DEAD WD external 400gb SATA $49.99 AR

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gwynethgh

Senior member
Jul 9, 2003
250
0
71
May have answered myself
"Elements external HDD 400GB is a SATA II drive in the inside
Strengths: great form factor, decent price and size. Sata II 400 GB WD drive inside.
Weaknesses: no internal fan and feel like plastic casing. Gets hot if you use it for huge transfers. Only one year warranty.
Summary: Good looking 400GB drive with decent performance but not so great heat dissipation. The drive gets too hot if used for long transfers. One positive aspect for the drive is that they are very quite (quiter than my Maxtor ext drive).

Inside the case is a SATA drive, WD P/N: WD4000AAKS"

info from a reviewer. YMMV.
G

 

Slaimus

Senior member
Sep 24, 2000
985
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OMG, they had none when the store opened this morning. The guy said people bought a bunch yesterday.
 

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,837
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Originally posted by: Slaimus
OMG, they had none when the store opened this morning. The guy said people bought a bunch yesterday.

I guess that rules out my plan to pick one up first thing Monday morning. Oh well, the price on USB only external HD seems to be dropping pretty fast-I suspect they are going to be phased out.
 

ObiKwan

Member
Aug 26, 2004
65
0
0
Got the last one at the Allston, MA Staples this morning. Formatting the drive to NTFS right now. Seems to be a decent, quiet SATA drive for $50 AR.

Thanks OP!
 

mooseracing

Golden Member
Mar 9, 2006
1,711
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Got mine, its alot quieter than my Maxtor 500 SATA. But i guess noics doesn't bother me. Its nice and smallthough as I am used to bulking around my external that fits hard drives and CD-Roms with a fan built in to it.

I almost bought the 4Gb pny usb drive for 34.00 but couldn't justify it
 

gwynethgh

Senior member
Jul 9, 2003
250
0
71
Scored mine in Portsmouth NH, Dover is reportedly out (someone bought a bunch of them). 10$ coupon worked too. 400gb for 40$. Good.
 

AAjax

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2001
3,798
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My staples already has a line in front and dosent open for an hour... Looks like Ill pass. I didn't need another external anyhow (have three sitting here unused right now) but a sweet price all the same for those who get one :)
 

Jay

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,728
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Staples in Camp Hill, PA had about 8 when opened at 10:00 AM. I think 4 were gone before I walked out the door (I only got one). Thought about getting more and putting on Craig's, but decided not to deal with the hassle. (That, or was it anticipating my wife's response???).

No clicks of death....yet.
 

mugs

Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
48,920
46
91
This reminded me why I normally buy my hard drives from outpost.com... oh well, at least I didn't waste a trip out since Staples was on the way to Wegman's.
 

freshspace

Senior member
Mar 23, 2002
617
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The Adams Avenue store in Philadelphia had about 10 left when I walked out from there with mine. That was about noon today. If you don't see it on display, just ask the manager or some people. They maybe in the back. I called ahead and reserved mine.
 

mrrman

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2004
8,497
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0
Originally posted by: gwynethgh
Scored mine in Portsmouth NH, Dover is reportedly out (someone bought a bunch of them). 10$ coupon worked too. 400gb for 40$. Good.

just picked 1 up this morning...they had only 6 to sell...same deal above
 

ObiKwan

Member
Aug 26, 2004
65
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Originally posted by: nealh
this is been on FW and SD for days..good luck getting any

Nice threadcrap. It's worth a shot, as a number of people, including myself, have scored one of these today.

Be sure to ask the manager for one, as with mine they were hidden behind the front register.
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
If they're out, it's definitely worth asking - I almost missed out on the 20" Samsung LCD last Black Friday after an employee told me they were out. I asked another one..whaddya know, then had a bunch of them out back..
 

Tomer

Senior member
Dec 5, 2001
447
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I scored a 1/3 of a dozen. We shall see how they hold up.

I used to use WD exclusively, then switched to Maxtor mainly because I could get them for free or almost free at Staples. Nowadays I prefer Seagate because of their warranty, but figured for the price these are well worth it.

While it is possible they are sh*t I'm willing to risk it. Having bought Spinrite a long time ago has virtually eliminated all my hard drive issues. When one acts weird I run SR on it and it then continues to run until I tear it apart for the magnets. ;-)

My drives typically get turned on and run virtually continuously until they die or get pawned off on someone else.

Getting ready to check warranties now.
 

radiopayola

Junior Member
Aug 28, 2007
7
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I showed up at the Southlake, TX location at 11:00am sharp. There was another guy in the aisle looking for the same deal. He told the sales guy he was looking for 3, and I politely interjected (read: yelled), "I need 1!" Turns out the store had 3 in stock... I was about 10 steps behind the other guy as we approached the end-cap, and he graciously offered me one of the 3 drives. Score!
 

allisolm

Elite Member
Administrator
Jan 2, 2001
25,247
4,847
136
Originally posted by: nealh
this is been on FW and SD for days..good luck getting any

Thank goodness ObiKwan and mooseracing and gwynethgh and Jay and GtPrOjEcTX and freshspace and mrrman and Tomer and radiopayola and at least 25 other people at FW and about 40 at slickdeals didn't pay any attention to you. They all got drives today.



 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,582
10,084
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Originally posted by: allisolm
Originally posted by: nealh
this is been on FW and SD for days..good luck getting any

Thank goodness ObiKwan and mooseracing and gwynethgh and Jay and GtPrOjEcTX and freshspace and mrrman and Tomer and radiopayola and at least 25 other people at FW and about 40 at slickdeals didn't pay any attention to you. They all got drives today.

And me!! Don't forget me!! :D Thanks for the heads up. I got one this morning, and it's now being used as a internal drive. Just what I needed too. I've been thinking about getting a new drive lately, so this was very timely. I also have a decent SATA external enclosure. That'll come in handy for repairs and troubleshooting in the future :thumbsup:
 

konakona

Diamond Member
May 6, 2004
6,285
1
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congrats on those who got in on this.
what the hell is the point of having a six day sale when (they knew) it would run out on the very first day :(