MaxDigitalData 3TB 32MB Cache 5700PM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Surveillance CCTV DVR Hard Drive (MD3000GSA3257DVR) (Renewed)

Purchased in Dec 2022 for a security camera system. Installed and worked great. The hard drive failed in Sep 2024, 3 months short of the 2 year warranty. Sent an e-mail to the seller and received a replacement a week later. When that one was DOA, another e-mail to the seller was responded to within an hour and another one is on the way.UPDATE: The seller sent the 2nd replacement by priority mail so I received it within two days (CA to FL). The unit was installed and is operating correctly. The seller probably spent more on shipping than I did on the original purchase.The customer service and integrity of the seller is absolutely stellar. My preferred vendor for any future purchases.

Worked great

Good

This drive is a rebranded Hitachi Deskstar 5K3000 HDS5C3030ALA630. Mine will be used externally for backup purposes only. Upon initial boot, the SMART data displayed zero power hours/cycles, zero errors, zero reallocated sectors/events, etc. and all tests with WinDFT passed. *WinDFT is a diagnostic tool for Hitachi/HGST drives.I expected the drive to be new/unused because it is not advertised as refurbished/renewed; however, there are light scuffs on the metal cover and scratches around several of the mounting screw holes. It formatted successfully and as of now, functions as expected.The 5K3000 is not a performance drive, so don’t expect it to be fast. Benchmark numbers are around 100 MB/s for read and write. Actual performance while copying data fluctuates from 65-80 MB/s depending on the size and type of files copied. Performance is comparable to Western Digital Blue or Seagate Barracuda even though their price and benchmarks are significantly higher.Research reveals that Hitachi drives are known to make noise, but this one is reasonably quiet even while used in an open-style dock. Upon powering on/off, the drive makes the typical spin up/down noise. At idle, it makes a soft grinding/vibration noise. Under load it is pretty quiet. The noise at idle is similar to the write noise on my WD drives. I am not very familiar with Hitachi drives and don’t know if this is normal or not. The noise is consistent and like I stated, goes away under load. Hmm.During testing, format and initial copying of data, I had fans positioned around the drive to keep it cool since it was powered on for 18 hours. With the fans, temps stayed around 80 degrees F (70 ambient). For weekly syncing of files, I probably won’t use the fans since the drive will be running for a few minutes (max) instead of hours and I don’t expect temps to get much higher than ambient. I will automatically monitor temps with a program and set it to alert me if temps go above my acceptable limit.The price of this drive fluctuated between $36.99 - 39.95 over the last few weeks. An old stock/non-performance 3TB drive for under $40 is good - especially if the drive is truly new/unused. I have my doubts and think this drive is most likely refurbished/renewed and only new to me. As long as it serves its intended purpose for data backup and doesn’t fail from using it only a few minutes per month for a few years, I’ll be satisfied.

Ordered 2 of these as replacement drives for an NVR. They setup fast and work great wish I had found these long ago. If you buy a NVR and need drives these are the ones you want.

Great price so far great product. It’s a lil noisy but for the price I ain’t complaining. Only had it installed for a week so I can’t say anything about longevity but for now I am happy.

The drive ran quiet and smooth. A surface scan came out fine with no bad sectors. The pricing was acceptable but not supper low.Issues encountered:1.) It runs HOT during continuous use. During the surface scan the temperature stabilized at 52 degrees C ( 125 F ), much too hot to hold in your hand. As a reference I checked a used WDC purple 3Tb with 8890 hours on it that I purchased on Ebay for $30. The used purple only reached 41 degrees C during the surface scan.2.) This drive has a small vent hole that commonly would have a label next to it warning you - DON’T COVER THE HOLE. The large MDD label on this drive complicatedly sealed off that hole.My guess is that this drive is an old Hitachi that was removed from service due to rising temperature, and that it was tested, scrubbed, tweaked, relabeled, and sold for use in non critical, intermittent video surveillance systems. It should do fine in that environment.

I like that I can now play back video. My camera system did not come with a hard drive. The hard drive does not come with screws. You will need to pick up 4 at the hardware store unless you already have some. It was easy to install. Take off the cover, match up the holes on the bottom of the case with the holes in the drive and insert screws. Attach the two cables then replace the cover and you’re set!