Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11 500 GB SATA 32 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Hard Drive

UPDATE: A newer generation of this drive, the 7200.12, Bulk/OEM version, has been available for a while now and has better performance in terms of speed and power consumption. So that's likely a better option.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

As of now, this is the state of the art Seagate 1TB drive. It uses just three drive platters (the thing that looks like a compact disc in the photo - there's actually a stack of those inside your hard drive!). Older 1TB drives used 4 or even 5 platters.

Less platters means greater data density, which means faster data transfer speeds. Less platters also means cooler operating temperatures, usually.

The 7200.11 line of drives uses 333GB platters. The new 7200.12 drives with 500GB platters is starting to be released - a one platter, 500GB drive is available...Read more

I'm in the IT industry and have had installed, swaped, formated hundreds of hard drives in my life. Hard drive failure is normal, and it's expected. What I've found out is that MTBF that manufacturers publish has very little correlation with reality, since reality is affected by factors such as temperature, handling, etc. What they publish is in a perfect laboratory environment-- not what people normally have at home. In my past, I have used Seagate, Maxtor, Western Digital, and Hitachi. Seagate has alway been high on my list because of their reliability and their 5 year warranty.

Personally, reliability is a huge concern for me because I take tons of precious pictures of my family & baby and I cannot afford to lose them. That's why I always build RAID systems with different drives from different manufacturers, and in certain cases same manufacturer but with very different batches. After only 3 weeks, this drive failed. Since it was on a raid system, no big deal. I...Read more

I purchased a computer in December 2008 that contained a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 HD. The HD worked terrifically and I had no complaints about it for the first 9 months that I owned it (much longer than most people have owned one before leaving a 4 or 5 star review!!!) but the HD just now failed (August 2009). The disk does not spin and the computer does not recognize that a hard drive even exists, not even attempting to access it. The data is not recoverable by the usual data recovery processes, meaning recovery must be done in a lint-free environment at a cost of $2,500 or more. Based on the research I have done since the hard drive failed, it is apparent that the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 HDs are failing at an alarming rate (reportedly estimated upwards of around 30-40% by some data recovery experts.) While Seagate denies that the 7200.11 HDs are defective, those issuing RMAs are apparently being instructed to have the failed 7200.11 HDs sent to Seagate for replacement with the...Read more