Replacement Hard Disk Recommendations

Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound

Well-Known Member
As quite a few users are now deciding to replace their factory fitted hard disk drives, either because they want extra capacity, or because the original is dead/dying. I thought we could have a thread for recommendations / suggestion for available replacements. It would be helpful if posters stated whether or not they had actually fitted the drive in question, where they got it from, It's size, whether is has Advance Format etc.
 
BMAX : I replaced my noisy Pipeline with a WD5000AVCS, which is completely silent and works fine.
If you need a 1TB version, the WD10EURX seems to be OK although it is advanced format, and is available from Dabs and elsewhere.
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af123 : Has a blog on the WiKi for the Seagate Pipeline HD 2TB Drive (ST2000VM002/3)
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Wallace : I changed my original 500GB HDD to a 1TB (Western Digital AV WD10EVDS). It is very quiet and runs cool.
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Wallace : would hang fire recommending the WD10EURX. I have fitted one this week to replace the standard Seagate 500GB Pipline 2. I had several failed or more correctly, shortened recordings with an on-screen message stating something about a power failure.
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I fitted the 2TB drive (ST2000VM003) as per the af123 instructions (first drive had errors on install and was returned, second drive has been fine). It was the new GPT format and it's been fine following af123's instructions for block alignment. Been running it for some months now. Old original 1TB drive had a few errors, but has been put into service on the desktop as a scratch drive.

T

Editted to add: mine was also from WAE+ as above, though it was the 2TB version
 
Just to add a note of caution about WAE+, I ordered a 2TB ST2000VM003 on the 20th June with a promised delivery date of 6th July. They took payment immediately but delivered nothing and were unable to give a revised delivery date when chased several times. On the 26th July I requested a full refund and will update this when the refund arrives. I ordered the same drive from Saverstore.com http://www.saverstore.com/product/20260685/PIPELINE-HD-2TB-CE-35IN-5900RPM-64MB-SATA-6GBS----IN and it was delivered three days later. I haven't yet installed it but it looks new with a 2013 manufacturing date and in a sealed bag.
 
MartinLiddle said:
Just to add a note of caution about WAE+, I ordered a 2TB ST2000VM003 on the 20th June with a promised delivery date of 6th July. They took payment immediately but delivered nothing and were unable to give a revised delivery date when chased several times. On the 26th July I requested a full refund and will update this when the refund arrives. I ordered the same drive from Saverstore.com http://www.saverstore.com/product/20260685/PIPELINE-HD-2TB-CE-35IN-5900RPM-64MB-SATA-6GBS----IN and it was delivered three days later. I haven't yet installed it but it looks new with a 2013 manufacturing date and in a sealed bag.
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I have now installed the 2TB drive and looking at the SMART data I am confident that the drive is new and everything seems to be working properly. Still no sign of the promised refund from WAE+. Doing a bit of googling gives very mixed views of WAE+; a reasonable number of satisfied customers but also a significant number with very similar experiences to mine. Personally I will not be attempting to buy from them again.
 
I have seen a huge amount of negative press about We Are Electricals and WAE+ (their renamed company when the previous closed down) and other subsidiaries over on MSE forums... It seems like they simply source (or believe they can source) from other distributors around the EU. I will never buy from them (not that I've tried), and would warn others to be wary.
 
The 2TB ST2000VM003 is available from ebuyer.com for £77.42. Postage is free if you take the 5 working day delivery option.

I've used Ebuyer for years, bought everything from laptops to batteries from them and never had a problem. Their returns policy is excellent. (I have no connection with the company.)
 
I've got the seagate pipeline 2tb from ebuyer.

Drive is louder than my old 500gb and seems to make my hummy vibrate a little! I just put the hummy on rubber stands and now its ok :) Nobody else seems to have any issues with vibration so I've probably got a slightly faulty drive.

No issues other than that.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
 
Agree with selectortone, I have often used eBuyer or alternatively Scan. Both have been good on price, delivery and customer service.
 
Used eBuyer loads:) Used Aria a bit. OK except if you have to return something. Avoid. Took me ages to get my money back on a faulty SSD the sent me. Many phone calls ("Yes sir, I'll do it now" type blx) and unanswered emails later I finally got a full refund not the partial refund that the attempted to fob me off with.
 
Trev said:
Used Aria a bit.
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I have purchased various items from Aria over the years, many at very favourable prices and benn satisfied. However about 18 months ago they did supply me with an allegedly new Seagate hard drive which a) wasn't new and b) was actually completely knackered as testing it with Seatools for DOS identified. I did get a refund but am a bit wary now.
 
Did you get a full refund without jumping through hoops. My first refund for a faulty SSD was only the cost price and did not include the postage and return postage? After several phone calls and emails, I got the full refund, but it took over a month to get it. I for one will never use them again, as their SC for faulty goods was, in my experience, appalling. A little web research on the subject indicates that I am not the only one and my experience is a fairly common reaction from them on faulty goods.
 
Ezra Pound said:
As quite a few users are now deciding to replace their factory fitted hard disk drives, either because they want extra capacity, or because the original is dead/dying. I thought we could have a thread for recommendations / suggestion for available replacements. It would be helpful if posters stated whether or not they had actually fitted the drive in question, where they got it from, It's size, whether is has Advance Format etc.
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As a consequence of my hard disk failure experience (see: "TELNET session with HDR-FOX-T2 Failing") I decided to replace the hard drive. It appears that the original "Seagate pipeline" disks have been phased out so I went for a "Seagate ST1000VM002" 1tb one which appears to be almost the same spec as the pipeline. I ordered it from "Broadbandbuyer.co.uk" ; it cost £50.06 plus £3.00 delivery plus £10.61 VAT - total £63. 67. It was ordered late afternoon of bank-holiday Friday, dispatched the following Tuesday and arrived the next day (Wednesday). I followed the instructions on this site and a series of short vids on YouTube - this is the 1st one -
- and it was straightforward. (Fiddliest bit is the power connection to the fan.). Reconnected the box, powered up and it immediately recognised the new Disk and offered to go into formatting mode. This was fine and a I am now up and running.
 
I used this one of the recommendation of others on this forum-
http://www.ebuyer.com/337318-seagate-1tb-pipeline-internal-hard-drive-st1000vm002
Worked a treat, unscrewed box, removed old, fitted new, put box back together, started the hummy and it automatically asked to format the drive. Once this was done we were up and running, custom firmware, favourite channels, recording schedules all intact. All i had to do was update all the packages on the custom firmware and re-register my new drive with the remote scheduling portal.
 
martypants16 said:
Worked a treat, unscrewed box, removed old, fitted new, put box back together, started the hummy and it automatically asked to format the drive. Once this was done we were up and running, custom firmware, favourite channels, recording schedules all intact.
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Have you stress tested it (eg by simultaneously recording two HD programs and playing back a different HD recording)?
 
Using networking, I have stressed the disk accesses with 5 simultaneous HiDef streams in the past.
 
Black Hole said:
Using networking, I have stressed the disk accesses with 5 simultaneous HiDef streams in the past.
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The point I was trying to investigate is whether a 4KB sector disk running with the partitions unaligned (but with 512 byte sector emulation) is capable of adequate performance.
 
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