Wester Digital 45.0 GB for $156.95 (or less) verified

[jameslee]

Bad news: There was a previous post for this drive from Sam's club for ~$160 after a $30 rebate. When i went to Sam's i not only found out that the 45.0 GB model was not listed as eligible for the rebate, but also the rebate had expired on May 27th, 2000!

Good news: The rebate has been modified to include the 45.0 GB drive and extended until August 12, 2000, if you purchase from any of the stores listed at WD's site. Here's the best deal i could find:

1. Order the 45.0 GB drive from buy.com for $186.95

http://www.us.buy.com/comp/product.asp?sku=10250662

2. If you are a new customer, you can use this coupon to receive $10 off of a $30 order (total $152.90 after rebate).

http://www.us.buy.com/basket/additem.asp?sku=80180108

If you are an existing customer, you can use this coupon to receive free shipping (total $156.95 after rebate).

http://www.us.buy.com/basket/additem.asp?sku=80278158

3. Download the rebate from Western Digital's site.

http://www.westerndigital.com/promos/30-reb4.html

 

[jameslee]

Update: If you are an existing customer, i think you can still use the $10 off $30 coupon by:

1. Adding the $10 off $30 coupon to your cart.

(if you are already logged in, the coupon shouldn't appear.)

2. Add the free shipping coupon to your cart.

(now both coupons should appear.)

3. Click to continue to checkout.

4. Buy.com will display that you have to remove one of the coupons, so remove the free shipping coupon (valued at $5.95) if you only order the hard drive.

5. Process the order and an existing customer should be able to use the $10 off coupon.

Hey, every penny counts.

 

[FastEddieG]

Hmmmm, the 15GB is 7200rpm and is $144
the 45GB is 5400 rpm and is $187

Both retail packaged... Very Nice find!

 

[jameslee]

Here's a quote from MrBeetle (copied from the post http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=197271) which may help anyone deciding between the 5400 rpm and the 7200 rpm vs. cost per GB.

MrBeetle:

<< [A] drive @ 5400 RPM is faster than smaller drives at 7200RPM.

Suppose you have a 9 GB drive, spinning at 10000 RPM, that is 3&quot; in diameter. The circumferance is roughly 9&quot;, so lets say there is 1GB per inch. At 10000 RPM, it can read 90000GB a data a minuite.

Now, suppose you have a 90GB drive, spinning at 5000 RPM. Circ. is still 9&quot;, so there is now 10GB per inch. At 5000 RPM, it will read 450000 GB a minuite. (That is about 5x the amount before)

If the data is compressed more (physically) on the drive, the slower speeds will still be faster than before. >>

 

[ebaker]

At Storage review the Maxtor 7200 10 gig/platter drives are 5-20% faster than the 5400rpm 15 gig/platter drives. Both are very fast though.

 

[a2]

I checked the rebate when I bought it, and it said it expired in august for my 45 gig....I don't know why they wouldn't honor it.

 

[step-dawg]

if Hard drives were made that way then Mr.Beetle would be right, however they just don't mash all the data onto one disk. Large hard drives have multiple platters so they are not always faster. 7200rpm is faster than 5400rpm.

edit:
oops, just reread the post. I see what he is saying now. But at same sizes, 7200 rpm would obviously be faster.

 

[bigjon]

Hey, the picture and description of the WD 45gb at buy.com indicates 7200rpm! I don't have time to look up the part# at WD right now; does anybody know which speed this drive is?! (this is reaching, but... )

 

[zoiks]

its 5400 rpm.

 

[jameslee]

i bought the drive (and saw a box in person at Sam's) and it's spindle speed is 5400 rpm.

i don't actually expect buy.com to display a unique image for all the items they carry, but i do expect the product title to be correct and the title says 5400 rpm, which is fine for storing archived files and mp3s.

i do see what you guys mean though, everything except the product title makes is look like the drive runs at 7200 rpm. i guess they used the wrong description in this case.

 

[Quickfingerz]

yeah, it's platter size not hard drive size. There is so much more when it comes to hard drives. I wish we could have IBM's density, Seagate's seek times, and maxtors speed.

 

[xDanielx]

7200 is way faster than 5400 drives. Almost ALL THE TIME! Just compare them at www.storagereview.com. But 45gigs? Thats a hell of a deal!

 

[Paul]

Hmm just 1 HD that will double my storage space.... do I really need it?

maybe...

Western Digital is selling it direct for $200.72 (backordered)

http://www.westerndigital.com/products/drives/wd450aa.html

Western Digital $30 rebate link

http://www.westerndigital.com/promos/30-reb4.html

 

[Pretender]

Has anyone successfully gotten the rebate? Looking carefully at the page where it lists the vendors, it says the following:

<< * These companies participate in Western Digital retail-packaged product promotions and rebates.

Western Digital Online Store
Buy.com
CDW 800/425-4239
Egghead*
Insight 800/INSIGHT
MacMall 800/328-2970
MicroWarehouse 800/786-1157
PC Connection* 888/213-0260
Tiger Direct* 888/879-1597
ValueAmerica*
>>

Doesn't this mean that only the *'ed ones (egghead, pc connection, etc) are valid for rebate, or is it all of the vendors on this list?

 

[Pretender]

By the way, I personally suggest getting the 20GB 7200 RPM on buy.com for $148 before rebates (after $10 buy.com discount and $30 rebate, comes out to about $110). I'm on a limited budget for my new system, and I'd prefer 7200 RPM...who needs 45GB? not like I'm running an mp3 server with every song known to man (though that'd be cool, wouldn't it?)

[edit]oops, forgot the link...here ya go:
http://www.us.buy.com/comp/product.asp?Sku=10225006[/edit]

 

[pX]

Email WD about it. There is another post about this reabate and all. He emailed WD to see if Staples online is included and they said it was, even though only the B&amp;M are listed. http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&amp;threadid=200359
I called Staples asking if the 30GB was retail, they gave me a &quot;i think so&quot;. If it is, I get it for 95, if not 125, both are good deals.

pX

 

[Pretender]

Also, I'm building a system on a limited budget...anyone know how long it takes for the rebate to come?

 

[Xmenxmen]

If you are lucky, probably 1 1/2 to 2 month, or expect 3 to 6 month if not.

 

[avhokie]

READ BEFORE YOU ORDER:

&quot;**This Western Digital hard drive is not eligible for a manufacturer mail-in rebate.&quot;

Taken straight from Buy.com

 

[EmperorNero]

I was too lazy to read every posts so I dont' know if someone already covered this: the free shipping coupon expires on the 21st, be quick.

 

[Ranger X]

5400rpms. Too bad.

 

[Pretender]

The 20GB 7200 RPM is eligable.

 

[Pretender]

This deal looks like it's dead....go here for info:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&amp;threadid=201298