Toshiba 320 GB SATA III Hard Drive / 2.5" Footprint / 5400 RPM / 8 MB Cache...Rated Good
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Listing Update...This is not so much an update as it is a brief comment about the computers and related parts I have available for sale. Personal computers (and in particular desktop computers) have always been a hobby of mine. I've enjoyed tinkering with this stuff over the years and have accumulated a number of items during this time...some new and some used. I am not an expert on the subject...more of an enthusiast...but I will still do my best to answer any questions as it relates to my computer related listings. Thank you.

Original Listing...
This offering is for a used Toshiba hard drive (Model #MK3265GSXN). It's the 2.5" form factor and has a storage capacity of 320 GB. I should also mention the height (or thickness) measures 9.5 mm and this is one of two common measurements (7.0 mm or 9.5 mm) for hard drives with the 2.5" form factor and ensures many compatibility options. It is a third generation SATA drive (SATA 3.0) that is backwards compatible with earlier SATA versions. Finally, this hard drive has a 8 MB cache buffer. This is a small built-in memory chip that temporarily holds data moving between fast system memory and the slow storage components of a hard drive. It's fairly effective technology, but this is a small cache buffer on this hard drive, so it can get easily overwhelmed, especially with large file transfers. The technology is still better than nothing on budget hard drives, but it does have its limits.

As alluded to above, the functional condition of this hard drive is rated as "good". This rating is the result of running CrystalDiskInfo to assess the drive's health status. I've included the results of the evaluation as one of the uploaded images above and you can match serial numbers on the drive to the results to confirm the drive being evaluated is indeed the one offered for sale. One other observation related to this testing is that I can confirm slower drives (that spin at 5400 RPMs vs. others that spin at 7200 RPMs) generate less heat and do not vibrate as much. During this testing I would sometimes pick up one of the slower drives to make sure it was still running. I realize its a trade-off and I've read a lot of comments on the subject, about how slower drives are quieter and use less power. I can confirm this is likely true based on my CrystalDiskInfo health checks that often take 2-3 hours to complete for each drive.

I'm also getting some questions about the history of these hard drives. The short answer is these are working drives from desktops or laptops that have been upgraded with SSDs (and I simply do not have a need for them). I should also mention that I thoroughly wipe each drive clean (using "diskpart" and "clean all" commands) and then reformat to a standard GPT (GUID Partition Table) format. I reformat to this newer standard because its UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) compatible, which has mostly replaced the legacy/traditional BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). However, if you need this drive reformatted to the older MBR (Master Boot Record) standard, then that is easily done (and I can help, if needed).

In terms of it's cosmetic condition, I don't see any physical damage other than maybe some light surface scratches on the metal cover. I can also confirm the power and data connectors all look (and function) fine.

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