What it says, yes, reccomended. update: Second one, all good
UPDATE: ok got my second one of these today. Again well packed. Crystal Disk Info, all good. Zero power on hours power on count 1. SMART data all passed. Western Digital Data Lifeguard Quick Test. Passed. SO again, no reason to doubt these aren't WELL worth the (currently) $55. First one, (original review): First off, well packed. Lots of large bubble-bubble-wrap, tightly secured, right-sized box inside envelope. Can't recall if the envelope was padded but it wouldn't have needed to be. Took a few days long to arrive, probably not related to how fast the seller got the item out the door. Didn't pay attention to that. The drive itself, sealed anti-static bag, like new, looked new no scuffs or signs of wear. SMART data all good. 0 power-on hours/count. GRANTED, I hear, 'they' now have the means to wipe SMART data... so... I also tested it with Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic - Quick Test, takes 2 minutes, (probably "CHKDSK" under the hood) but all good there. I strange thing, notice the listing shows pictures only for the "under-side" of the disc? Well, because, the topside is completely covered by a blank white sticker/cover/label. I'd include a pic but the drive is installed already. So clearly there's something they don't want you know. The good news is SMART data identifies a model number consistent with what's shown on the under-side sticker. So it IS a Western Digital Blue. Based on that I was not motivated to try and peel the topside sticker off. I bought this to upgrade the 1tb hd in my AFN receiver/dvr. Testing on the PC first had shown the drive as not initialized, (like new). I put it in the dvr as was, un-initialized. As soon as the unit finished booting up it immediately launched into formatting the drive. After that finished a second power-plug-pulled reboot was required to clear some odd behavior. Since then no issues. (nothing that wasn't also true with the original 1TB HD) The only difference being as expected, the recording capacity is roughly doubled. Would buy again. Actually, I just did. I have 2 of these receivers and the 2 TB size is just the ticket. I've found no reason these aren't well worth the bargain price. Read more