Performance:RW speed is slightly faster than 2tb barracuda 7200 rpm (could be because it's empty and the barracuda is full) so far no issues all goodDevice Model: ST4000VX016-3CV104Firmware Version: CV10User Capacity: 4,000,787,030,016 bytes [4.00 TB]Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physicalRotation Rate: 5400 rpmForm Factor: 3.5 inchesATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s

Performance:received the faulty 4TB hard disc unit.received the faulty 4TB hard disc unit. Communicated with seller, he ask us to send back and remind us not to click refund/return. we tought he will replace with new one once he received the faulty, but we still need to wait 2-3 weeks more for him to claim and get the new one from factory.This is very troublesome. This is not cheap2 price which need to wait 1 month to get the replacement unit. still got new stock 8 unit but still asked us to wait the claim unit.poor SOP process. Now we hv to wait 2-3 wks, hope it's not the faulty one which been repair or hope we will received the working one. if still happen still hv to wait another 3 wks.haihhhhh

Better than expected honestly.

Lets try something different, up until I had so many Seagate 3TB M001 drives die on me, I tried some WD 6TB reds, one got sent back twice, then finally died out of warranty recently, even have a 6TB Black that came DOA, so much for best of the best. Funny thing is i have several 3TB WD and Seagate NAS drives in an 8 drive RAID10 for well over 5 years now and have yet to have any problems. I am using this particular drive for backup purposes. I was pretty surprised how fast this drive is, 235MB writes and 245MB reads. Also for such a large format drive, its access times are pretty low all considering. It was nice to just plug it in and it just worked, very first power on it chirped(maybe something got knocked out of place during transportation?), but after that its ... MoreLets try something different, up until I had so many Seagate 3TB M001 drives die on me, I tried some WD 6TB reds, one got sent back twice, then finally died out of warranty recently, even have a 6TB Black that came DOA, so much for best of the best. Funny thing is i have several 3TB WD and Seagate NAS drives in an 8 drive RAID10 for well over 5 years now and have yet to have any problems. I am using this particular drive for backup purposes. I was pretty surprised how fast this drive is, 235MB writes and 245MB reads. Also for such a large format drive, its access times are pretty low all considering. It was nice to just plug it in and it just worked, very first power on it chirped(maybe something got knocked out of place during transportation?), but after that its been whisper quiet, almost had me scared there. After the run around with 6TB drives and its not only me, I am hoping the 8TB drives last longer, but honestly not being DOA is a great start for me, 2 of 3 WD 6TB drives came DOA, one was a RED and the other one a BLACK, but surprisingly on RED worked from the get go and has for almost 4 years from now, so who knows. Cross my fingers. But honestly this drive is faster and quieter than my WD Black 6TB and around the same price, with the exception of the 2 less years of warranty, its a pretty good deal.

Great drive, great price!

This Skyhawk hard drive from Seagate specifically targets the video surveillance user. Seagate’s new “Guardian Series” drives feature high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), RVS (Rotational Vibration Sensors), huge amounts of cache, 7200 rpm spindle speed, and high workload ratings. The SkyHawk in particular also boasts enhanced ImagePerfect™ firmware. The series overall seems aimed at home or small business users who want huge, reliable storage, but aren’t necessarily setting up an enterprise level server. Pulling this bare drive out of its protective hot dog package, you realize it is something special. It’s got a heavy bulk to it that’s just different from other drives. It’s got your standard SATA and power connectors, along with the 4-pin jumper set that goes ... MoreThis Skyhawk hard drive from Seagate specifically targets the video surveillance user. Seagate’s new “Guardian Series” drives feature high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), RVS (Rotational Vibration Sensors), huge amounts of cache, 7200 rpm spindle speed, and high workload ratings. The SkyHawk in particular also boasts enhanced ImagePerfect™ firmware. The series overall seems aimed at home or small business users who want huge, reliable storage, but aren’t necessarily setting up an enterprise level server. Pulling this bare drive out of its protective hot dog package, you realize it is something special. It’s got a heavy bulk to it that’s just different from other drives. It’s got your standard SATA and power connectors, along with the 4-pin jumper set that goes unused. Installing the drive was uneventful. I have tested this drive’s bigger brother (the 10 TB version) and for whatever reason it didn’t have all the proper mounting holes. This “little” guy does have them though so it’s all good. Seagate makes the claim that the drive is optimized for recording up to 90% of the time and supporting up to 64 HD cameras. With a Workload Rating of 180TB per year, and MTBF of 1,000,000 hours, the SkyHawk should certainly have no problem handling that. Though it’s clear that the drive is marketed at the home or small business user who will likely not even approach those numbers. If you’re a user big enough to have 64 cameras, you’d likely spend the extra 20% it takes to snag Seagate’s Enterprise level drive dubbed “Helium”. The ImagePerfect firmware is a caching mechanism allowing for quick spin up of the drive when it’s needed (e.g. when a camera detects motion and needs to instantly start recording). The RVS helps with interference if you have lots of spinning drives in the system. This SkyHawk ST3000VX010 was immediately slapped into a recently built Kaby Lake i5 system to help perform DVR / NVR duty. Recording over-the-air TV and several 3MP IP cameras, this drive didn’t miss a beat. The SkyHawk’s closest direct competitor would be the Western Digital Purple series, which, while comparatively priced, has half the cache and spins at 5400 rpm. Overall this new drive from Seagate fills a great need for many home users who are constantly needing more and more fast, localized storage.

I purchased the 4 TB drive. I was slightly concerned having a lower spin rate as well as a 64 MB ...

I purchased the 4 TB drive. I was slightly concerned having a lower spin rate as well as a 64 MB cache. I am running eight cameras in a Samsung/Wisenet system. This system came with 1 TB and four cameras. But after I added four more to the system the 1 TB was no longer sufficient. I purchased this for terabyte drive, because it was the exact model of my 1 TB. This Is a 3.5 drive, so be sure that it will fit your console or whatever you are placing it in. It's important that people know this is not a standard drive and is made for surveillance cameras, or something that is access to an overridden on a regular basis. Unlike a standard hard drive in your PC that has correction control most of these drives for the surveillance systems do not have correction. Meaning ... MoreI purchased the 4 TB drive. I was slightly concerned having a lower spin rate as well as a 64 MB cache. I am running eight cameras in a Samsung/Wisenet system. This system came with 1 TB and four cameras. But after I added four more to the system the 1 TB was no longer sufficient. I purchased this for terabyte drive, because it was the exact model of my 1 TB. This Is a 3.5 drive, so be sure that it will fit your console or whatever you are placing it in. It's important that people know this is not a standard drive and is made for surveillance cameras, or something that is access to an overridden on a regular basis. Unlike a standard hard drive in your PC that has correction control most of these drives for the surveillance systems do not have correction. Meaning once it copies the data there is no verification that the data was copied correctly. Why this is not usually a problem on a system is a good hard drive and a smooth running operating system it could result in data loss. That is why it is advised to buy a surveillance hard drive, something that is specifically made to run off and and to keep copying the files without correction. I found a hard drive to be very efficient, and for some reason works faster than my 1 TB of the same maker and brand. It is also quieter than the 1 TB that my system came with. In fact the fan on my DVR makes more noise than a hard drive does and I have a quiet fan. Keep in mind why this may fit the majority of DVR's that are out there formats do vary from Linux, Windows or their own proprietary software. And formatting the drive may vary. Generally speaking most surveillance hard drives are compatible with buried systems but keep in mind that your hard drive may need to be formatted either by the DVR system, or possibly externally done to make it compatible with your DVR. I have seen more people have problems with DVR hard drives when they do not realize that the system they are installing in a have a proprietary format system and may not be compatible with the drive you purchased. That is why it's important to find a hard drive that has a wide range of compatibility as well is something that's been around for a while. Your surveillance cameras are expensive investment for most people. And the data that we have on these hard drives is why they are valuable. Anybody can purchase DVR, and cameras are pretty similar across the board improving with each year. But hard drives are the core operating systems bread-and-butter of you will. When you need the hard drive to work you need to work, this is barely second two cameras being of high quality because you have a high-quality camera but if your hard drive is a standard drive or of a low quality you may have issues. So if you've invested the camera system it's wise to buy a compatible high-quality hard drive that is built for surveillance systems and has a decent warranty. Overview: I highly recommend the drive. At this time it installed quickly, was able to format on my DVR with no issues. Is extremely quiet and accessing data to copy to another hard drive, or to use for fast search was extremely fast with no issues whatsoever. Check on Home Essentials Direct as the the prices vary from size to size. The 4 TB seemed to be about the best deal because it was slightly more than the 1 2 and 3 TB, but considerably less than the 6 TB, making this the best choice and value. Running at 4K, my cameras have enough room to record for approximately 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. Depending on whether you have motion or straight recording this can vary and your quality of cameras. I am guessing if you have a 1080 P camera system this may last you up to a month possibly depending on your settings.

Store All The Things

This behemoth hard drive from Seagate specifically targets the video surveillance user. Seagate’s new “Guardian Series” drives feature high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), RVS (Rotational Vibration Sensors), huge amounts of cache, 7200 rpm spindle speed, and high workload ratings. The SkyHawk in particular also boasts enhanced ImagePerfect™ firmware. The series overall seems aimed at home or small business users who want huge, reliable storage, but aren’t necessarily setting up an enterprise level server. Pulling this bare drive out of its protective hot dog package, you realize it is something special. It’s got a heavy bulk to it that’s just different from other drives. It’s got your standard SATA and power connectors, along with the 4-pin jumper set that goes ... MoreThis behemoth hard drive from Seagate specifically targets the video surveillance user. Seagate’s new “Guardian Series” drives feature high MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), RVS (Rotational Vibration Sensors), huge amounts of cache, 7200 rpm spindle speed, and high workload ratings. The SkyHawk in particular also boasts enhanced ImagePerfect™ firmware. The series overall seems aimed at home or small business users who want huge, reliable storage, but aren’t necessarily setting up an enterprise level server. Pulling this bare drive out of its protective hot dog package, you realize it is something special. It’s got a heavy bulk to it that’s just different from other drives. It’s got your standard SATA and power connectors, along with the 4-pin jumper set that goes unused. Installing the drive was mostly uneventful, save for missing two of the middle-side mount holes usually found on a 3.5” form factor drive. C’mon Seagate, really? You’d think at this level one wouldn’t need to one-screw-wonder the thing. Seagate makes the claim that the drive is optimized for recording up to 90% of the time and supporting up to 64 HD cameras. With a Workload Rating of 180TB per year, and MTBF of 1,000,000 hours, the SkyHawk should certainly have no problem handling that. Though it’s clear that the drive is marketed at the home or small business user who will likely not even approach those numbers. If you’re a user big enough to have 64 cameras, you’d likely spend the extra 20% it takes to snag Seagate’s Enterprise level drive dubbed “Helium”. The ImagePerfect firmware is a caching mechanism allowing for quick spin up of the drive when it’s needed (e.g. when a camera detects motion and needs to instantly start recording). The RVS helps with interference if you have lots of spinning drives in the system. This SkyHawk ST10000VX0004 was immediately slapped into an aging but capable i7 920 system with 8GB of RAM which serves DVR/NVR duty. Recording over-the-air TV and several 3MP IP cameras, this drive didn’t miss a beat and obviously provided a massive increase in storage potential (Thanks, DVR, for letting me know a year’s worth of HD video recording is now available). With a 64K allocation size, NTFS formatted, GPT partition, the drive shows 9.09TB available in Windows 7 (that’s 9,957,049,892,864 bytes for you nerds that understand). Multiple real world file copy tests showed this drive averaging around 120 MBps. Pretty reasonable for a spinning drive with 10TB of space. The SkyHawk’s closest direct competitor would be the Western Digital Purple series, which, while comparatively priced, has half the cache and spins at 5400 rpm. Overall this new drive from Seagate fills a great need for many home users who are constantly needing more and more fast, localized storage. The only ding is the missing mounting holes and that wasn't worth losing an entire egg over.

This is an excellent surveillance camera drive. As an IT technician, I cannot count how many time...

This is an excellent surveillance camera drive. As an IT technician, I cannot count how many times surveillance systems fail, right when you need them, just because you're not using the right drive. Also, using a desktop hard drive or NAS for surveillance will waste the cop's precious time. Have you ever tried scrubbing through days of video while simultaneously recording? I have, and I will tell you it's not fun! Unfortunately, this drive failed after just a couple months of use, but Home Essentials Direct (and Seagate) are good on sticking by the warranty. So 5 stars on that end. I've had good success overall with these Skyhawks in surveillance applications and would use them again.

breathing new life into old computers

i bought this for a new laptop, after having bought another previously for a Hyundai mini-pc. thankfully, this is product is working out as well for my laptop as it has for my mini-pc. it is not designed to be as fast as, say, a Seagate FireCuda SSHD, and that is ok; Seagate's hard drives work well with Kingston/HyperX RAM sticks, and this laptop came with a Kingston RAM stick in it [for which i chose a hard drive that would not run faster than this stick is designed to run (compatibility considerations, in other words)]. to be fair, if this laptop had not already come with a Kingston/HyperX RAM stick installed [or came with a less than 2GB stick installed] i would have put a faster HyperX RAM stick in it along with a Seagate FireCuda SSHD. i like Seagate hard ... Morei bought this for a new laptop, after having bought another previously for a Hyundai mini-pc. thankfully, this is product is working out as well for my laptop as it has for my mini-pc. it is not designed to be as fast as, say, a Seagate FireCuda SSHD, and that is ok; Seagate's hard drives work well with Kingston/HyperX RAM sticks, and this laptop came with a Kingston RAM stick in it [for which i chose a hard drive that would not run faster than this stick is designed to run (compatibility considerations, in other words)]. to be fair, if this laptop had not already come with a Kingston/HyperX RAM stick installed [or came with a less than 2GB stick installed] i would have put a faster HyperX RAM stick in it along with a Seagate FireCuda SSHD. i like Seagate hard drives because i have come to appreciate the longevity of their hard drives, and their SkyHawkMini has already made all of the difference in this laptop--a Toshiba NB525-00H [the netbook line, on the whole, was discontinued in 2012].