My intention was to buy two 8TB drives (one in a PC where noise mattered and a backup where noise didn't matter), but given some of the other review comments about noise, I thought I'd only buy one of these for now to see what the noise was like.
Had this running for a day now with some observations:-
When installing via a USB to SATA adaptor (thought I'd try it externally first before fitting into a machine), it only detects about 1TB of data. I was a bit worried but it's fine once installed internally into a machine's SATA port, which would then see the full 8TB. I formatted as GPT rather than MBR.
Pros
Great storage capacity for the money (bought significantly cheaper than other 8TB drives, even the SMR drives).
Seems reasonably speedy
Arrived in nicely padded packaging - it would seem Amazon have improved since some of the other reviews!
Cons
Seems to run hotter than other drives (the 9w rating vs most other drives 6w would explain this, but note this run)
Noisier than other drives I have. I wouldn't say as bad as some reviews make out, but you can definitely heard the clunk of writing and the whirr of the drive spinning.
In summary, I'm on the fence still whether to buy a second on of these, or spend more money on a quieter drive... My one doesn't seem as bad as some of the comments make out, however sufficient for me not to rush out and buy a second one just yet...
Will update in future if there are any changes.
Update (1 week): I decided to buy a second one more because I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of taking the first one out of the machine it was in to put into a second machine and copying all the files around.
Noise wise, once setup and have the drive sleep after an hour of in activity, does make it better however I can understand for a lot of people it probably doesn't work for them.
So my summary persists for now
An average drive but noisy and emits heat, however it is currently priced better than the competition to compensate...
Update Nov 2019: 6 months in and both drives working fine. Main one is one 24/7. Noise levels are no worse than originally..
Update April 2020: 12 months on and both drives still working fine. Main one has still been running 24/7. Once again, noise levels are no worse than before. Raising my rating to 4 stars, since although not perfect due to increased noise and heat, they have been good value and worked well and proven reliable so far.
Update August 2020: over a year on, both drives have been running 24/7 now and touch wood, both perfectly reliable. Given their price point and the fact they've been running now in machines in a warm, humid cellar (25c-30c with around 70-90pct humidity), these drives have now in my eyes eventually earned a well deserved 5 star rating despite my original misgivings...
| Hard Drive | 14000 GB mechanical_hard_drive |
|---|
