Wd Black Wd5000lplx 500 Gb 2.5" Internal Hard Drive - Sata - 7200 Rpm - 32 Mb Buffer - Portable - Bulk (wd5000lplxsp)

These drives were well reviewed and I bought four of them. For two different laptops to use as OS drives, two for primary and two for backup. Your best bet to ensure valid and warrantable product is to buy from Walmart as the seller. The drives are now sold “bare”, not in retail boxes anymore, they should come in a cardboard box, the drive in a sealed electrostatic bag and held in place securely inside the box by two molded plastic end caps. If not then they could be compromised and you should return them. The drives I received had a manufacture date within a month of the date I ordered them so brand new! I used Crystal Disk Info tool to check and monitor the SMART data, double check power on count and hours, and get the serial number. What I do is test them for 3 to 5 days in an external enclosure hookup and if they're not DOA or defective in that time then use them as intended. Within 30 days I register them on the WD site. When registering in order for the WD site to "see" the serial number as correct I have to remove the "WD-" at the start of the serial number. It asks what type of place I bought it from and I select "Retail". On submitting, the registration is accepted. What I like about Walmart is the 90 day return policy so if for some reason it fails within that period I can just return it instead of going through the warranty process. I've had the drives for almost two months and so far so good. Will revise review if needed.

I use nothing except WD in hard drives. Last forever.