Western Digital Ultrastar 8TB DC HC320 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5″ Data Center Internal Hard Drive – 0B36452/0B36404

Pros: This drive is supposedly the exact same drive as the WD Gold WD121KRYZ. The performance is phenomenal and it matched right up with my existing Gold’s in my RAID with no issues.

Cons: Noisy, but it’s a server drive, so who cares.
The name of this drive has changed so many times that there’s a lot of confusion on the right drive to buy. The WD121KRYZ (WD Gold), HC520 (WD Ultrastar), HUH721212ALE604 (Hitachi), and 0F30146 (HGST) are all the exact same drive with different labeling.

Overall Review: I haven’t had to use the warranty service on a WD in quite some time, but I always go to the WD site and register my HDDs so that I get the right warranty length (from time of purchase, rather than manufacture). When I tried to do the same here, it came back with a message saying the drive couldn’t be registered and had no warranty.
After a few phone calls to WD, it turns out that WD hasn’t fully integrated their acquisition of HGST yet, and although only Western Digital is written all over the drive, it’s warranty is still through HGST, not WD. There’s no way to register a product on that site, but it did show the warranty valid for 5 years (from manufacture) and the notes said they would honor from purchase date with a proof of purchase.

Pros: This drive shows up as an HGST product and the serial number is inventoried in the HGST system so it appears this is just a WD sticker. If looking for an HGST product this one should be the real deal.

Cons: Louder than most WD drives I have used in the past but not that bad. I cannot hear it over the other fans in the rack.
I was a little disappointed I could not register this device on the WD website with all my other drives.

Overall Review: I did talk to WD and NewEgg support as this drive said it did not come with a warranty on the WD support page. It turns out this drives serial number is inventoried through the HGST and not the WD system so the drives warranty information would need to be verified there. After learning this information I confirmed that the drive I received qualified for the 5 year warranty on the HGST site. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the two companies merge resources and all warranty information will be verifiable on one platform.

It is important to note that WD only warranties drives purchased through their authorized vendor list so purchasing from NewEgg as the direct seller should be enough to guarantee the warranty.

Overall Review: I have purchased drives from Newegg as the shipper and seller in the past and they were retail drives with a full Warrenty from WD/HGST. This drive is an OEM drive and is not warrantied through WD/HGST.

Pros: Elbow room.
Writing 8+ tb took hours, not days.
Finally, everything on ONE drive again. As opposed to scattered across a fistful of 4tb.
Does NOT require special power plug.
The only sound I hear is dull thumping when the head thrashes.
Stays cool writing for hours.

Cons: Has the new mounting hole spacing, which my old case does not support at all.
Some fabrication required.

Price, duh.

Overall Review: What I wanted existed at the exact same time that I wanted it.
Still costs less than a new videocard, shucks, I bought 2 and both of them together still cost less than Ray Tracing.

Edit, just bought my 9th all looking good so far

Pros: 24×7 uptime without incident

Overall Review: I’m surprised reading many of these reviews. I’ve been running it generally around the clock for two years without a hiccup. I haven’t measured I/O information but it happily serves up 4K video to multiple screens. Found these reviews shopping for a second one and felt I ought to say mine runs great.

Pros: I guess I got a good one, no problems (only been a couple months)

Note this drive does not have the Power Disable Feature, so it works in an external enclosure. I put it in this one, even though it says up to 8 TB, it works great, both USB3 and eSATA work: Rosewill RX-358 U3C ( https://www.newegg.com/rosewill-rx-358-u3c-blk/p/N82E16817182247 )

Cons: As others have written, this drive is pretty loud. It would be annoying, even obnoxious, if it were near my desk. But I put it in an enclosure and use as a backup drive, only connecting occasionally. This is really a bulk server drive so if you want quiet don’t buy this one.

Overall Review: Fine drive, don’t buy if you want quiet.

Pros: Good performance, enterprise class drive for a server (versus a desktop drive) and the Western Digital name.

Cons: None, but the drive has only been in service about a month so time will tell.

Overall Review: I always buy Western Digital drives. They are my go-to brand for hard drives. I put about 10 drives similar to these into service and none have failed. They all have between four and six years of use and most are powered on 24/7. That’s very good reliability from my standpoint.

Pros: The WD Ultrastar DC HC320 (That’s a mouth full) is a great drive. It’s based on the previous Hitachi lines that were renowned in the industry for their reliability (before being bought out by WD).

The performance is good for a hard disk drive, and reliability is above average. I purchased six of them for my NAS, and all six came with clean bills of health. In addition, the price/TB value proposition is really great for an enterprise class drive.

Cons: None

Overall Review: It’s a great drive overall and well worth the asking price.