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Silver 2.5 inch SATA hard drive with circuit board visible

HGST

HGST TravelStar Z5K500 500GB 2.5" 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s internal hard drive

SKU CH-1QCD-AVWG3

A 500 GB, 2.5-inch internal hard drive spinning at 5400 RPM with an 8 MB cache and SATA 3.0Gb/s interface

  • Total capacity500 GB
  • Interface typeSATA 3.0Gb/s
  • Rotational speed5,400 RPM
  • Cache memory8 MB
  • Key featuresErased (DoD 5220.22 M Compliant) and tested good (Not format
  • 500 GB capacity stores large media libraries
  • 5400 RPM spindle delivers quiet, cool operation
  • 8 MB cache buffers frequent read requests
  • SATA 3.0 Gb/s interface fits legacy laptop bays
  • DoD 5220.22 M erase ensures clean, ready-to-use sectors

Ideal for laptop storage upgrades

The HGST TravelStar Z5K500 is a 2.5-inch internal hard drive offering 500GB of capacity. It spins at 5400 RPM with an 8MB cache and connects via a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface. This unit is sold new after being erased to DoD 5220.22 M standards and tested for reliable operation.

Limited by SATA 3.0Gb/s throughput

The drive uses the SATA 3.0Gb/s interface, which caps maximum theoretical transfer rates at 3.0 Gb/s. Real-world sustained speeds will be lower and are further constrained by the 5400 RPM rotational speed. This makes the drive suitable for general storage but not for high-performance primary system volumes.

Verify 2.5-inch bay and SATA support

Before ordering, confirm your laptop or enclosure accepts a standard 2.5-inch SATA drive. Ensure the system BIOS or controller recognises drives of this capacity. Note that the drive ships unformatted and unpartitioned, so the operating system must initialise it. Some units may contain up to 25 bad sectors.

How it compares

Measured against everything we stock in 3.5-Inch Internal Desktop HDDs, at today’s prices. Recalculated every night.

Price $39.99
Cheaper than about 86% of the 4,938 comparable items (median $107.99).
Total capacity 500 GB
Lower than about 80% of the 2,372 comparable items (median 2 TB).
Price per TB $79.98 per TB
Pricier than about 57% of the 2,365 comparable items (median $62.21 per TB).

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Specifications

Product
Brand nameHGST
Model nameTravelStar Z5K500
Total capacity500 GB
Performance
Rotational speed5,400 RPM
Storage
Cache memory8 MB
Ports & slots
Interface typeSATA 3.0Gb/s

Questions about this item

Which version of the HGST TravelStar Z5K500 should I choose?

The model HTS545050A7E362 is the single 500GB 5400 RPM variant with 8MB cache and a SATA 3.0Gb/s interface.

What does the 5400 RPM rating mean once the drive is installed?

It sets the spindle speed, which influences access latency and sustained throughput for typical laptop workloads.

How does the SATA 3.0Gb/s interface limit real-world performance?

The 3.0Gb/s link defines the maximum bus bandwidth available to the drive, capping peak transfer rates at the SATA II level.

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