Solved Looking for a new hard drive...

[vpwin7]

I find myself constantly running out of space on my hard drive and deleting things I'd prefer to keep. I saw A LOT of good deals for 250-500GB and 7200RP quality brand name hard drives for only 45-60$; I now can't find one for under 60$! Did I miss something? And why am I seeing external hard drives starting to cost less than internal?

What I want: 250GB or more (preferably more), speeds fast enough to keep up with most modern games on max settings (shouldn't be too hard to accomplish this), and reliability (in the manner that it won't die on me), and under 60$ in cost without being refurbished (I've just heard too many horror stories about this).

Pretty sure I have an IDE and SATA slot available, I would have to double check but I'm 99% sure at the moment either would work.

sorry if this is supposed to be under Hardware but it just seemed to me this isn't really a problem/support scenario

 

[Phone Man]

I guess you missed the bad news. Flooding in Thailand has crippled the disk manufacturers. Prices have doubled and some have tripled in the last month. Won't be until next year before they get back on line and make up the supply.

Jim

 

[carwiz]

It's not only the flooding, it's China raising prices on the Rare-Earth Oxides used to manufacture the disks. They "own" the market and the source for something like 90%+ or some such. And, the other disk manufacturers (not affected by the flooding) jumped at the chance to raise prices. It boils down to supply and demand. The prices will eventually drop down but the REO situation will remain.

 

[Phone Man]

It's not only the flooding, it's China raising prices on the Rare-Earth Oxides used to manufacture the disks. They "own" the market and the source for something like 90%+ or some such. And, the other disk manufacturers (not affected by the flooding) jumped at the chance to raise prices. It boils down to supply and demand. The prices will eventually drop down but the REO situation will remain.

China got that market because the price for Rare-Earth Oxides was so low that other countries closed their mines.

Jim

 

[Wishmaster]

Do you have a BestBuy near you? Might be worth checking them out.

heres a 320GB WD Blue for $69.99
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Western...tops/7821985.p?id=1142294266836&skuId=7821985

Worth a look anyway. They do have a few in that price range, WD and Seagates.


I know I was looking for a second 1TB WD Black, but they were $180+ everywhere
BestBuy actually had it fro $119 at the time, $129 now.

You'll still pay more if you need a HD now but ...
Considering the prices everywhere ATM, they have actually been the cheapest .. which is odd because they tend to be a bit higher priced than online retailers.

 

[MilesAhead]

You have to watch the specs when you order. For some bizarre reason I see the old WD Caviar Black 3 Gb/s 32 MB cache at higher prices than the new 6 Gb/s 64 MB cache models. Weird!! Maybe the connector is different and some people won't open the box or something. I dunno'. I've only used the 6 Gb/s with USB 3.0 docking stations. The 640 GB models are a real performer. But when I look up the model I bought previously they say they've been discontinued. I don't understand that.

Anyway, if you hunt around you may still be able to find some WD 1 tb but then you have to consider if they ship 'em brain dead due to "head slap" you might not be able to get a replacement.

Maybe if 90% of us stop buying any the price will be back near normal.

 

[Phone Man]

You have to watch the specs when you order. For some bizarre reason I see the old WD Caviar Black 3 Gb/s 32 MB cache at higher prices than the new 6 Gb/s 64 MB cache models. Weird!! Maybe the connector is different and some people won't open the box or something. I dunno'. I've only used the 6 Gb/s with USB 3.0 docking stations. The 640 GB models are a real performer. But when I look up the model I bought previously they say they've been discontinued. I don't understand that.

Anyway, if you hunt around you may still be able to find some WD 1 tb but then you have to consider if they ship 'em brain dead due to "head slap" you might not be able to get a replacement.

Maybe if 90% of us stop buying any the price will be back near normal.

I recently got a WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gbs that was DOA. RMA through WD and as they state they will replace with a new drive of same specs or better. They must of been out of 1TB as then send me a 2TB. I got mine from Newegg but I rather deal directly with WD for warranty.

Jim

 

[Wishmaster]

You have to watch the specs when you order. For some bizarre reason I see the old WD Caviar Black 3 Gb/s 32 MB cache at higher prices than the new 6 Gb/s 64 MB cache models. Weird!! Maybe the connector is different and some people won't open the box or something. I dunno'. I've only used the 6 Gb/s with USB 3.0 docking stations. The 640 GB models are a real performer. But when I look up the model I bought previously they say they've been discontinued. I don't understand that.

Anyway, if you hunt around you may still be able to find some WD 1 tb but then you have to consider if they ship 'em brain dead due to "head slap" you might not be able to get a replacement.

Maybe if 90% of us stop buying any the price will be back near normal.

Very true...

But something that may be worth mentioning

Oddly the WD Black 1TB at BestBuy is supposed to be the 32MB, SATA 2 drive. The WDBAAZ0010HNC
But in the box was a 1002FAEX, which was the SATA 3, 64MB version.


Looking at a few reviews at NewEgg even, there were a few that got the same thing from there as well.
Not sure if its luck of the draw, or a batch that was mislabled. And I suppose it couldnt be a certainty thats what youd get, but a nice little bonus.

 

[MilesAhead]

I recently got a WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gbs that was DOA. RMA through WD and as they state they will replace with a new drive of same specs or better. They must of been out of 1TB as then send me a 2TB. I got mine from Newegg but I rather deal directly with WD for warranty

That's interesting. I was advised by a hardware aficionado on another board not to buy any HD shipped UPS ground. Supposedly it's subject to a six foot drop on their conveyor system. I think I bought one HD on Egg because the price break was so good I could absorb the additional cost of shipping FedEx.

The place where I was getting my WD showed the in stock count for the models I liked at about 20,000+ on hand. I figured I had all the time in the world to get more at good prices. Just shows ta' go ya'

 

[MilesAhead]

Not sure if its luck of the draw, or a batch that was mislabled.

Hmmm, you'd think they'd phase out production of the 32 MB models unless you truly can't plug the new ones into the old machines.

Stores can be pretty sneaky about unloading the old crap. I remember checking out Best Buy online for prices and it seemed like whenever I saw a discount on any storage the stuff was really obsolete. Like drives with 16 and even 8 MB cache!! Really pandering to the suckers!!

 

[DustSailor]

so the prices only effect HDDs? What about SSDs? Is this one of those "perfect times to buy one" things?

 

[strollin]

... Maybe if 90% of us stop buying any the price will be back near normal.

This is another factor in the equation. When the news came out about the flooding and such, many people went out and bought as many drives as they could before prices went up which worsened the situation.

 

[MilesAhead]

... Maybe if 90% of us stop buying any the price will be back near normal.

This is another factor in the equation. When the news came out about the flooding and such, many people went out and bought as many drives as they could before prices went up which worsened the situation.

Yet another reason not to panic buy. The old "classic coke hoarding syndrome."

 

[carwiz]

... Maybe if 90% of us stop buying any the price will be back near normal.

This is another factor in the equation. When the news came out about the flooding and such, many people went out and bought as many drives as they could before prices went up which worsened the situation.

I know I would have had I known sooner.
I wouldn't even take a WD Green as a gift. They're dog slow and fall asleep too quickly. I'm all for a green environment but why pay more for less performance?

I think I'll go out and burn a tire now. :huh:

 

[Phone Man]

I recently got a WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gbs that was DOA. RMA through WD and as they state they will replace with a new drive of same specs or better. They must of been out of 1TB as then send me a 2TB. I got mine from Newegg but I rather deal directly with WD for warranty

That's interesting. I was advised by a hardware aficionado on another board not to buy any HD shipped UPS ground. Supposedly it's subject to a six foot drop on their conveyor system. I think I bought one HD on Egg because the price break was so good I could absorb the additional cost of shipping FedEx.

The place where I was getting my WD showed the in stock count for the models I liked at about 20,000+ on hand. I figured I had all the time in the world to get more at good prices. Just shows ta' go ya'

WD shipped my replacement drive via UPS in the same identical box that Newegg used. It is just a small box and the drive is held in place with a thin formed plastic mount on each end. On previous shipments the drives from Newegg were just wrapped in bubble wrap and stuck in a box. I think WD informed their retailers on the proper box to use.

Jim

 

[MilesAhead]

Yeah, I got those with the plastic form too. It may handle the impact better, but I still don't think it's a good idea to have a six foot drop on the conveyor. There's momentum that's just encouraging the disk heads to smack up against the platters. But I agree that bubble pack wrap was not helping.

 

[carwiz]

All my HDDs from Newegg came wrapped in plastic bubbles. Most were in a small white box but on one occasion, the drive was wrapped and placed with other items in a larger box. Never had a problem with the drives though.

 

[MilesAhead]

All my HDDs from Newegg came wrapped in plastic bubbles. Most were in a small white box but on one occasion, the drive was wrapped and placed with other items in a larger box. Never had a problem with the drives though.

I take it you're talking the free UPS ground shipping? Even the guys who claim you get dead drives from head slap from UPS don't claim a high percentage. Probably it's down around 10%. I would imagine the drive has to travel the distance free fall and land in a certain position, maybe pancake flat. If it hits on edge it's probably ok. It would have to land so that the heads smack into the platters.

Still a pita if you're one of the 10% who has to hassle with returning it though.

I got all my WD Caviar Blacks but one at EXCaliberPC. Even with the FedEx shipping the price was lower than Egg, except for that one deal I mentioned.

The other thing I liked about buying them there was they didn't try to panic you into a purchase. None of this "hurry while supplies last" crap. They had the number available in stock right on the item. Last time I bought one they had some ridiculous number in stock like 20,000. I knew I didn't have to impulse buy.

 

[carwiz]

I guess I've been lucky. I've built five systems over the past 10 months. I've only had to return one item that was purchased from an Amazon vendor. It was an Antec Veris Premier that was DOA. Turned right around and ordered the same from Amazon. It was a few bucks more but it worked and was about $15 cheaper than Newegg. It doesn't bother me to shop around.

 

[MilesAhead]

I'm just leery of the UPS bit with hard drives. They're not all DOA. I've seen customer posts on Egg about drives dying after a few months. Stuff like docking stations, PCI cards, stuff without sensitive moving parts, I don't mind getting from them.

Now I just have to sit back and wait for the price bubble to burst.