Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB SATA Internal Hard Drive Retail Kit - WD20000CSRTL

(See below for an update!)

Original review: This product (WD20000CSRTL) is a regular WD20EADS drive in retail packaging. I was worried it'd be a different drive, but it's not.

Unlike the "OEM" version (WD20EADS) it comes in a big-ish box and with an "install guide" (good if you haven't tried installing a new drive, I guess), an SATA cable and 4 mounting screws. The packaging is obviously more wasteful, but considering the bad packaging reviews the OEM drives get here, maybe its a good thing. If it's the same price as the WD20EADS then I think it's a good deal, even if just for the better packaging.

*Update July 2010* As others have pointed out; they are now selling WD20EARS drives under this ASIN. I use OS X, Linux and FreeBSD so it makes no difference to me; but if you use certain really old versions of Windows (Windows XP) you won't be able to use the full capacity (easily?) or something like that. The recent drives we ordered like this...Read more

This drive with "Retail" packaging (WD20000CSRTL) and "Bulk/OEM" (WD20EADS) are the same drive. Often the retail version with the fancy packaging is more expensive but when they're the same price GET THE RETAIL VERSION.

One is packaged for retail and the other sent by Western Digital to companies who use them in their products. The packaging is significantly different. The OEM drives come in small cardboard cartons protected usually by foam. This is fine when shipped in larger boxes with dozens of drives but may cause a problem when ordered individually. Of the 12 WD drives I've purchased the only one that came DOA was the OEM packaged unit. The drive had shifted from the center to the edge as a result of rough handling by the carrier.


I have 12 WD bare drives acquired over the last 7 months for my MacPro . I love them. I have Western Digital drives in each of the 4 hard drive bays. For the boot drive I use the Black for maximum...Read more

I haven't even had this drive a year yet and already I've had to RMA it!
It ran okay for a drive that doesn't even spin 7200rpm so it runs very quiet and cool. Not good for video intensive stuff though because one the drive starts to get full you will notice the slowdown and slight delays. As you can tell other than it running cool, quiet and capacity it has few redeeming qualities. I should've listened to others that were holding off buying 2TB or larger drives since it is new tech and hasn't been as tested as some of the smaller capacity harddrives. All I know is that I've never had a harddrive fail me so quickly before and I must not be alone because I've already been waiting over 2 weeks for Western Digital to send me a replacement drive and all I get is a delayed message so either they aren't making enough or are getting quite a bit of RMA's?
If really need this much diskspace and insist on getting this drive make sure to get 2 of them to use in RAID 1 in case one of...Read more