This spacious 250 GB quiet Seagate hard drive was purchased to use as my secondary drive to provide me with extra storage on my second computer. When formatting it I've divided it into two petitions so if I want to, I can install Windows XP on the first petition and used the second petition for storage only. Being a spacious hard drive, the first petition contains 47 GB for the operating system, and the second petition contains the remaining which is 203 GB to be used for storage only. I've installed a second copy of Windows XP on this new drive to be used in case if the main one messes up. Apparently you own an older computer, be sure the motherboard's bios supports 48 bits LBA (logical block addressing) or else data loss is possible when using any hard drive larger than 137 GB. I've found out that my motherboard will support this large hard drive which has the latest bios update before making this purchase. If you know what you're doing, you can update your bios to the latest one that will support 48 bits LBA from the manufacturer of your computer or motherboard if that's possible. Also in order to support such a large hard drive you would have to use Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or higher installed.Or Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4. Other then these barriers for an earlier model computer this large Seagate hard drive would make an excellent addition to your computer.

As a result, after researching for reliable brands of hard drives and a previous purchase of a smaller model I decided to go with Seagate because of the lengthy warranty. When you purchase an OEM Seagate hard drive that the warranty is through the place of purchase not through Seagate directly unlike other hard drive makers. That not the case with their retail version of the same drive. Although all Seagate's consumer grade hard drives (shipped from Seagate) after July 2004 supposed to carry a full five-year warranty from the date of shipment from Seagate and not from the time of purchase. This means if the drive has been sitting for a long time on your retailer's shelves, that time will be subtracted from your full five-year warranty. Also, when warranty replacement is call for Seagate will ship you a rebuild and not a brand new one. Because of the supposedly lengthy warranty I assumed that Seagate makes reliable hard drives and from other favorable reviews that I've read.

To keep tab on the hard drive condition, I use this free software (HDD Health) that can be downloaded from (http://www.panterasoft.com) that works by using SMART technology that already on every modern hard drive. It seems that while other computer hard drive makers has been cutting back on the warranty. Seagate, extended the warranty on their drives to a point that I felt I made the right choice on this purchase. This large high density Seagate hard drive consists of two platters utilizing four sides with each side containing 62.5 GB. Seagate also makes a four platter one that contains 500 GB in total size that utilize the same density technology.

By the way, the OEM hard drives was packed with simple antistatic box with minimal cushioning consists of foam shipping peanuts and a single cardboard box. This is in contrast to my earlier Seagate hard drive purchase more than a year ago. That one came shipped with a special cushioned protective plastic antistatic case cushioned by special plastic insert inside its own cardboard box from Seagate. This protective clamshell plastic case is labeled by Seagate as the "Seashell". For one single hard drive, this was shipped triple boxed with a 1 cubic foot outer box with extra cushioning . Seagate went to this length to protect their hard drive during shipping from damage that time. Luckily for me, this drive arrived undamage.

I hope this turn out to be a long-lasting and reliable hard drive. I will report here in the future on updates on how this hard drive turn out to be whether positive or negative. At this point I would say this drive turn out to be an outstanding performer.