Western Digital 4TB WD Black Performance Internal Hard Drive HDD - 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 256 MB Cache, 3.5 - WD4005FZBX

I use these drives only for digital file storage. Very Happy, Pricing was great for a 4TB drive

I transferred about 1TB of large files to this drive so far and am seeing sustained write speeds of 230MB/s, and bursts of 750MB/s for the first few seconds. I am sitting right next to it and I dont hear any noise at all. If there is any, its quieter than my very quiet case fans so I dont notice it. I ran the CrystalDiskMark tests and didnt hear any noise during that either, even thought that reads and writes many small files. See my test results image. Overall, I am very happy since it was about 4x cheaper than a similar sized SSD would have cost, and is about 2x faster than any other hard drive I have owned in the past. It really is super quiet also, so I dont know what other reviews are talking about. Maybe this 6TB version is just that much quieter than the 2TB or 4TB versions people are saying are loud? Or maybe WD just improved them (bought mine Feb 2023).

Some people might find it stupid to buy a drive like this just for storage but after trying a couple of other brands and dealing with crap like SMR and loud and flat out defective drives from other brands its worth it in my opinion. This drive is pretty loud when seeking but is silent otherwise and I can deal with that. Im happy I was able to finally get a decent drive.

Western Digital hard drives are my choice when I pick a new hard drive. I used to live near their California HQ and was a former head of a large PC user group and learned WD has good quality. This drive is more expensive than others because i researched which one was good for handling heavy graphic read and writes when using video editing software and the file was on an external drive. This is a SATA drive and runs the faster 7200 RPM with a large cache. You have to either install this an internal drive, or buy an external drive case for this, with cables, etc. This is a do it yourself product and not for novice users. This drive is NOT a consumer product. You have to go to the website to get the instructions on how to format this drive, etc. That is what they mean by Bulk/OEM labels - it lacks any extras included with consumer hard drives in a box. You have to order the cables you need, and download the configuration software from the WD website, which is fairly easy to do. If you dont want to configure a drive like this, find a consumer external drive with the CD, cable, etc. and buy it instead. You need to know if your PC will handle large partitions, ie. 2 TB, or you have to format it with several partitions due to older operating systems. I did not buy a separate external drive box, but bought an Anker external open case with power supply and capability to connect to both USB 3.0 AND eSata connections. I did that because using the eSata port on my old laptop was much faster than 2.0 USB. But, I can move the box and drive to my desktop which has a USB 3.0 add in card. Both eSata and USB 3.0 are much faster transfer speeds than USB 2.0 and this drive can handle it. I have included pictures of the drive working fine in the Anker case so you can see both in use. Note: Hard drives have standard connections to the case or internal slot for power and data transfer. The ability to provide USB 3.0 or eSata connections is built into the case, not the hard drive. Both USB 2.0 and eSata require special cables, so dont forget to get them if you do this. In my case, since I used the external open Anker docking station, I didnt need cables. I just slid the drive into the docking slot and the connection for data and power was made. The Anker unit also has an on off switch. Of course, if you use this drive internally in your system, that is a different process and involves other tasks if you make it your primary drive with an operating system. I did not do that, so mine is used primarily for a video data file drive and has not been setup with booting capability. You cant go wrong with Western Digital. (Unless they sell out to someone,then watch what changes in quality). You can get this drive in 1 TB, 2 TB or 3 TB versions. I got the 2 TB version and it cost about 30% more than WD drives with lower speeds and features.

item is good !

For the price you get a ton of space....a fairly fast read and write time and WD reliability. Good to compliment a SSD drive for those programs that you dont use all the time but take up a bunch of space.

Although I am not a gamer, I bought this gaming edition because I like the extra cache (256 MB). Drive has good throughput: both read speed 250 MB/s and write speed 225 MB/s. This was using an external enclosure with USB 3 connection (eSATA connection yielded slightly higher throughput in both read and write). I also like WDs 5 year warranty (as opposed to standard 2 or 3 year on other drives). Since the 1980s, a have mostly used WD drives in my many various builds over the years and they have never disappointed me. (I have extra drives laying around that are over 15 years old (these are smaller capacity SATA1 and SATA 2 drives) and they all still work good. Recommend this drive for anyone looking for decent performance at a decent price. Only one caveat: This drive tends to run hotter then the WD Blue drives, but still within manufacturers specs. So if you plan to use this drive in an external enclosure, be sure the enclosure has a fan, or at the very least is well cross-ventilated. If you put this in a fully enclosed fan-less enclosure, it WILL get hot.

Wonderful HDD. Holds plenty and is quite fast.

WD Is always my favorite HDD going back years!, this not only has amazing transfer speeds thanks to the SATA III (6 Gb/s Speeds) technology-but also the WD Cavier BLACK EDITION 500GB with an amazing super fast 64MB Cache makes this the BEST HDD (Leaving SSDs Out Of This) in the market today! Coming in many ranges from the 500GB to the 1TB+ (BLUE & BLACK 64 MB CACHE DRIVES) his is by far the best choice for any PC ENTHUSIAST / GAMER for their Backup Storage & Installs of their GAMES in the market today! (( OF COURSE THIS IS ONLY BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE WITH WD PRODUCTS, & HOW I FEEL THE OVERALL QUALITY, DURABILITY & TECHNOLOGY THEYVE IMPLIMENTED INTO THEIR HIGH LINE DRIVES OR ANY DRIVE IVE OWNED FOR THAT MATTER AND TOO COMPARED TO THE MANY OTHER BRANDS, I.e SEAGATE, IVE NEVER HAD WD HDD FAIL DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF USE AND STRESS I PUT ON MY DRIVES DUE TO GAMING, ETC. IN THE LONG RUN THE FAIL RATE IS SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN ALL OTHER BRANDS IVE USED IN TERMS OF THEIR LONGEVITY & LIFESPAN)) - Also keep in mind even the lower end 320GB 16MB Cache BLUE models, even GREEN are all just great products regardless., It simply depends on how you use your HDDs (For me simply for Backing UP & Even INSTALL OF MY GAMES ON THE BLUE/BLACK 64 MB CACHE MODELS, But even the lower end models are still my choice for backup,,media, cloning, image backups and more.) - They come typically in a 8-16, 32,64MB Cache in this CAVIAR Models & in Many Ranges of DRIVE SIZES, the GREEN, BLUE & BLACK Models but yet all reliable and some!. So if your needing a DRIVE thats highly dependable, easy to work with and has a whole lot of WD Programs then WD should be the @1 Choice / Consideration for your HDD Needs Overall! I typically get the 350-500 (NEW) GB Base Models like these for backups, but even better is the the amazing quality their BLUE/BLACK 64MB Cache Models I use that too are at GREAT Prices and just PERFECT for all your GAMING related needs in conjunction with a good SSD drive to install your OS too, Simply put for the quality, durability, and range of Drive options it simply boils down for me to the PRICE to PERFORMANCE Value FACTOR when going with my WD HDDs.. Ill continue to be a loyal customer of WD Products for all my Drive needs (SSD is a different story) - I also must mention the expedited and fast shipping that AMAZON always delivers on. Thanx again and I hope this is helpful for anyone looking for Hard Drive options. Jason C (UTAH)

Working for intended use, moved from 5tb to 8tb… drive is almost full… black line needs some larger sizes.