Why did I buy it?

eBay asked that I write a write a review about my purchase. I considered taking a pass on this, since the idea of evaluating this older-technology drive of modest speed and capacity seemed a waste of time. If the reader of this collection of thoughts has a need for specs, then the Western Digital site:

http://www.wdc.com

overflows with just such information, as any top-flight company's site will.

So, how should an article be written about such a piece of hardware, such that it is useful to someone considering the purchase of something like it?

The reader should first know something of the background of the author of these 'review' articles. In this case; my degree is technically a B.S. in C.I.S. from Arizona State University, where I was employed as a systems analyst for several years. I analyzed various hardware and software options, and performed evaluations after their purchase. I have personally build at least several hundred computers in my career, and administered thousands.

That said; at this stage of the hardware cycle, the reader is probably considering this drive as both an upgrade, and a maintenance purchase. It is likely being evaluated for usefulness in extending the life-cycle and capacity of an older system.

My first consideration in these situations is company reputation. The highest-capacity, cheapest, most available hard drive is useless if there is some sort of an unforeseen quality or compatibility issue, and the company sticks hard and fast to it's warranty policy, or worse, the drive appears to be warranty-able, but the company refuses.

During the 40GB era, I experienced this problem with Fujitsu, and it came to many letters written back and forth. In the end, Fujitsu did not accept responsibility. It happened again during the 160GB era, this time with none other than Western Digital. The response was night and day different. WD ignored their warranty, and stood behind their product LONG after they were not legally required. As a final note in this section; their phone support has always been top shelf, every time I have needed them.

Second consideration is usually specs. I touched on it above, but the expansion on that issue is; (in this price-range, and non-SCSI interface)4800 rpm is slow. 5400 rpm is better. 7600 is best. The only other main consideration is size and type of read-write caching buffer. Both size and type are fine for this price-range. Therefore; speed is very good for most purposes, except possibly high-volume servers.

Third in consideration (again, for me) is software support. Western Digital is unsurpassed in online, down-loadable, high-quality software utilities. For the reader's convenience, again, here is the link apropos this drive model (English users):

http://support.wdc.com/pr​oduct/download.asp?groupid=502​&level1=5&modelno=&​;lang=en

Finally; the fourth consideration (surprisingly) is price. eBay is consistently an excellent venue to find the best price on virtually anything the reader is considering purchasing, and Western Digital WD3200AAJB 320GB Hard Drives can be bought well.

Ultimately, the reader will determine his/her unique decision considerations and their relative importance. However; for me, price (while important), must take a back seat (not too far back) to the preceding three criteria. Western Digital is always in the hunt on price. When you add reputation, specs and support (software and technical), it is my position that Western Digital is always a value.

Exellent Value for product that is getting harder and harder to find!!!

I bought this product for my sisters older Dell system that only had a 60GB hard drive.The IDE hard drives(old name),Pata hard drives(new name) are getting harder and harder to find because everybody is going to the SATA drives now. When you can find one they are usually priced high. Try walking into Best Buy to get one. You will find one if you are lucky and it will be a lot higher than buying online and having it shipped.Anyway I installed this hard drive and it is running great and very quiet. I am not surprised though because WD has been making hard drives for a lont time now and has been doing a great job.

320 Gb for pure storage

Nice packing...missing the hard plastic case but it is OK. quick formating, easy install. Love the good performance of WD hard drive. I used to have all my hard disk from WD... The next will be as 1TGB or 2 , who knows.

New New New.

This item will be the first hard drive that will fit my system, I am a novise beginner at rebuilding computers. I go to computer recycling center's by where I live and they give me what they think they can not use. I have 28 computer's I am working on at present. One is for my wife's B-Day. 320 hard drive,4GB memory,DVD burner, Antivirus program's, OS System, the work's. I think if I had to buy a computer new it would cost me about 2500.00 to 3600.00. Thank You.

Great replacement drive for PVR

I bought this drive to replace the dead drive in my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD PVR. This line of drives is one of the few that are recommended for this purpose (according to various forums) and still has new units available.

I tried installing an older drive that I had lying around, which worked fine but was far too noisy. That led me to buy this drive, which is whisper quiet and has double the capacity of the drive I replaced. I've been using it for 3 months so far without any issues.

Like other reviewers have said, there aren't too many reasons these days to buy an IDE hard drive, and the price per GB is higher than comparable SATA drives. However, if an IDE drive is your only choice, this is a good one.