3 TB Seagate GoFlex Desk USB 3 - $139.99 Costco

ESQ

Member
Dec 4, 1999
173
0
71
WENT TO COSTCO TODAY - $10 INSTANT = $129.99

I was at Costco and they had a pallet of these drives. Fry's has them on sale for $169.00.

Here are some pics I took. The price is NOT available online--in fact, Costco has the 2 TB for $139.99 online. You have to call the individual warehouse and ask about item # 628531. The pics were taken in Illinois but I called a Costco in SoCal and it was the same price and they had 90 in stock. Because the package is different than the Fry's retail package, they will not price match it (also, because it is not on Costco.com). I think if I would have purchsed it and then took it to Fry's they would match it, but what would be the point?

https://ahu.egnyte.com/h-s/20120425/ab3c013f0d1b4d48
 
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zoiks

Lifer
Jan 13, 2000
11,787
3
81
Great price. I'd open the case and use the drive internally if I had an available slot in my desktop.
 

nboy22

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2002
3,304
1
81
I went to staples today and found a 2 tb goflex for $105.. not too bad either. Nice to see some reasonable prices again.
 

bradley

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2000
3,671
2
81
I bought two of these 3TB GoFlex drives from Staples for $125 after rebate, pricematch and cashback. They both contained Seagate Barracuda ST3000DM001 drives with 1TB platters @7200RPM.

They were cracked open and passed a three-day burn-in with flying colors. They are only slightly louder and higher pitched (more metallic sounding) than the average 5400RPM drive.

The only two real flaws: AAM is disabled (due to the lawsuit) and APM currently cannot be permanently disabled in firmware. Instead, you need to disable APM via software with CrystalDiskInfo and the "Auto APM Adaption" function; otherwise, APM enabled would cause the heads to repark constantly, which is not only annoying but also damaging.
 

zardthebuilder

Senior member
Feb 8, 2012
211
0
71
Damn, nice price. Too bad Costco doesn't take MC or Visa....

loophole = buy a Costco cash card online with MC or Visa.

tip = my wife is a member (with her father) and i am not. i use the cash card to shop, instead of paying for another membership. only drawback is that you can't use coupons.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
I bought a model STAY1000102 seagate 3tb external USB 3.0 drive from staples that died in a week. It was stationary the entire time on my desk, and just 1 day decided to die.

Seagate, never again. Only buying WD from here on out.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
warning, 85% of you fellas can't boot from one of these!!! (because you don't have UEFI/EFI/etc)

Huh? You don't need UEFI. It comes with software if you have an old computer without a UEFI BIOS. This issue isn't whether you can boot from it, you just can't access more than 2tb unless you use proprietary software OR have a UEFI bios. It has been that way for a while. Still, I do not see why anyone would boot from an external.....
 

bradley

Diamond Member
Jan 9, 2000
3,671
2
81
I bought a model STAY1000102 seagate 3tb external USB 3.0 drive from staples that died in a week. It was stationary the entire time on my desk, and just 1 day decided to die.

Seagate, never again. Only buying WD from here on out.

Just curious... did you remove the drive from the fanless enclosure and disable APM? Because those are both drive killers. APM especially will rack up those reallocated and unrecoverable errors.

I also stress tested for three days with several full formats and a few pseudorandom data passes. This usually weeds out the truly faulty drives. Though I always keep my eye on SMART, just in case.
 

aman74

Senior member
Mar 12, 2003
261
0
0
loophole = buy a Costco cash card online with MC or Visa.

tip = my wife is a member (with her father) and i am not. i use the cash card to shop, instead of paying for another membership. only drawback is that you can't use coupons.

Are you buying the cash card from Costco? Not sure what you're saying about the membership, how does having a cash card allow you to not have one and why can't you use coupons? As far as I know you could just have her add you to her membership anyhow, I got my mom a card of her own off of my membership. Furthermore, you can still pay with someone else's form of payment under their membership if you check out with your wife using her card. Just trying to understand what's going on here and what I'm missing.
 
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
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Huh? You don't need UEFI. It comes with software if you have an old computer without a UEFI BIOS. This issue isn't whether you can boot from it, you just can't access more than 2tb unless you use proprietary software OR have a UEFI bios. It has been that way for a while. Still, I do not see why anyone would boot from an external.....

oh yeah-- forgot about can still do 2tb
also forgot this is in enclosure just posted merrily away without clicking through....sorry folks.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
0
Just curious... did you remove the drive from the fanless enclosure and disable APM? Because those are both drive killers. APM especially will rack up those reallocated and unrecoverable errors.

I also stress tested for three days with several full formats and a few pseudorandom data passes. This usually weeds out the truly faulty drives. Though I always keep my eye on SMART, just in case.

No, I used it as an external drive for network shares. I did not feel like ripping it apart (and voiding the warranty) and I shouldn't have to mod it to prevent failure.

First time i've ever had a HD failure, thankfully I was able to RMA it because it was still in the 30 day window.
 

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
Are you buying the cash card from Costco? Not sure what you're saying about the membership, how does having a cash card allow you to not have one and why can't you use coupons? As far as I know you could just have her add you to her membership anyhow, I got my mom a card of her own off of my membership. Furthermore, you can still pay with someone else's form of payment under their membership if you check out with your wife using her card. Just trying to understand what's going on here and what I'm missing.

I'm not sure what hes talking about for the membership... but online you can use Visa, MC, Discover etc, and can buy a Costco cash card. ala you can pay for a cash card with a cc.
 

Charlie98

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2011
6,298
64
91
I have a 500GB GoFlex 3.0 I've been running for 2 years and it's been great. ...of course, I paid about as much for it as that 3TB unit at Costco...

Too bad it doesn't have an eSATA interface as well.

If memory serves, you can buy a eSATA cable for this unit... PnP.
 

zardthebuilder

Senior member
Feb 8, 2012
211
0
71
Are you buying the cash card from Costco? Not sure what you're saying about the membership, how does having a cash card allow you to not have one and why can't you use coupons? As far as I know you could just have her add you to her membership anyhow, I got my mom a card of her own off of my membership. Furthermore, you can still pay with someone else's form of payment under their membership if you check out with your wife using her card. Just trying to understand what's going on here and what I'm missing.

let's say you have three (or more) people who want to shop at Costco on a regular basis at separate times (my wife + my father-in-law + me). you can pay for 2 memberships or you can do what we do. my wife is the primary member and my father-in-law is the secondary. i am not a member. my wife uses her membership to buy Costco cash cards for me. you do not need to be a member to use the Costco cash card. in other words, i can buy anything i want with the Costco cash card (without presenting any membership card). the only thing i cannot do is use the coupons when i'm buying (fine print says that only members can use coupons).
 

NutBucket

Lifer
Aug 30, 2000
27,124
613
126
Picked one up yesterday. Is it worth the trouble to add a USB3 controller to my PC for this? As in, would there actually be any performance gains?