500GB SATA HDD for $160

[yankidank]

This is probably the best price yet for this size HDD, at least the best deal from a reputable site. If you need a lot of storage space, like I do, this is a great way to store A LOT of media without taking up much precious space inside your computer case (heh, that rhymes).

Quick Stats:
Brand Western Digital
Series Caviar SE16
Model WD5000KS
Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s
Capacity 500GB
RPM 7200 RPM
Cache 16MB
Average Seek Time 8.9ms
Average Write Time 10.9ms
Average Latency 4.2ms
Form Factor 3.5"
3 year warranty

Get it from BestBuy.com here fore $160
Digg this deal here

 

[13Gigatons]

Not bad but you could also buy two 250 gig HD from CompUSA and raid them.

 

[RapidSnail]

RAID 0 isn't practical or useful unless you do a lot of video work. In fact, I would recommend against it as it doubles the chance of you losing your data.

 

[Zap]

One year warranty - Booo! Plus, tax for me.

Just wait... Outpost will have another deal eventually on 500GB Seagates.


Still, very good price, and no rebates FTW!

 

[Kniteman77]

Does anyone know if this price is good in stores ?

Plus if you're like me and you want 4 TB in raid 5 . . . that's a difference of 9 drives for the 500 compared to 17 drives for the 250's.

One is a feasable ammount of drives to fit it one case, the other . . . well they're both crazy.

 

[13Gigatons]

Originally posted by: RapidSnail
RAID 0 isn't practical or useful unless you do a lot of video work. In fact, I would recommend against it as it doubles the chance of you losing your data.

Spoken like someone who has never tried raid. When moving files around raid becomes very useful, thumbnails load faster, icons load faster, etc.

 

[tallman45]

Originally posted by: 13Gigatons

Originally posted by: RapidSnail
RAID 0 isn't practical or useful unless you do a lot of video work. In fact, I would recommend against it as it doubles the chance of you losing your data.

Spoken like someone who has never tried raid. When moving files around raid becomes very useful, thumbnails load faster, icons load faster, etc.

Sorry to say but a RAid 0 will load small files slower. All files must be run through a Raid controler and be striped, even if they are small. Compared to a single drive that does not need to go through that step, a RAID 0 system adds overhead, in larger files that overhead is negated be the added throughput. In the case of small files such as loading of an OS Raid 0 is slower

Your thumbnails and icons load faster becuase they fit in the drives cache, or may still me in system memory

 

[d3n]

I am really considering grabbing a Dell 2900 and loading it up with about 8 of these things as a NAS server.

 

[Gazziza]

if you have those 30% off coupons you could get it for ~111+tax. YMMV though.

 

[najames]

You can get Seagate 320GB $89ish at Newegg if you use the discount code in the top of this forum. 640GB for about $180 ($0.28/GB). 800GB in 2 400s for $104=$208 ($0.26/GB) each at Outpost. Sorry this isn't that hot ($0.32/GB).

You can do as someone else mentioned with a twist, get several smaller drives and use software RAID5. I have two 5 drive setups, one for the OS, 4 for RAID5 in Linux, but I think WinXP does it too. Fairly fast and if one drive craps out another takes over. I have updated kernels and programs without any problems or changes to the RAID.

I am ignoring shipping or tax.

 

[EDiT]

Originally posted by: najames
You can get Seagate 320GB $89ish at Newegg if you use the discount code in the top of this forum. 640GB for about $180 ($0.28/GB). 800GB in 2 400s for $104=$208 ($0.26/GB) each at Outpost. Sorry this isn't that hot ($0.32/GB).

You can do as someone else mentioned with a twist, get several smaller drives and use software RAID5. I have two 5 drive setups, one for the OS, 4 for RAID5 in Linux, but I think WinXP does it too. Fairly fast and if one drive craps out another takes over. I have updated kernels and programs without any problems or changes to the RAID.

I am ignoring shipping or tax.

It is funny how eveyone comes into large disk threads and talks about small disks. I have TONs of small disks laying around I will gladly trade for larger ones since many of you seem to think they are the same value.

Anyways, thanks OP. Sorry so many people are crapping in your thread. I would consider it, but am holding out for a deal on a pair of 750s (no, not 6 250s).

 

[mrrman]

I agree with najames...better deals on the Seagate 320's with a 5 year warranty

 

[markrb38]

EDIT: Best Buy screwed me. They refused to ship for free even though the email
clearly said they would. I have sent a complaint email to every address I can find on their website.

This might not be a deal for you, but it is for me.
I am replacing a 4 250gb RAID 5 with a 4 500GB RAID 5.
RAID 0 never an option for me. As was said 1 drive dies loose double the data with RAID 0.
RAID 5 1 drive dies slows a bit, but data intact.

They are selling out fast though. I already had to switch which store I will be picking them up from,
but BB offers free shipping for an item they thought was in stock when you bought it, but isn't.
So if this store craps out they will ship it for free to me.

Thanks OP.
BTW even if you buy the WD extended warranty it's still cheaper then Newegg and the rest.

Mark

 

[SUOrangeman]

I picked up two of these this morning. I was so giddy when I saw this, I completely forgot about checking coupons/eBates/etc.

I've been eyeing the RAID Edition (WD5000YS) for a few weeks, even though I have no intentions of running RAID at this time. 1-year warranty isn't the worst thing in the world, although I agree it could be better. Still, this is the cheapest single 500GB by $40 or so. And you might have it in-hand today.

SilentPCReview considers this drive to be the quietest available. StorageReview has performance numbers, but not a full review.

-SUO

 

[GeezerMan]

Originally posted by: Gazziza
if you have those 30% off coupons you could get it for ~111+tax. YMMV though.

where were the 30% coupons?
Thanks

 

[SUOrangeman]

Just a quick note (or two) ...

One of my 500GB drives was "upgraded" in the box to a WD5000YS (the RAID Edition).

I just saw a thread over at HardForum that outlined the 30% off coupon. I'm not a regular there, and I closed the browser without capturing the link.

-SUO

 

[curlykicker]

BestBuy 30% coupon thread at FatWallet: HERE!

I've used it several times. The only time I've been shot down was at the front registers. If you get run up by someone that takes care of the business accounts in the computer sales area, they most likely will do it no problem. Plus they have manager price over-ride abilities, which is key. Just look for the sales people that have a blue dress shirt on, as oposed to a white dress shirt or a geek squad polo.

 

[najames]

Sorry, I didn't intend to "thread crap", my apologies. I guess I don't consider 320/400GB drives as in the "small" category. I was originally thinking that 640GB would be better than 500GB, then I thought that 1 little drive+4x320s in a RAID5 should give a full TB of formatted storage and would be enough for most people. Also if one dies, it might be cheaper/easier to find and replace a sub$100 drive. If you what to use the 500GB drives, go for it.

Our standard Dell Optiplex PC at work has one 40GB, and my Sun V440 (4CPUs, 16GB Ram) only has about 300GB from the disk pool, but I use data compression where appropriate and do ok.

 

[EDiT]

Originally posted by: najames
Sorry, I didn't intend to "thread crap", my apologies. I guess I don't consider 320/400GB drives as in the "small" category. I was originally thinking that 640GB would be better than 500GB, then I thought that 1 little drive+4x320s in a RAID5 should give a full TB of formatted storage and would be enough for most people. Also if one dies, it might be cheaper/easier to find and replace a sub$100 drive. If you what to use the 500GB drives, go for it.

Our standard Dell Optiplex PC at work has one 40GB, and my Sun V440 (4CPUs, 16GB Ram) only has about 300GB from the disk pool, but I use data compression where appropriate and do ok.

Let's see the issues with your "better" deal....
- Neither of your deals gets anyone over 500GB usable for less than $160
- Multiple disks means more power usage
- Multiple disks means more heat, which leads to more power for Air Conditioning
- Multiple disks means more slots in use, which is not possible in small chassis
- Multiple disks means more noise
- Clearly you have not built any HTPCs or DVRs. Heat, noise, and space all require the biggest drives possible due to limitations of multiple drives.

In short, since you did not in fact know of any better COMPARABLE deals, and you still came in here saying this is a bad deal, that means you were thread crapping. Last I looked, that is not welcome on AT.

By the way, since you seemed to have missed it, the rules post at the top of the forum says:

No thread crapping. If the subject matter of a deal does not interest you, do not post negative comments about it, or about other members, in the thread.

 

[oslama]

WD offers a 3yr extended warranty for $14.95

 

[hansmuff]

Originally posted by: oslama
WD offers a 3yr extended warranty for $14.95

That brings the price to $175.. that's still a good deal and does away with the warranty concerns.

 

[markrb38]

Originally posted by: SUOrangeman
Just a quick note (or two) ...

One of my 500GB drives was "upgraded" in the box to a WD5000YS (the RAID Edition).

I just saw a thread over at HardForum that outlined the 30% off coupon. I'm not a regular there, and I closed the browser without capturing the link.

-SUO

Mine too, but check the serial number online and it's still a 1yr warranty.

 

[imported_browsing]

Originally posted by: Kniteman77
Does anyone know if this price is good in stores ?

Plus if you're like me and you want 4 TB in raid 5 . . . that's a difference of 9 drives for the 500 compared to 17 drives for the 250's.

One is a feasable ammount of drives to fit it one case, the other . . . well they're both crazy.

Is raid 5 stable and dependable?

 

[hytek369]

so many good HD deals

 

[GeezerMan]

I went to Best Buy a few weeks ago looking for those 30% coupons in the back to School promotion. They thought I was crazy. I went to several registers thumbing through stacks of the coupons looking for the 30%. No luck. The checkout dude knew about the secret code, so I bet the employees yanked them for themselves.
Anyway, I got an email today from Best Buy offering me 10% off,includes drives. It totals 159.90 delivered. Stores near me are out of stock. I might do it. 159.90 delivered is not too bad.