Product Description

SEAGATE ST3160023AR - Digital hardware experts agree that ultimate desktop performance must include a SEAGATE hard drive. Ultra-fast, virtually silent and uncompromisingly reliable, this drive is the best way to expand your computer's storage capacity, while in many cases actually increasing performance speed - without upgrading the processor! 8MB cache Compatibility - PC and Macintosh Dimensions - 1H x 4W x 5.75D Weight - 1.4 pounds Five year warranty with unmatched technical support

Product Details

• Brand: Seagate
• Model: ST3160023A-RK
• Dimensions: 3.80" h x 9.70" w x 8.80" l, 1.70 pounds
• Hard Disk: 160GB

Features

• 160GB capacity - just the thing for greedy applications like multimedia, high definition video and serious gaming
• I/O data transfer rate - up to 100 Mbps
• Sustained data transfer rate - Up to 58 Mbps
• Average seek time - 8.5ms
• Average latency - 4.16ms

From the Manufacturer
Features

• 7,200 RPM desktop performance
• 350 Gs non-op shock
• 3-D Defense System
• Fast performance
• Protection against handling damage
• Protection against handling damage and data loss
• Best combination of performance, acoustics and robustness
• Best-in-class non-operating shock for excellent reliability
• Idle acoustics of 2.5 bels- the industry's best

DRIVE DEFENSE

• SeaShell packaging for drive protection against 1,000 Gs of nonoperational shock
• Enhanced G-Force Protection

DATA DEFENSE

• Error-correction code (ECC)
• Safe Sparing

DIAGNOSTIC DEFENSE

• SeaTools Suite diagnostic software
• S.M.A.R.T. Technology
• Web-based tools
• Enhanced Drive Self-Test (NDST)

Customer Reviews

fast and reliable drive
It's pretty hard to go wrong with a Seagate drive; great performance and a five year warranty make this hard to beat, and the price is right. Other than that, there's not much you can say about a hard drive... most of the time you don't care about it, until it crashes! That's why it makes sense to go for the best quality drive you can find, and that would be the Seagate.

While the drive comes with software to migrate your old operating system to the new drive, be warned that it's hard to get a clean migration. I tried this twice, and some things kept getting scrambled in the registry. I finally decided to just reload the operating system from scratch and copy the data files over (made the new drive the master, and the old drive the slave; the documentation explains how to do this, it's easy). A fresh installation is probably for the best anyway, as registries tend to get gunked up over time. Keep in mind that your operating system installation CD may not recognize the full 160GB (my older WinXP Pro CD only saw the first 131GB, until I loaded SP2 later), so you may wind up with a second partition. But that's not a big deal, it's still a great drive, and my system is noticeably faster now.

BIG BANG for a little buck!
I bought this hard drive knowing that SEAGATE was an awsome hardware company, but I had never actually owned one of their products. Well, everything good that you about them, belive them! This drive is super quiet, and with an 8MB cache, it is extremely quick and responsive. I don't use it in a PC or Mac, so I don't know for sure how it performs for those, but it has got to be even better. I used this drive to replace my XBOX HDD since it decided to crap out on me about 4 months ago. I run multi GB programs off it and it handles the data stream PERFECTLY! And for $85, you just cannot come close to beating it!

Crippled drive
Be aware that Seagate has disabled AAM (auto acoustic management) from the factory on all their drives due to a pending lawsuit for copyright infringement. AAM is part of the ATA specifications, however Seagate doesn't mention anywhere that their products are missing this important feature -- not on the retail box, not in their specs, not on their website.

In addition to that, every 40 secs the drive runs an idle scan (Seagate calls it STIR - Seek To Increase Reliability) whose purpose is to prevent the head from overheating from sitting on the same place for too long. This produces a loud buzz, a clicking noise or a combination of the two, as other reviewers have noticed.

Bottom line: other than an exceptionally high level of noise, this drive has nothing special to offer in terms of price, performance or storage capacity.