HGST, a Western Digital company ULTRASTAR HE8 6000GB 7200RPM SATA ULTRA 512E ISE 128 MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare or OEM Drives 0F23269

Well, I FINALLY made the leap!!My prior setup was with a Drobo 5D with a total of 4 drives (two 4 TB drives, one 2TB drive, and one 6TB drive).The "problem" is/was that the Drobo was setup on the OLD firmware (that gave me a maximum capacity of 16TB).The NEW firmware gave/gives you now a max of 64TB.The ONLY problem is that you HAVE to erase and re-format your ENTIRE array, in order to get this new (64TB) level!!😳(A "BUMMER" is right!!! 😩😰😡)So I said, "what the hell, I might as well flip for a 'premium' drive [like this He8] in the process of upgrading."So I went through GREAT blood, sweat, and tears 😭 to transfer over 9TB of data to a friends drive.....then WIPE my Drobo clean.....and then rebuild it (with this He8, as a base)......and then re-transfer all of my stuff BACK to my 64TB capable [but only, now, 9TB full] Drobo!!!😂😁🎉Yeah!!!!🎉👏.... I feel like a NEW Man....!!!! (Ahem!!😳....You know how we 'Guys' are with our Toys, Right?!? 💻💘)Anyway (sorry for all the theatrics), to sum things up.....If you're interested in a new drive to 'Bulk' Up your RAID array (of ANY kind or type [mine is a Drobo]), then THIS He8 drive is an EXCELLENT choice -- A) It's Quiet, B) It's Reliable, and C) It's freaken HUGE..!!!!!! 💪💪💪I look forward to adding a few more of these in the future (when I can either afford them and/or the price goes down) to reach my full 64TB capacity/ceiling.PS/BTW - I decided NOT to go with the larger (He10 - 10TB) because I heard a few places on the Internet that it uses a different [new] "layering" tech, that is not as good for a NAS and/or RAID (only strictly for archiving).Go with the 8TB - you WON'T be sorry! 🍾🥂

It's a great drive: speed and size, quiet when running, and the advertised reliability (5 year warranty, untested).Shipped fast too, and came in official packaging and all.But the drive makes a couple odd noises, so it's only getting 4 stars:1) kinda a puttering sound when installed vertical (have to be a few inches from PC to hear it, might be the bearings?),2) and a fairly quiet ticking sound every few seconds even when idle (probably just when idle; I haven't thoroughly tested this).Note: There are discussions about this sound on other online forums (for this specific drive and other HE6s or HE8s), HGST says it's normal (not the click-of-death, doesn't sound like it anyway), and that it has to do with Idle Maintenance. The ticking sound is the same tone as the more steady 'normal' grinding sound it makes when in heavy use, but it's just one noise, instead of a rapid secession of noises. Which is kind of why it's bothersome; I expect to hear a mechanical hard drive make some noise when it's in use (a whir or a grind)Feel free to comment if you don't hear this sound, or if you do. I'm curious if it's actually present for all of these drives, or just some. We might find out it's caused by a graphics driver or something (it's happened before)?

HGST drives are by far the most reliable according to recent analysis at a cloud server hosting company with more than 50,000 drives of various brands.Some people say that this drive is quiet, and others say that the seek is noticeable. The acoustic profile is typical, around 35 dBA and you can hear the seek in a quiet room. The sound won't bother anyone in an enterprise setting, but I wouldn't recommend it for a home theater PC or a quiet library/study setting.There are 14 different variations of the He8 drive to choose from, so it can get confusing which one to buy. This HUH728080ALE600 is the most typical option for the majority of desktop computers. This model has a SATA interface, 512e format, and the encryption circuit for Instant Secure Erase.512e (emulated) Format allows backwards compatibility with Advanced Format 4K capability for current and past operating systems. The operating systems and applications that fully support 4Kn (native) are not as common yet, so 512e is a safe bet if you're not sure.Instant Secure Erase allows the drive to be wiped instantly when it is put to another use. Because the encryption chip is very fast, it has the same high performance as the regular Secure Erase drive (which would require traditional time consuming overwriting to securely erase).Here are the different codes in the model #s:Includes ALE = SATA 512e FormatIncludes AL5 = SAS 512e FormatIncludes ALN = SATA 4Kn FormatIncludes AL4 = SAS 4Kn FormatEnding with 200, 600 = Instant Secure EraseEnding with 204, 604 = Secure EraseEnding with 201 = TCG EncryptionEnding with 205 = TCG FIPS EncryptionEnding with 601 = BitLocker Drive Encryption

Works better than expected!I couldn't believe its about 30% faster than my other "cheap" 6gb drive!

After two years still chugging away. A fast high-quality machine.