Originally Posted by
Agrippa
The fact that WD had to offload some 3.5" manufacturing capability and intellectual property to Toshiba in 2012, some 3 years ago, does not mean that all HGST drives are made by Toshiba and will be made by them in perpetuity. That's a misconception held by (too) many, but it's not actually true.
That's not to say that Toshiba may not be producing some HGST-labelled models, but HGST does in indeed manufacture their own hard drives. Ultrastar and Ultrastar He drives for instance, are certainly manufactured by HGST themselves in Thailand. Deskstars I haven't seen in the flesh for a while, but I'd happily put money on them being made by HGST in Thailand too. The remainder (Travelstar, Endurastar and Cinemastar) I neither know anything about, nor care much about.