Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I have been an HP customer for years and have never had any problems.That is why I usually do not do any research on their items before I buy them - but that was a mistake with this product.If I had searched I would have found that numerous individuals (including people on HPs own product forums!) are having the same problem: the drive works fine for a few weeks - then the cooling fan screams.The noise indicates that the fan blades are fighting friction and sticking.In time, the motor driving the fan will fail.The drive then will overheat and become a nice paperweight.
HPs solution to this problem is to ship the drive back to them (at your expense) so they can repair it.Unfortunately too many people have done this and either got the same drive back with no work done on it at all, or they had to fight the so-called customer service folks to get a replacement drive shipped out.My own contact with customer service started out this way but I cut them off and told them I wanted a refund.We'll see where that goes.
Is this unreasonable?No.A company that knowingly makes a defective product and sells it to their customers is not a company I want to do business with.This problem has been reported for at least a year.The troubleshooters have already stated that the cooling fan is defective.But the company continues to ship the product.There is no excuse for this.As far as their offer to repair it, I hardly see how they can be trusted to do so.After all, if they can repair this problem why didn't they do this before it left the factory?
The customer service itself is a disaster.They have off-shored it to some location overseas - the staff do not understand English and they a responding from a prepared script rather than actually understanding the problem to begin with.It is incredible that they start by recommending the drive be reformatted or checking the cables when it is obvious that the problem has nothing to do with either: it is the cooling fan.Reformatting the hard drive is pointless.
Some other posts have mentioned that the problem eventually goes away and it might not cause the hard drive to fail.I admit that is possible - but the noise is really terrific.They also suggest running the drive outside of the computer rather than in the drive bay.It makes no difference.Unplugging and replugging the drive does nothing - it will work fine until the cooling fan has to kick in and then it's over.
If I am lucky enough to get my money back it will be my last HP purchase.For those considering buying this item, you're taking a real chance.It might work - it might not.
It's a shame because aside from this problem the product is a very good product.It is simple to use and works in any computer that has a USB 2.0 port.But that's like saying a car is safe to drive provided you leave it in park.Useless.
In summary, if you are into gambling and taking chances, go ahead and buy this item.Maybe you'll be one of the few that has no problems.I don't think it is worth the price and hassle to find out.
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Product Description:
The Hewlett Packard AU183AA#ABA 2 TB SATA Hard Drive is fully compatible with PC systems.The Hard Drive connect by: Serial ATA for External utilization. Offering capacity as large as 2 TB
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