Seagate BarraCuda Pro 500GB Internal Hard Drive HDD – 2.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM 128MB Cache for Computer Desktop PC - Amazon Exclusive - Frustration Free Packaging (ST500LMZ34)

Works well I have it encrypted with veracrypt and performance is standard for a hdd. Note this is quite fat drive as I believe they use 2 disks on the inside so make sure your laptop has enough space that allows for essentially 2 2.5" ssds to be stacked on top of each other. I have about 3tb filled up now and it is going strong

Bought this to go in my Eufy Camera Homebase. Works fine and provides enough space to record over a month with two high detail cameras continuously recording.

The drive came in an OEM package, ie no documentaion/driver cd or even Manufacturers packaging. The drive was packaged in an anti-static sealed bag, with plastic end supports inside a plain brown card box with I think Polish language writing on a label, this package was then inside a well packed Amazon box.Due to the packaging, I was a bit apprehensive that perhaps the drive was not actually brand new but having checked it out with CrystalDiskInfo, the run-time hours were very low indeed - I first installed Windows 7, then upgraded to W 10, so I expected to have some uptime and all was in line with my estimation. So my fears that the drive was not new were unfounded I am glad to report.I chose this 'Pro' drive over the straight Seagate 500GB Barracuda because the 'Pro' spins at 7200 vs 5400 rpm of the non-Pro and is therefore slightly quicker, 160MB/s vs 140MB/s, but even more important is the 5yrs for the 'Pro' vs 2yrs warranty for the non-Pro. The drive is for use in a low power email server (fanless Gigabyte BRIX N2807 GB-BXBT-2807, 8GB RAM, W10 Pro) running 24x7 so reliability and low power are my key considerations. The drive is not silent, as in how silent an SSD would be, but you need to be less than 2 feet away in a quiet room to hear the spinning. I don't have a non-Pro equivalent to compare the Pro version to. The email server sits about 4 ft away from my desktop machine and I can't hear any noises from the email server.The cost uplift between the Pro and non-Pro versions is about GBP 10 or about 30%. For me, GBP 10 more for increased reliability, ie 5yrs vs. 2yrs (it's not quite as simple as that, but generally a manufacturer will only offer longer warranty period if they believe that one device has a better expected life than another), is easily justified for my application, and my peace of mind.

Excellent replacement for memory drive

I wanted an SSD for archival purposes. Not blistering speed - reliability was my primary concern.Baracuda has 1.8m hours MTTF (on average it'll last 1.8m hours, 75000 days, 205 years). I did those calcs twice because I didn't believe it either. However, that's not the whole story. SSDs can only be written to so many times; Drive Writes Per Day. From a famous search engine:“Drive Writes Per Day” tells how many times you can overwrite the entire capacity of the SSD every single day of its usable life without failure during the warranty period.Baracuda=485 TB. ie you can rewrite the entire thing 485 times. As I just want to write 1TB ONCE that's me sorted.Many reviews of this SSD are average, stating it offers nothing new, its Phison S10 controller is 4 years old, newer SSDs with new controllers (eg Crucial MX500 et al) offer better performance for roughly the same money.Maybe, but any SSD outstrips an HD - including this one. This is WAY faster than my old 1TB clanky HD, uses far less energy and is silent in operation.The fact the Phison controller is still being used (not just by Seagate) means it's reliable. I looked at the 1* reviews for the Crucial MX500 and nearly all state "stopped working after a few months". That put me off so I bought this.I don't need boy-racer performance for an archival drive. But playing with it, it reads and writes plenty fast and the read speed would make it ideal for videos, audio, games in a PS4 etc.In fact anandtech.com states "The Seagate BarraCuda had great sequential read performance". Perfect for me.I installed this into Windows 10.Needed to format it using:Windows Admin Tools / Computer Management / Disk ManagementI formatted it using "new" GPT instead of MBR. Up and running within minutes.1TB in 50g. Amazing how far we've come from lead brick 10MB HDs!

Good stuff too bad I had to return it, it barely fit in the laptop, because the left side of laptop had a curve after installing and I did not wanted to damage it, it's almost twice as ticc as a regular 9mm one so if you are not Shure if it fits put 2hard drives on top of each other try close the lid on the laptop.