kms_md

i found this hard drive bargain on slick deals.

X

That's not really much of a deal. Drives are really coming down in price and there's no reason to get one of that capacity that only has a 1 year warranty.

Osiris

Was hoping for an external....

Dead

"Maxtor 200GB HD Retail Kit $70 plus s&h"

Looking at the site, this appears to ship free. Maybe not the best overall price, but most of what I've see that's cheapers involves rebates/price matching/etc. So if someone wants an easy buy, it wouldn't be too bad.

digitalfreaknyc

Do hard drives typically come with more than 1 year? What should you be worried about? I was looking into getting another one actually.

X

Hitachi has 3 year, Seagate has 5 year, OEM WD has 3 year.

Various models of their drives may vary a bit, such as "enterprise-quality" WDs like Raptor having 5 years.

I just don't feel comfortable relying on a large drive that the company has statistically determined is not worth standing behind for at least 3 years even if they lose sales due to the shorter warranty.

I just had a 120GB drive (not really a "big" drive) go bad with about 3 months left on its 3 year warranty.

digitalfreaknyc

Any better deals on drives out there? was thinking of picking up another one as well. Do they really get better than $70?

X

The deals are always around if you don't need one immediately. I got a Hitachi 250GB from Best Buy for $50 (AR) last month.

I haven't been looking recently but I'll keep my eyes open and post here if I see something.

DDDDDD

Tigerdirect.com has a Seagate 250GB Internal drive with a 5 year warranty for $80 after rebate.

X

Be very, very wary of Tigerdirect rebates. A manufacturer's would be ok.

digitalfreaknyc

That would be sweet. thank you!

eau

Keep an eye on Fry's or outpost.com, sometimes they have good deals on Seagate. I scored a 200GB HD with 5 year warranty for $60 after rebates (got both back in a month).

Dead

Are you sure that they are doing this because "the company has statistically determined is not worth standing behind" the drives? My assumption has been that they are doing it to increase sales by dropping prices via reduced liability, while selling essentially the same drives they do with longer warranty periods.

Homer Simpson

In 3 years we'll all be buying brand new 2 terabyte drives for $70 and ditching these anyway...

X

Here's a current deal...

Best Buy has the WD 160GB for $120 with $80 in 2 rebates.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1051826249503

Buy it in-store and use this $20 off coupon to make it cost a net of $20 plus tax on $100.

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US...upon_combo.pdf

It only has a one year warranty but it's cheap enough to get two (if you get a friend or relative for the second set of rebates) and backup from one to the other frequently, or mirror them. Or just use the drive as a backup for another drive (which is what I'm going to do with it).

digitalfreaknyc

Is that a reason to not trust it because it only has a 1 year rebate??? i'm confused. you're very sketchy about hard drives. do they have a habit of dying?

eau

These HDDs have a higher tendency to fail than more robust enterprise models but they are cheap. Having said that, they are still good for the daily tasks that we typically put them through as a consumer. If you look at the specs of the recent HDDs, they usually have 1 year warranty but they have parts that are designed to last at least 5 years of non-stop usage.

Anyway, you ought to backup whatever that is important to you, since all HDDs can fail.

Terrell

I bought a WD Caviar SE 160GB for $80. If you're going to buy Maxtor, skip the Ultra line, and head straight for at least the DiamondMax 9 Plus line, or better yet, the DiamondMax 10.

X

I don't want to spend a lot of money on a drive that isn't guaranteed for at least three years. And I don't want to lose data or have to rebuild a system any more than I have to.

I will spend $20 on this drive but I backup far more often than most other people do. If it dies after a year I'm only out $20; I won't lose data. (Actually, I bought it with a credit card that will double the warranty so I'm covered for two years.) WD does give you the option of paying an additional $15 for two more years of warranty.

I tried out this drive today and was surprised to find it runs cooler than any other drive I've had. I'm building a new HTPC so I'll probably use it for that and backup the OS and apps once I get it built. There really won't be any data on it to worry about day-to-day and I can restore a backed up image to a replacement drive very quickly if necessary.

I wouldn't trust this drive for more critical situations although I don't have a big history of drives dying on me. A 120GB WD went out on my recently just before its 3 year warranty was up so that's a reason I like the longer warranty. If a drive works for a few days it tends to keep working, but sometimes after a couple of years they just die from natural causes. I do think cheap drives are getting junkier and junkier to be able to compete on price.

digitalfreaknyc

Thanks guys. Methinks i'm going to pick this up today during my lunch break

Edit: No stores have it in stock. Any idea when they'll get it back in stock? Or any other good deals I could use this coupon on?

digitalfreaknyc

Just went to the store...none in stock. Sale ends tomorrow. No place near me has them in stock. No coupon plus shipping would be $7 and $10 in taxes makes this deal worthless. Guess i need to hop on it at the beginning of the week.

X

Too bad. Mine store didn't appear to have any either but I spent some time digging through the drives and found 2 on a different shelf behind some Seagates. Looked like someone hid them.

They may restock by Saturday.

scottall

http://shop3.outpost.com/product/400...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I was looking at picking this up. Can I get an enclosure and simply connect it with USB (don't have a firewire card) without having to open up the tower?

digitalfreaknyc

They were actually re-stocking while i was there. the trucks had just gotten in.

X

Yes. You do want to get a decent enclosure that will keep it cool and one that has a reliable USB interface (some cheap ones like the ME-320U2 don't).