Aiks... Just saw somebody with a busted 3TB Barracuda. BTW, there's no such thing as a Seagate Barracuda GT 7200.14. Seagate refers to it as 7200.14 generation or specifically called Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 for the 3TB version.

Anyway, price seems good but how sure are you it's 3 months old and in good condition?

With regards to RAID, I'm assuming you're not running any at the moment with 1 hardisk. Are you planning to run RAID 0, 1, 5 etc? Minimum hardisk for RAID 0 and RAID 1 is 2. Minimum hardisk for RAID 5 is 3. If you are, try to get the same ST3000DM001 3TB model to eliminate problems.

As for dedicated RAID cards, there are numerous PCIe cards in the market like Areca, Adaptec, LSI etc. You don't want to go in that direction. Cost wise, it gets very expensive.

If there were cheap RAID cards, the one on the Intel motherboard is better. So why bother with cheap RAID cards? The expensive ones different story.

When you check your warranty online, the section for Product Replacement (RMA) is just next to it.

You need to register first though.

https://westerndigital.secure.force.com/?lang=en

No need to call. Their website is pretty automatic.

http://support.wd.com/warranty/index_end.asp?lang=en

There are basically 2 variables affecting data transfer. Platter density and rotational speed.

If all things being equal, higher rotational speed gives the ability to transfer data faster.

Just like higher rotational speed, higher density disc platter like the ones used in WD Red and Seagate's latest generation drives (1TB per platter) also allows for higher data transfer.

Most new hardisk especially the low powered ones with lower 5400 rpm are still able to rival the higher 7200 rpm ones because of the higher platter density employed.

As for access time, only rotational speed affects this and higher rotational speed means lower access times.

Black !

It's ok lah for the function you want. I needed one for my kids when we were traveling last year. Able to set it up as hotspot and stream movies to my android phones to it even when on the plane. I streamed 1080p cartoons but only 1 connection. If you try another, the playback will not be smooth.

For hotels that only allow one wifi device per room to be connected to internet, you can set the Seagate as a gateway to share one internet connection to several devices.

Speed of the hardisk is quite ok. For wireless, it should be fine. USB 3 connection is nice when you need to transfer huge files from your NAS to it.

Battery is about 4 hours give or take.

I saw it in Lowyat Plaza in one of the shops a while back when only brand like Synology was around. Have not been there recently to check. Price list also don't mention it now.

Tried garage sales yet?

Why buy WD RE4? That's more for RAID.

Buy WD Black and you still get 5 years plus cheaper at RM 450 for 2TB.

You do know right that Samsung hardisk division was bought over by Seagate?

Can you still get Samsung F4E brand new?

All good brands telan by bigger companies. WD telan Hitachi which is my favourite HD manufacturer. But then WD still allows Hitachi to manufacture from their Shenzen plant and sell them out in the market unlike Samsung which you cannot find anymore.

Which shop list Samsung brand hardisk?

Samba? Yes.

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_U...?language=en_US

I use this method a lot via ES Explorer when playing 1080p videos on my Note.

Never used OPlayer before.

I'm also beginning to think the same.

Anyway, surprise nobody mentioned the new launch of the 5TB / 6TB WD Red and the WD Red Pro line.

Hitachi is very much alive under HGST.

Very tempted to get Toshiba drives since they are HGST drives. They still produce 3.5". But the new WD Red 5TB and 6TB drives are tempting though.

Yes, I got into a similar problem as well. Thought it was only me. Just for the fun of it, I put all 4 of the 6TB drives into my HP Microserver. The BIOS detected them and managed to create a 24TB RAID 0 volume.

But once booted into Server R2 2008, I could not format the whole partition. Tried to google but till today I don't have the clue to the problem.

Anyway, the new drives were meant to be put into the Synology anyways. All fine and dandy in a RAID 5 volume.

Yes they are. Indeed ironic since WD is made in this region.

Bought my 6TB WD Red mid September 2014 for RM 875. Now it's at RM 919.

I hope your intention is to NOT to use the 6TB hardisk bootdrive in your PC. As storage data, it should be ok.

Just buy and external USB 3 or USB 2 case and install the hardisk inside it. Format and use it normally.

When your PC is up and running again, take the disc out of the external casing and install it in the PC on an available SATA port. You should not need to re-format the drive.

Perhaps a little bit on the expensive route but I suggest getting the SSD drives for your notebook and desktop boot drive. Don't need to get bleeding edge SSD. Just a normal bang for the buck one will do wonders for speed.

Then go for external drives or invest in NAS for large storage. If you have a few PCs / notebooks connected via your home network, best would be a NAS. Nowadays Seagate and WD drives should be fine. I hear Toshiba drives are also excellent. If you can get Hitachi, that would be best but hard to come by.

Spindle speed? 7200rpm for performance and for home use storage, best to get 5400rpm to keep heat and electricity bills down.

Yeah, my 6TB WD Red drives also damn expensive at the moment. Blame it on the weak currency.

How old is the drive? If there's already warning, best is to get ready and transfer / backup your data. It's not like a car where problems can be repaired.

5 years is 10% is limadekad. Hardisk pretty cheap nowadays. Just get one to replace the Samsung. Re-format this Samsung drive and see if errors still come up. You can use it as spare for unimportant data.

WD Blue is good. I believe max size is 1TB. Don't know what's the latest info and reliability on the WD Green but I personally avoid it.

On SSD, it's never too old a motherboard to have one. I put a Samsung 840 EVO on my Socket 775 Intel mobo with SATA 2 port. Never been more happy.