Binding: Electronics
Brand: Seagate
EAN: 0854441001764
Feature: 1 TB SATA NCQ internal hard drive is ideal for performance PCs, gaming, workstations, desktop RAID, and more
Hard Disk Size: 1000
Is Autographed: 0
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Seagate
Manufacturer: Seagate
Model: ST31000340AS
MPN: ST31000340AS
Publisher: Seagate
Studio: Seagate
Warranty: 5 years warranty

• 1 TB SATA NCQ internal hard drive is ideal for performance PCs, gaming, workstations, desktop RAID, and more
• 32 MB cache buffer; 7200 RPM for fast read/write times
• Perpendicular recording for increased data density
• Adaptive Fly Height offers consistent read/write performance from the beginning to the end of your computing workload
• 5-year limited warranty

• Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
• Norton Internet Security 2009
• Nero 8 Ultra Edition [OLD VERSION]
• Quicken Deluxe 2009
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition FULL VERSION with SP2

Seagate 1TB Speed:7200 rpm Seek time: 11 ms avg Interface:SATA 3Gb/s NCQ

Customer Rating:
Summary: Hopefully it doesn't die on me...
Comment: I got two of these for Christmas (for a software RAID) and immediately knew that something was off. The BIOS took a while to scan one of the SATA ports and eventually failed, unable to find a drive. "Great, DOA" I thought.. After a few reboots, the system did find the drive, but it also said there was a SMART failure. smartmontools showed a failing drive with a Spin_Retry_Count of 54, along with a number of concerning values on other attributes, and the drive was unable to pass short self-tests. Oddly enough, long self-tests passed. After some research, I booted the SeaTools CD and did a low level format, then rebooted. The drive passed the SMART check in the BIOS and short self-tests as well.

Seagate's phone support, while fairly nice, wasn't particularly helpful. I was regularly put on hold over the course of a 45 minute call as they conferred with coworkers. I would have liked to get some answers on values of several SMART attributes, especially the high spin retry, but they didn't have any. In the end, they said that if the drive passed self-tests, it was good to go.

It's been a few weeks now, and although the Spin_Retry_Count has increased by 2 on both and other attributes are fluctuating daily, the drives appear to be functioning normally. Hoping for the best, expecting the worst.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An obsolete drive - most shouldn't buy this unless the price fits your use
Comment: This drive uses an older, lower density, slower, hotter-running configuration (four drive platters). Most people shouldn't buy this ST31000340AS drive at this point unless you get a really good price on it, and plan to use it only for backup storage (and ideally not run 24/7).

The current version is the newer three platter Seagate 1TB ST31000333AS 32MB Cache SATA Hard Drive. Given the importance of a drive and the time you'll spend installing and using it, spend a few dollars more and get the current version.

The new 7200.12 generation of drives is coming out, with still higher densities, so this ST31000340AS drive will soon be two generations behind the times.

By the way, for Bulk/OEM drives the Seagate warranty is as of today 3 years, not 5. Not a big factor, really - what really matters is that the drive is reliable and doesn't need a warranty. Time will tell.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Big problems
Comment: Stay well away from these drives. They have a major firmware bug that will set the drive to busy, and lock you out. No PC's BIOS will not be able to see the drive. You will lose your data and get a refurbed drive back from Seagate that may well do the same again.

There are loads of stories about this all over the web, even on Seagate's own forums, but they deny there is a problem. I had one of these drive die in six weeks with no warning at all.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very Happy!
Comment: I ordered these drives to be used with a Drobo and so far, they are working GREAT! I agree with some others, that they are a bit noisy in the Drobo cabinet, but its no big deal for me because everything is located in a Broadcast Data Center for the radio station I operate so noise is no big deal. I am using the drives to backup music files as well as an image of 3 computers on the network, and so far could not be happier. The drives were packaged ok, in that they had plastic ends supporting them in a cardboard box. I am planning on purchasing two more to fill my Drobo (which by the waay I love!) soon!

JD from MoreOldies Radio
[...]

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Customer Rating:
Summary: 100% failure rate - Bad Batch?
Comment: Purchased 2 from Amazon, both failed within a few days of using. This may be a bad batch from China because it looks like failures on other posts were manufactured around the same time.

One drive gave I/O errors the other just disappeared from the machine. Unfortunately they were both ROOT drives for my machines so I wasted a lot of time trying to recover.

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