Cheap 3TB Hitachi 7200RPM HDDs

I’m currently building another FreeNAS server to act as the backup to my primary FreeNAS server so I’ve been looking at grabbing another 4 x Hitachi 7K3000 HDDs. However, since the recent floods in Thailand, the price of these drives (of any drive for that matter) have shot up. To give you an idea, back in June when I grabbed my 4 x 3TB 7K3000’s, they were $185 each. Today, the cost is around $299 each.

Fortunately, a keen observer alerted me to the Hitachi XL3000 3TB external drives. The specs show these as having a 7200RPM SATA 6Gbps HDD and the price is just right at around $149. I ordered 4 of these which arrived today. 8-)

Warning: This will void your warranty

A nice curvy design, a pity I have no use for it.

Opening the case is relatively straight forward and quick. Using a fine tip flat head screwdriver, gently pry the faceplate off from the edge. Don’t pop it out via the Hitachi logo as some YouTube videos seem to suggest. The Hitachi logo is part of the enclosure LED, handy not to damage in case you have a need for the enclosure or plan on giving it away.

With the faceplate off, remove the 2 screws in the front.

After removing those front screws, you simply slide the top half back a little and it will pop off. Don’t try and rip it apart as you will damage the enclosure. Not really an issue if you have not plans on reusing it though.

With the case off you will see a bunch of more screws. Remove all of these so that the insert can come out. The HDD model is HDS723030ALA640 which according to Google is a 7K3000 Hitachi HDD 8-)

Finally, remove the 6 screws holding the HDD in the insert. The HDD should slide right out allowing you to disconnect the SATA to USB PCB.

All Done, not bad for 4 x 7K3000 @ half the current retail price.

The drives have been configured as RAIDZ and working away nicely under FreeNAS 8.0.2-Release.