Anybody have experience with the Toshiba P300 HDD?

[GabeBB]

I looked all over Google and searched this website but there's very little info on these drives. Looks like they came out in 2015, which I guess makes them pretty recent. Does anybody have one and are they good drives compared to the WB Blue?

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there GabeBB,

I want to start with that I don't really have any hands on experience with the particular drive.
It seems that it is a 7200 RPM one, with 64 MB of cache.
As for the comparison with WD Blue, I would say that you shouldn't really notice any performance difference, if we are talking about WD Blues that are up to 1 TB. Some of them, have 7200 RPM as well. Generally speaking, you won't notice any significant difference between two 7200 RPM drives.
The WD Blue models, that have storage space larger than 1 TB, would have 5400 RPM. In that case, you will get better transfer speeds with the drive you are currently looking at.

That was about the performance of the drives. The next thing would be reliability. The thing is that, you can't really know when your drive is about to fail. This is why, you should always back up your important data. It could last for years, or it could fail a couple of days after being installed. Warranty periods could be somehow indicative, so you can take a look at those. For WD Blue, the limited warranty period is 2 years.

More on WD Blue: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=cUgVtH

Let me know in case you have some questions,
D_Know_WD

 

[GabeBB]

Hi D_Know_WD thanks for replying
I'm looking at just the 1 TB versions. Everyone has told me the Blue is very good so I might go with it but I saw the P300 on sale so it made me curious, there's just so little info about it online and pretty much just 1 review that I could find lol Would be nice if people who have it started a thread or posted a review or something.

Do you think it's safe to buy a refurbished HDD? I saw a refurbished Black a while ago but was scared to buy it even tho it had a one year warranty

 

[D_Know_WD]

Well, of course, it would be a good idea to wait for some more replies. Perhaps, somebody has the drive.

As for the re certified drives, it's really up to you. Usually, these drives are extensively tested before that. Yet agian, you can't be absolutely sure how long it is going to last.
If you decide to go with that, no matter if it would be now or at a later moment, you need to test it a brand specific tool, so you can make sure it is in a healthy state. In WD's case, this tool is WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool (both short and extended tests): http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=QhbBHv
Some third party tools can do the job as well.

Apart from that, WD Black is a premium product, with 5 years of limited warranty: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=RHOudw

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

 

[ArtPog]

FWIW, I've been using Toshiba P300 1 TB & 3 TB disks for about the last two years or so. They've performed OK - about the same as any other HDD that I've worked with, e.g. Seagate, WD, Hitachi, and probably one or two others. I know a number of our computer club members also use the Toshiba P300 line of HDDs and AFAIK they seem quite satisfied with them.

 

[GabeBB]

Hi ArtProg, thanks so much for the info. I ended up getting the Blue but will consider the P300 for my other computer. I pretty much just left it to chance, sent my dad to Microcenter because he works near one, and gave him a list with the two drives and told him to get either. They were both on sale and there was a $5 coupon for every $30 purchased so that worked out pretty well