Western Digital Elements 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDBAAU0020HBK-NESN $79.99

This is a 3.5" so it always needs an external power source no matter what, right?
Approx. what is historical low on these?

fp.....

Quote from GunMan : This is a 3.5" so it always needs an external power source no matter what, right? Approx. what is historical low on these?

target had these on black friday for $69 (i didnt go until after noon and there was at least 30 of them left and they said no one had even bought one that day)

otherwise it was $65 if you had one of those 25 off 75 staples coupons

Quote from budcluck : target had these on black friday for $69 (i didnt go until after noon and there was at least 30 of them left and they said no one had even bought one that day) otherwise it was $65 if you had one of those 25 off 75 staples coupons

Regarding historical prices:
I went through some of my previous orders...
- I got one of these for $90 back in November from Newegg...
- Last July I got one of these for $117 from Dell...
- Last July I also bought a 1.5TB version of these for $91 from Dell
All of these were best available prices at the time...
(thanks Slickdeals!)

So, $79.99 is the lowest I have ever seen (must have missed the Target deal, but that also has tax...)

And yes, these are 3.5" drives, which mean they do require a power supply all the time (I have them in my basement next to my Windows Home Server)

thnx for da info.. nice deal

In for 1...

I remember this from Black Friday. If you get one that has a COO (Country of Origin) of "Made in Malaysia", then there is a Caviar Black 2Tb inside. If the COO is "Made in Thailand", then it is a Caviar Green 2Tb inside. I chose carefully a few at Target with Malaysia COO and all of them were Caviar Black when I took them out to use in my media server.

Sounds like the best deal yet for this size, skipping the target black friday thing.

Quote from jhiggins8 : I remember this from Black Friday. If you get one that has a COO (Country of Origin) of "Made in Malaysia", then there is a Caviar Black 2Tb inside. If the COO is "Made in Thailand", then it is a Caviar Green 2Tb inside. I chose carefully a few at Target with Malaysia COO and all of them were Caviar Black when I took them out to use in my media server.

I just received two of these drives from Newegg. Both were "Made in Malaysia"...
However, I do not plan to crack them open to see inside...

Quote from BluePhoton : I just received two of these drives from Newegg. Both were "Made in Malaysia"... However, I do not plan to crack them open to see inside...

some info i found:

also found this quote on HardOCP:
"Actually, only made in Malaysia drives have Caviar Black inside them, there are plenty of NETG drives from Thailand with WD Green drives In either case, pretty good deal."


newegg review:
"Other Thoughts: Original unit was used a Western Digital Caviar Black WD2001FASS 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA. That stand-alone HDD retails for $169.99 and carries a 5-year WD warranty. I encountered 136 bad sectors and data loss after two months. I filled it with 200 Gb and used it for back up once a week. Next two units utilized the Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache @ 5400 RPM's (retail at Newegg for $89.99 w/ 3-year warranty as stand-alone HDD). First one died directly out of the box and I have used the third unit for one week now...wish me luck."

Conclusion: *some* of them come with caviar blacks, but I think *most* come with greens. so, it could be a great way of getting a $150 drive for $80, or get stuck with a lemon (green) not sure I'm willing to take the chance.

Edit: ordered one. crossing fingers for a caviar black

In for 1. Thanks OP.

Quote from LeetMiniWheat : ordered one. crossing fingers for a caviar black

Yeah - me too.

got my drive today... product of thailand. /facepalm so I open it up anyways and sure enough it's a green WD20EARS and made in thailand.

Edit: <removed second half of post> thought it was failing but turned out to be something else causing smart errors. still putting it through it's tests though, i still have a bad feeling about this thailand drive

Quote from LeetMiniWheat : got my drive today... product of thailand. /facepalm so I open it up anyways and sure enough it's a green WD20EARS and made in thailand. Edit: <removed second half of post> thought it was failing but turned out to be something else causing smart errors. still putting it through it's tests though, i still have a bad feeling about this thailand drive

what do you use to check errors?