Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB

...5 year warranty from trusted seagate and the solid feel of it, it's a quality product.

I was temped to buy an external hard drive as I thought that would be easier to install, just plug in, but installing an internal drive was only a bit more complicated and well worth it. My friend's got an external hard drive but it gets very hot as it has no fan, and as it is connected by usb, it's not as fast at transferring data. You can get ...
...with external hard drives from seagate you only get a 1yr warranty, instead of 5yrs for internal drives like this one.

The formatted usable size is 298gb, not 320gb, it is very quiet I do not notice it at all. It is lightning fast thanks to its 16mb cache which helps make windows and programs load up quicker.

The downside with the low price I paid was that as it was OEM (original equipment manufacturer) hard drive, ... more

If you need extra storage for all your music, games and videos, which take up a vast amount of room then this hard drive is a safe bet. With a 5 year warranty from trusted seagate and the solid feel of it, it's a quality product.

I was temped to buy an external hard drive as I thought that would be easier to install, just plug in, but installing an internal drive was only a bit more complicated and well worth it. My friend's got an external hard drive but it gets very hot as it has no fan, and as it is connected by usb, it's not as fast at transferring data. You can get external hard drives connected by sata cables, which are quicker, but these are more expensive. Other bonuses of being inside is that there is more room on my desk, no need for another plug socket and they are cheaper. A disadvantage of internal drives is if you want to transfer data between pc's without using a network, or for backup storage on many pc's. Also with external hard drives from seagate you only get a 1yr warranty, instead of 5yrs for internal drives like this one.

The formatted usable size is 298gb, not 320gb, it is very quiet I do not notice it at all. It is lightning fast thanks to its 16mb cache which helps make windows and programs load up quicker.

The downside with the low price I paid was that as it was OEM (original equipment manufacturer) hard drive, this means that it is for computer manufactures and the hard drive is the only item incuded, so there is no instruction manual, or the sata cable to connect your hard drive to the motherboard. I had to buy the cable seperatly, but this was only a couple of quid. However nnon OEM drives come with the cable included.
Although no instruction manual was included, Instalation was very easy. I had a rough idea of what to do, but visiting seagates website, www.seagate.com helped. I downloaded for free "disk wizard" which guides you through, step by step the instalation process of setting up your hard drive. It formats the drive and allows you to transfer all your files to the drive as well as allowing you to create partions, if you want. Although it could have been clearer on entering setup mode, it is pretty easy and simple to understand.

This is just a rough guide of what I did and other computers can be different.
1. Visit seagates website and download disc wizard and install it.
Follows it's instructions, then it tells you to turn off your pc and connect the disk drive. There should be two cabels that you need to connect, a power cable that comes with your motherboard/pc (mine was 5 wires joined together that was hanging near the empty hard drive bay) you next need the sata cable (has 7 thin pins) this connects from your motherboard to your shiny new hard drive. If you are adding an extra hard drive just follow the existing hard drive cable to the motherboard and connect it to a spare socket.
2. When turning on your pc there will be a button(s) that enters the setup mode for your computer. (in my case F2, but it differs depending on pc manufacturer, I have a dell dimension)
As soon as you turn it on and the first screen pops up press it.
3. This brings up a screen and you need to scroll down to hard drives and enable the location where the new hard drive will go, (this lets windows detect the new drive). Press enter and then exit setup. If you are not sure, and enable the wrong one a message should pop up "no disk drive detected would you like to return to setup" If this happens this means that either you have not connected the hard drive or you have enabled the wrong hard drive position, so go back and choose another.
4. When windows loads up disc wizard loads up again automatically and finishes the instalation.
5. When instalation is compete a new drive should have appeared under my computer, you can now sit back and admire your new found computer knowledge.

This features Native Command Queuing (NCQ), which is supposed to allow quicker processing and create less wear on the drive. It is supposed to work like a lift, in that it does not do the jobs in the order that they ae requested, but queues them in a more efficent way. If this makes any difference, I do not know, but the drive is very fast.

Overall I would recommend this to anyone who needs a bigger hard disk drive, as it was very easy to set up and was recoqnised by bios (windows setup) first time. It is exceptional value for money, at under 25p a gigabyte. I bought mine from ebuyer for just under £70 inc VAT, delivery and cable, its the same price on dabs as well.
It has a 16mb cache which is pretty fast and spins at 7200rpm, which is nothing too special, but gets the job done quick.

In summary it is a good drive from trusted seagate, and quiet, I never notice it, with 5yrs peace of mind warranty, a good support website and a good price. 

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