Hitachi GST Ultrastar A7K1000 HUA721075KLA330(0A35771) 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Hard Drive Bare Drive

Pros: This drive has exceeded my expectations. I decided to try this drive because I previously owned 2 Hitachi 160GB IDE drives in 2003 and they are still working in another computer.

Cons: None

Overall Review: I wanted this drive to run and backup all of my different partitions and data files. I will order another one of these drives as soon as I can afford it. Hopefully they will be around for another couple of months.

Pros: I purchased 5 of these (4 and 1 spare) for a RAID-10 backup system. After a recent lesson learned (the hard way) with “New” (NOT) Seagate drives from another NewEgg marketplace vendor, I ran a full suite of tests on the five drives. All five passed the drive tests. I can’t comment on longevity or reliability, but passing all tests is a great start.

In addition, these drives run relatively cool. So far, so good.

Cons: None

Pros: The Ultrastar series are great drives. I purchased a 1TB version 2 months ago and it haven’t had a single issue.

*Quieter than any drive I have owned thus far
*Seems to be faster than my 10k RPM drive
*Runs cooler than the 240GB drive it replaced
*Works with original PowerMac G5 (July 2003 models)

Cons: Makes you want to buy more of them.

Overall Review: Ultrastar vs. Deskstar… Worth the extra $50 to get the 5 year warranty. Also probably more reliable due to Hitachi simply having a longer period of time to lose money on it (i.e. better quality control).

Pros: Very quick and quiet drive, not to mention fantastic capacity (I purchased the 1TB version but it looks like NE is no longer carrying). This drive is noticeably quieter than my 750GB Seagate.

Cons: Since this drive is on 24/7, temp has been ok at around 35c idle (ambient room temp 68f), and running at around 40-44c under load. Perhaps a little higher than I would have liked. Will update once hot summer months come around.

Overall Review: Running this externally via SATA connection as a backup storage drive for critical data/files, enclosure is well ventilated. I am very pleased with the performance and accoustics of this drive.

Pros: Jedakiah’s review is WAY off base! This is a great drive that is right on par (performance wise) with the Deskstar 7K1000! SR never reviewed the Ultrastar A7K, and this drive isn’t even in their Performance Database. SR did have older models of the Ultrastar in their database but not this one. Ext**** Tech did a benchmark on this drive and it’s performance is a hair off from the 7K1000 (basically no difference) but has a 5 year warranty to boot!

Cons: A little expensive, but well worth it. If the Samsung F1 ups their warranty, I would give it a thought.

Overall Review: People should not post unless they do their research and they know what they are talking about! This is a great drive for low end servers and individual users. Don’t listen to poorly researched reviews!

Pros: 5 Year warranty. Designed to be a server hard drive that’s on 24/7.

Cons: The Ultrastar line is designed for servers. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that the SATA Ultrastars are faster than the Deskstars for one user. It’s not even close. Look at Storage Review’s benchmarks to see what I’m talking about. If you intend to use this as your primary drive in something other than a server you’d generally be better off with a cheaper and significantly faster Deskstar.

Overall Review: I do not actually own one of these, I’m just sharing my research. I almost bought one but then I looked at benchmarks.