Newegg Shellshocker, WD 500GB Black SATA HDD $59.99.

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822236345

Supposed to be a Shell-shocker starting at 10am PST.

All morning, EST, it was showing $71.99.

Now, at 1:05 EST, it's showing as a Shell-shocker... for $71.99.

Is newegg really getting so lame, that their Shellshocker deals are just regular prices?

I was expecting $50-60.

Edit: Now $59.99. Still somewhat steep for a 500GB HDD.

 

[Aknosis]

I'd rather buy the 1TB blue for the same price.

 

[TopCat502]

If you are willing to wait, you can catch the 1TB Blue for about $5 cheaper from time to time

 

[nwo]

More like a wallet shocker @ $60 for only 500GB. As others mentioned, most 1TB HDDs go for around that much.

I'm happy with my 1TB Seagate barracuda that I managed to snag for only $40 after MIR from Tiger Direct. I received the rebate gift card in less than 2 weeks without any additional cost. I am definitely on the lookout for another 1TB drive from Tiger Direct with a rebate

 

[Skott]

NE has been lame about most of their so called sales this holiday season. They keep offering pre holiday pricing on stuff and calling it a sale when in reality it's not. Amazon is getting my business more and more. I don't have to deal with rebate coupons either while getting the same price with them which is nice.

 

[killster1]

heheheheh i was going to come post that yes this deal is lil shocking.. wonder if its a single platter drive with 5 year warranty or something.. i dunno about 500gb black never heard of the model.. i have had 1tb and 750gb blacks tho and they still run strong. id buy a black over a blue even if it was half the size same price.. (tho i do have 2 blues running fine )

 

[VirtualLarry]

Nicknc
7/21/2013 5:18:48 PM
Tech Level: High
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year


3 out of 5 eggsIssues with docks

Pros: Fast, reliable, terrific warranty.

Cons: When I try to access the drive through my Kingwin EZ-Dock via eSATA, the drive mounts and then dismounts with a "not ready for access yet" error in Win8. When I try to access it with my Vantec Nexstar dock via USB3, the partition mounts incorrectly as RAW with no option for recourse.

I own three of these drives, and all three have the same result.

EVERY OTHER hard drive I've placed in either of these docks has acted completely normal, including SSD, SATA 3gbps, and SATA 1.5 drives.

I'm stumped as to what is going on

Other Thoughts: Great for internal drive-- be wary if you want to use this via USB3 or eSATA. It apparently has some compatibility issues.

 

[Meghan54]

I was going to mention Microcenter had WD 1TB Blue oem hd's for $59, but they're now up to $64. They do have 1TB Toshiba hd's for $55, tho.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Apparently, these are also "Advanced Format" HDDs. Bleh. Why would WD need to use AF on a 500GB HDD? Crazy. Also, they report to the host that they are actually non-AF drives. Which is probably why the review I quoted in my last post was having problems with it in docks.

 

[NickelPlate]

Not trying to thread crap but just FYI I just got one of the aforementioned 1TB blue drives at Amazon for this same price. Gonna use it as my Steam drive.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Not trying to thread crap but just FYI I just got one of the aforementioned 1TB blue drives at Amazon for this same price. Gonna use it as my Steam drive.

I guess what it boils down to is, is the 5-year versus 2-year warranty a red herring? Are both Black and Blue drives just as reliable (or unreliable), and all we are doing when paying extra for the black drives is paying extra for "replacement insurance"? (Like a big-box store will sell you.)

If so, I normally don't recommend paying for extra "product protection plans".

But if Black drives are constructed or binned better, then that might be worth paying for to some people.

I bought three (the limit during the ShellShocker). These will be my first Black drives.

I'm a long-time WD consumer, and my (non-Black) WD 6400AAKS drives have lasted quite a nice long while. Got one still running, no bad sectors or anything. The others I sold off after 3-4 years, still no bad sectors on them either.

 

[PliotronX]

I guess what it boils down to is, is the 5-year versus 2-year warranty a red herring? Are both Black and Blue drives just as reliable (or unreliable), and all we are doing when paying extra for the black drives is paying extra for "replacement insurance"? (Like a big-box store will sell you.)

If so, I normally don't recommend paying for extra "product protection plans".

But if Black drives are constructed or binned better, then that might be worth paying for to some people.

I bought three (the limit during the ShellShocker). These will be my first Black drives.

I'm a long-time WD consumer, and my (non-Black) WD 6400AAKS drives have lasted quite a nice long while. Got one still running, no bad sectors or anything. The others I sold off after 3-4 years, still no bad sectors on them either.

Good point, I have a five year old 640GB Black that has zero bad sectors as well still serving as a system drive. The Black line supposedly has two processors aiding in cached transfers. Normally drives this old develop a whine in the motor like a fish tank pump but it's still dead silent.

 

[Meghan54]

I've had a couple of blues die after a few years of use. Have used a few black drives for quite extended periods without one failure, but the sample size is rather small for each.

 

[cubeless]

http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellS...7-_-12252013_4

2tb for 50% more cashola...

 

[killster1]

seriously virtual larry you bought three but sit here and bash the drives over and over? i dont get it.. why? OF COURSE THEY ARE BETTER DRIVES.. look the specs for one.. BETTER.. warranty BETTER.. All drives will die.. the chances are the blue will die first and be slower drive.. so weird of a thread.. i buy wd red's now 3tb but only because i use LOTs of space and dont delete.. i find the red's now to be annoying with spin up time dont know what to use next ..the 3tb reds i have been buying at around 130 shipped 120 shipped for the last year/ big SSD for 200 solves your problem dont be cheap it doesnt save you any money

 

[VirtualLarry]

seriously virtual larry you bought three but sit here and bash the drives over and over? i dont get it.. why? OF COURSE THEY ARE BETTER DRIVES.. look the specs for one.. BETTER.. warranty BETTER.. All drives will die.. the chances are the blue will die first and be slower drive..

For a while, the 1TB Blue drives were faster than the 1TB Black drives, simply because they had moved to a single 1TB platter design, while the older Blacks were 2x 500GB platters.

And a longer warranty doesn't mean that the drives are built any better, it could just mean that you are paying extra for extended warranty insurance.

 

[killster1]

it also Could mean that aliens are running WD and that the world is ending in a few mins.. but really? the drives rated to be used Constantly in business environment are the ones with more warranty there is no plot or ploy with warranties here.. they dont want people to RMA. Wd is real good about RMA too compared to other company that will void warranty for sharpe on the label or other simple things.

depends whats important to you.. funny how you mention 1tb drives now but isnt this a 500gb drive thread? is that the only instance you can think of where the blue beats it? does it beat it in seek times or just outer rim transfer speeds. if you partition your fancy blue special and only use 40% of it ITS FASTER? W000000t HELL YA!! good point!

 

[monkeydelmagico]

single platter WD black drive is going to be one of the most reliable desktop HD you can get.