source (those in the 'know' know who I am referring to). The HD was well packaged, wrapped in anti-static plastic and suspended by end caps within a sturdy box. Much better packaging than my usual online "egg" source for computer hardware. The HD installed immediately, with no complication or problems. I have purchased WD mechanical HD products exclusively for the last few years for their reliability. The Caviar Black product line of WD HDs have a 5-year warranty, and are very reasonably priced when compared to WD's entry level product. I recommend you spend the extra $10-$30 for the Caviar Black high performance line for the 5-year warranty alone. You should not go wrong with this choice. HOWEVER......The WD HD model I purchased was an OEM version and I knew what I was getting. For those in the know, this is no problem. But for those who are new to desktop computer hardware or upgrades, OEM means something important! You new guys pay close attention! The directions below are for adding or replacing a secondary hard drive, NOT your primary boot drive. [If you are new to computer guts and are replacing your boot drive, I highly recommend doing some research first! And backup your data! Or you will be sorry! VERY sorry!]*OEM harddrives ship with NO instructions, NO software, NO cables, NO screws, etc. Just the harddrive in an anti-static bag. If you are not prepared for this, I recommend you purchase a 'retail' version of the harddrive for a few dollars more and you will receive all of the above :). You can also find instructions on Western Digital's support website. Worth a visit. Download the FREE diagnostic software too! You never know....* When you shut down your computer, mount the OEM harddrive in your computer harddrive bay (as a second harddrive in my case), connect the power cable and serial data cable, and reboot the computer, something unexpected may happen. Your brand new WD HD will not show up on your computer! Do not panic. This is normal :)* After rebooting your computer, you will need to 'initialize' your new harddrive and perform a 'quick format' on the drive. This should be a relatively simple procedure but can be daunting for the uninitiated (no pun intended). New guys have a good reason to be nervous. You don't want to click stuff randomly during this process since you can really mess up your computer!* For Windows 7, go to Control Panel, System and Security, Administrative Tools, Create and Format Hard Drive Partitions, and then Disk Management. You should see your primary boot drive, all other HDs on your computer, and your brand new WD HD should also be listed. If you see your new WD HD, you did good hooking it up. If you don't see your new hard drive and/or your boot drive, stop and find help. Something is wrong. (Don't screw with your boot drive or other drives, or you'll be sorry! Again, do NOT mess with your boot drive!) Right-click on your new WD HD and you should be asked to create a simple volume partition. Select this option and within seconds this should be completed. I generally select a single partition for the maximum partition size at first (you can always create additional partitions later). Afterwards, select 'quick format' and seconds later, this task should be completed. Back out all the way out, go to 'Computer' on your Start button and the new WD HD should be present. During the initialization/quick format procedure you should also have been given the opportunity to enter a name for your new WD HD. I simply used "WD Black Caviar 1 TB". You may call it whatever you wish! You can also rename your new HD later by clicking Start, Computer, select your new drive, right click, and select rename and enter a new drive name. With a single partition, the new WD HD should appear with over 900 MB of disk space and with no files stored. Go ahead and start transferring your data to the new drive, checking periodically to confirm data is being transferred as you intended. VOILA! You're done!I have used WD HDs for the last few years at home and at work (I build and upgrade the work PC computers) and they have performed reliably for me. Your results may vary. The 5-year warranty is a very good selling point for me. Although I have not had a warranty return with WD, knowing the 5-year warranty is present gives me some comfort. Five years goes by quickly, guys!Just a note, I personally use SSD hard drives (in a RAID 0 array) for my primary boot harddrive. SSDs are a bit new (and hence somewhat tricky for the new guys) and take a bit getting used to, but I HIGHLY recommend SSDs for your primary boot drive. You should explore this new HD technology ASAP. SSDs are so much faster than mechanical drives, you won't believe the performance increase. After a little research, I suggest your first SSD purchase be a retail package with included data transfer software (one or two companies offer this software as part of their retail package. This will prove to be extremely helpful! Good Luck! If you have any comments on this review (e.g. I forgot something or made a mistake) please add them to help your fellow computer brothers.I have read a few of the reviews for this product which have mentioned the drives suddenly disappearing from their system and refusing to boot. I have this problem frequently, and it has nothing to do with the drives. If you use a RAID 0 array as a boot drive, and you update your BIOS, the SATA controller option in BIOS is changed from "RAID" to "AHCI" for some reason (at least on my ASUS motherboard). If this does happen, the machine will not boot since it is looking for a single drive in AHCI mode and not the RAID 0 array. This problem is easily fixed by accessing the BIOS and changing your AHCI setting to the RAID setting, saving the settings (!), and rebooting. Your system should come up just fine.Ed561

This review is for the Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Internal Desktop Hard Drive Bulk/OEM - WD1002FAEX. I also discuss using this hard drive to expand the recording capacity of a DirecTV receiver.There really isn't too much to say about a hard drive, as long as it works. In spite of that, I'll try to say a few things about this one.First, it works. Also, it's quiet. The one I have running continuously with my DirecTV receiver is slightly, but only slightly, louder than an electric wall clock. And I don't mean the kind that ticks; I mean the kind that has a sweep second hand and just whirrs softly.I used the NexStar 3 external drive enclosure by Vantec with this drive to expand the recording capacity of my DirecTV receiver. The USB or eSATA connection between the external hard drive and the computer (or receiver) is usually the limiting factor in data transfer, so this 7200 rpm drive is probably faster than I need.I expect that the packaging varies dramatically from order to order and mine was mediocre. The drive itself was in its own box, held in place by two plastic supports. That box was inside the larger Amazon shipping box and was cushioned with the plastic pillows that Amazon likes to use. I don't care much for this packaging. In my case, everything survived okay, but it's possible for the package to take a blow which would pop one or more of the plastic pillows. Once those pillows are popped, they are useless, and the next blow can ruin the contents. I would prefer true bubble wrap, or even packaging paper. As I said, though, I was lucky and everything came through okay.I was a bit concerned with using this SATA III drive in the NexStar 3 enclosure, which claims to accept SATA I and SATA II drives. As it turns out, the NexStar 3 works fine with this SATA III drive also.I was also concerned that I was getting a drive that was too advanced to couple with my DirecTV receiver, but that proved to be unfounded also. My receiver is not new and I was afraid it might not work with the "latest and greatest" hardware.All in all, I am very happy with the drive.I used this hard drive and an external enclosure to create more storage capacity on my DirecTV receiver. My DirecTV receiver is a model R22-200. The "-200" part of the model number is insignificant; it indicates where the receiver was manufactured. According to on-line experts, this upgrade should work with any DirecTV receiver that has an eSATA connector on the back. Other receivers may not show such a dramatic increase in capacity, however, because they have a larger internal hard drive to begin with.My R22 receiver was originally installed as a standard-definition receiver and had the capacity to record about 200 hours of programming. DirecTV upgraded it to an HD receiver after I bought an HD television. (I think the R22 is the only receiver with this upgrade capability.) HD programs have more data per hour of program so the limited storage space on the receiver's internal hard drive was quickly filled with the new HD programs. It looked like only 35-50 hours of HD programming would fill the original, internal hard drive. Connecting this 1 TB drive has increased storage capacity dramatically. Extrapolating from the small amount I have already recorded would result in an estimate of 150-200 hours of recording capacity in HD for the new drive.As stated earlier, I used this drive in a NexStar 3 enclosure. This one:Vantec NexStar 3 NST-360SU-BK External Hard Drive Enclosure (Onyx Black)Installing the drive into the enclosure takes about a minute, not counting the time to read the manual that came with the NexStar 3. I'm obsessive about reading manuals, but in this case it really wasn't necessary. Hard drive installation consists of:1. Open the enclosure by pulling the end cover (with the tray attached) off the housing.2. Slide the hard drive onto the tray, ensuring that the SATA connection is made.3. Using the (#2 Phillips) screws provided with the NexStar 3, screw the hard drive to the tray.4. Slide the tray, with the hard drive attached, part way back into the housing.5. Attach the connector from the housing to the tray to power the LED indicator on the enclosure.6. Slide the tray completely into the housing, routing the LED power wire to avoid snagging it.7. Attach the tray to the housing with the (#1 Phillips) screws (also supplied with the NexStar 3).It took longer to write these instructions than it did to install the hard drive.To connect an external hard drive to a DirecTV receiver you MUST use an eSATA connection. You cannot use a USB connector of any kind with a DirecTV receiver. The NexStar 3 enclosure has both a USB 2.0 and an eSATA connection on the outside of the enclosure.The procedure for connecting this to the receiver is:1. Unplug the receiver from its power source. (Note: Turning the receiver off without unplugging it probably won't work.)2. Attach the eSATA cable from the eSATA connector on the NexStar 3 enclosure to the eSATA connector on the receiver. An eSATA cable is included with the NexStar 3.3. Attach the NexStar 3 power transformer to an outlet.4. Attach the power cord from the transformer to the NexStar 3.5. Turn the power on to the hard drive by switching the NexStar 3 on.6. Wait several seconds to ensure that the hard drive is spinning at normal speed.7. Plug the DirecTV receiver back in to a power source.8. Wait. During the wait you can watch the TV as it tells you that the receiver is checking for software, etc. After 15-30 minutes (for a 1 TB hard drive), you will be able to watch TV.Some Notes:1. It's neither required nor desired to format the hard drive prior to attaching it to the DirecTV receiver. The receiver will format the drive using its own system.2. You will lose access to all programs that were recorded on the receiver before you installed the external hard drive. The DirecTV receiver can operate off EITHER its own internal hard drive OR the external hard drive that you just installed, BUT NOT BOTH.3. You will also lose all your favorite channel listings and all pre-programmed recording instructions. If you had the receiver set up to record your favorite programs automatically you will have to program it again for those same programs. You will also have to rewrite all your favorite channel listings. This can be daunting. I recommend that before you connect the external hard drive you write a list of your channel listings and the programs in your Series Manager or To Do List so you can re-create the lists more easily.4. It will take hours before the receiver rebuilds the channel guide. You will get most of the current programs quickly, but to build a two-week database requires several hours. Also, the extra information, like the Cast & Crew listings, will not be rebuilt for quite some time.5. You WILL NOT be able to move this hard drive from one receiver to another receiver and play the programs on it. My understanding is that the programs are encoded so as to be playable only by the same recorder that originally recorded them.6. I have read on-line, but have not verified yet, that your programs and settings that were lost when you installed the new hard drive are not gone for good. According to sources, you should be able to remove the external hard drive by performing the steps basically in reverse and that this should restore your receiver to its pre-upgrade state.When all is said and done, I am thrilled with the results and the ease of this upgrade.