8TB G-Drive Enterprise-Class External Desktop Hard Drive - 7200RPM Ultrastar HDD Inside, USB-C (10Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen 2, Mac Ready - SDPHF1A-008T-NBAAD

I have two of these and only on ordering the second did I notice that there were a lot of reviews mentioning random "disconnects". Most seem to be using Macs, but at least one complained that it would "vanish" from My Computer. I've seen large thumb drives that randomly become "inaccessible" to Windows (though remain in My Computer), but never heard of external HDDs doing this. What a nightmare that would be. Thankfully, using Windows 10, I have not experienced any such issues with these drives. I did disable "Selective Suspend" and the ability for Windows to turn off the drive in Device Manager, but I have no idea if either of these steps were required, as I never saw the first one disconnect or vanish and I had Selective Suspend on at that time. Like a lot of external drives, these do eventually "sleep" with inactivity and this causes a few second pause on the first read. After that, they stay awake until the next period of inactivity (seems to be measured in hours, not minutes). These drives must be reformatted for Windows using Disk Management (context click the Start Button to find it on a menu). That's simple to do and documented enough that a Google search will easily find the instructions. 10.9TB out of 12TB seems about par for the course, as apparently Windows "loses" some of each drive. Have also seen advice to be sure to use the cable that comes with the drive. That's ridiculous, unless all other available cables are not up to the latest standards. I've used these drives with random USB-C and USB-C to A cables without any issues. These drives are also seem very sturdy and I've heard that they can run standing on end or lying flat. Will be putting that to the test soon, as I need one of them to fit into a tight space in a cabinet.

If I could give this product NEGATIVE STARS, I would. I have an undergrad in IT, so let's just say I am a bit more tech savvy than some others. I purchased this drive as a backup device for my MacBook Pro. This hard drive is connected to a CalDigit powered hub, which in turn is connected to my MacBook when I am at home. TWICE, within 6 months, this hard drive has failed, requiring me to utilize third party software to extract the data on it. The issue is that, randomly it appears, the volume on the hard drive will become corrupted, thereby making it inaccessible from my Mac. SanDisk's (via Western Digital) response is to REFORMAT THE DRIVE and connect it again. THAT IS SIMPLY INEXCUSABLE! Reformatting of course will wipe any data on the drive, which is why I have had to resort to using third party software to try and save the data on it. After the first time, I was able to recover everything, reformat the drive, reconnect it, and yes, it works again with my Mac. I thought the first time was a fluke, BUT IT HAPPENED AGAIN WITHIN 6 MONTHS. I am yet again resorting to using third party software to try and save my data. Sandisk's response is to connect this drive directly to my MacBook in the future and not use an external hubs. That is a ridiculous response. Most people that have laptops utilize some sort of a hub to connect all of their peripherals while working from home or the office. The CalDigit model I have is not a cheap one either, pretty much top of the line. I have no other issues with my hub with any other device connected to it. So, if you are a Mac user, I would AVOID THESE DRIVES AT ALL COST if you care about the data you store on them.

Update: Apparently, this can be common with other manufacturers, too. The company was great in following through and replacing my G-Drive, as it was still under warranty. Thank you! Original: I have the Sandisk Professional 12 TB G-Drive. It’s mostly been okay on a new iMac for 364 days. (On the western digital website, a 3-year warranty is indicated.) Mine was fine one day, and, while spinning and sounding normal, will no longer mount anywhere. Apple Disk Utility is, therefore, unable to perform First Aid. I am, therefore, unable to partition it, in an effort to save data. Reading current reviews of Sandisk externals, quality and customer service are poor. There is one review here where argumentative persistance with a WD superior resulted in free data retrieval. There is also a website with a free firmware download I found for the Extreme by WD that has resolved some people’s problems. You can search by serial number. The SD Professional is not on the list. Me? I want to throw mine through the window, yet it has 2.3 TB of my personal and professional life on it. I was just reorganizing, consolidating, soon to make a second external copy. Its failure screwed up my online subscription Backblaze backup, too. Run!!!

Nice capacity drive at a great price. Seems to be faster than the now really old G-RAID Studio Lightning that it is replacing. I needed a new drive quick (old drive case was failing) and this was a great choice for me. I received it in one day at a great price. Using it for storage and working with terabytes of photos, videos and graphic files connected to my Mac. I have not run any speed tests, but it seems plenty quick to me. It has also been reliable for me, since I bought this some time ago and am now writing a review. I would not use this drive for app caching, since 2-4 TB solid state drives are fairly inexpensive now and would work a lot better for that purpose. The only issue I ran across (which has been mentioned in other reviews) is the aggressive drive sleeping. It was annoying (since it was sleeping after only a few minutes of inactivity). But, changing the system settings for the drive have helped. As well as taking it off of a brand new USB 4.0 hub and plugging it directly into my Mac. There is no G-Tech software for this drive. It is only plug and play. So far I have no complaints. It has been fast and reliable. Hopefully it will last as long as the last G-Tech drive it replaces. If you need a large drive for a great price, this one is great.

I purchased two of these 8TB G-Drives used—one in June and one in August—trying to save some money on what I thought was enterprise-grade storage. That turned out to be a huge mistake. Both drives followed the exact same failure pattern almost exactly two months after purchase. First, they started randomly ejecting/unmounting themselves during use. Shortly after that, they started making mechanical clicking noises and became unusable. While SanDisk is honoring the manufacturer's warranty, the process adds insult to injury. I was forced to pay $30 per drive for shipping and handling fees/taxes to return the defective hardware. Between the headache of losing data and the extra $60 I’ve had to shell out to swap them, I might as well have just purchased them new from the start. A 100% failure rate suggests serious durability issues. I cannot recommend trusting your data with these.

It docked it a star because of the bad joke of a manual, both paper and online. Because other reviews have complained of noise, let me note that mine, an 8TB model, is NOT noisy. It's not silent, but I would call it quiet; it makes a sort of dull, muted clucking, and is much quieter than the drive it replaced. It seems fast; they claim "up to 280 MB/s" and my initial Time Machine backup transferred 2.2 TB in 3 hours, or an average of 200 MB/sec, real world, intended use, multiple files. I'm using it with a 2023 Mac Mini, M2 Pro chip, connected directly to one of its "Thunderbolt 4" (USB 3 connector) USB ports. As stated, it comes "Time Machine ready." For those who care about power use, even on fairly low-power devices: it consumes almost nothing in Time Machine use. My previous external hard drive used 15 watts continuously, and since it was really only being used once a day for backup I thought that was annoying; that's 0.36 kWh a day or 10 kWh per month, or around three or four dollars where I live. This one draws 10-13 watts when running. However, it apparently goes into a low-power sleep mode when not active. The indicator light goes out and the power consumption is below what can be measured accurately with my Kill-A-Watt monitor. I think this may be a feature of the drive itself, as I have "put hard drives to sleep when possible" disabled in macOS. In Time Machine use, the light is off most of the time. The lights comes on occasionally when not backing up, perhaps due to Spotlight indexing? In any case, over 24 hours it consumed 0.04 KWh. Of course it's only a couple of weeks old, but so far I have NOT experienced any problems at all.

One of the few times I bother to review about an item: I am using this to back up all my other 4TB+ drives I have. (about 5 or so) Using a macbook Air 2020 version with the M1 chip using Carbon Copy Cloner to backup everything. The speed is as advertised, but remember there will a limitation on the other drives. I was getting slow writes speeds because the other drives could not keep up. Copying something from my Macbook to the drive, i was able to get the 280mbps, but due to the limits on the other drives, the backups took a lot longer. I both a Sandisk Extreme Pro 4TB hard drive with 2,000mbps, so i am expecting to get the advertised speeds on the backups also. Memory: 22TB (Not 20.5TB or something like that, first time someone is actually honest about the size) Format: APFS+ Size: This this is a little bit on the big size, not something I would call as portable, but it is durable. Speed: 280mbps speed (tested and verified myself), but remember limitation due to other devices. Build: Extremely sturdy, really impressive Extras: Came with 20GB type C to Type C cord and a power cord Update: (Encrypted drive - 12/7/2022) After loading about 5TB on it, the speed has gone down quite a bit. Encryption does bring it down by about 30%, however, I was expecting to still be at about 150mbps; however, it is at about 90mbps. A little bit disappointed that the speed has gone down so much. I still have a few more TBs to load. Still happy with it, but the speed is quite a bit slower than I was hoping for, but that is due to the encryption.

This hard drive is probably the largest one you can get today in one HDD (22 Tb, which is what I chose). Yes, the 22Tb space is there, yes, the disk technically works. BUT!!! As pointed out by some other reviewers, (1) it constantly goes to sleep and then restarts; restart time is ca. 15-20 seconds. Unacceptable! (2) it was disconnecting and then reconnecting at random times, until I read somewhere that the HDD power adaptor should be plugged directly into the wall outlet, not the power surge protector. I switched to the wall outlet and disconnecting seemingly stopped, but this is also UNACCEPTABLE! What am I supposed to do if I don't have an available separate wall outlet?! All my other hard drives and Thunderbolt hub are all plugged into the surge protector; this HDD doesn't come with an AC brick, so whatever power it is getting from the surge protector is clearly insufficient for its needs. SanDisk / WD cutting corners, I see you! (3) it is noisy as hell, especially when it's starting up (which is does all the time— see above). UNACCEPTABLE! I have returned this HDD and am going to order OWC 20Tb — just waiting till OWC either put the 20Tb version on Amazon (currently they only have 18Tb max on one disk) OR provide data recovery plan on their site that is comparable to what they offer through Amazon (or Amazon offers with all the computer products). I do NOT recommend this HDD.