expired Posted by NickyMaur • Jan 20, 2022
Jan 20, 2022 4:25 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by NickyMaur • Jan 20, 2022
Jan 20, 2022 4:25 PM
Western Digital External Hard Drive 8TB $139.99 at Costco
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$170
17% offCostco Wholesale
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what I really want is WD Blue 4TB for $50
WD makes good drives, but their external enclosures absolutely suck. And, *when* (not if) a MyBook enclosure fails, sure, you can shuck the drive, but because of the encryption done in the SATA->USB controller board, your data will be gone (you have to re-initialize and format the bare drive before you can use it).
WD makes good drives, but their external enclosures absolutely suck. And, *when* (not if) a MyBook enclosure fails, sure, you can shuck the drive, but because of the encryption done in the SATA->USB controller board, your data will be gone (you have to re-initialize and format the bare drive before you can use it).
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Don't get me wrong, encryption on a drive can be a good thing, if you need it. But, my beef with My Book drives is that it's not optional to the user whether to use it or not, it's always on, and that necessarily means that if the controller board in the enclosure goes south, your data is toast. I've pulled hard drives out of Maxtor (ugh), WD, Hitachi, and Seagate enclosures over the years, but WD enclosures definitely have the highest failure rate (I've actually not personally had a Seagate enclosure fail on me yet, I just wanted to pull some drives out to convert them to internal storage, whereas all the WD and Hitachi enclosures were opened up because of an enclosure failure and the drives inside were still fine after reformatting them).
In today's market, Seagate is the only first-party brand I know for sure is NOT doing funny business with the enclosures; it's just a straight SATA->USB adapter board inside, so if an enclosure dies, you can pull the drive out and still get your data off of it.
Don't get me wrong, encryption on a drive can be a good thing, if you need it. But, my beef with My Book drives is that it's not optional to the user whether to use it or not, it's always on, and that necessarily means that if the controller board in the enclosure goes south, your data is toast. I've pulled hard drives out of Maxtor (ugh), WD, Hitachi, and Seagate enclosures over the years, but WD enclosures definitely have the highest failure rate (I've actually not personally had a Seagate enclosure fail on me yet, I just wanted to pull some drives out to convert them to internal storage, whereas all the WD and Hitachi enclosures were opened up because of an enclosure failure and the drives inside were still fine after reformatting them).
In today's market, Seagate is the only first-party brand I know for sure is NOT doing funny business with the enclosures; it's just a straight SATA->USB adapter board inside, so if an enclosure dies, you can pull the drive out and still get your data off of it.
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I have read, but cannot confirm from my own testing, that the WD ELEMENTS line of drives might be a straight SATA to USB adapter, which would be nice, just not something I can guarantee from my own experience.
I have read, but cannot confirm from my own testing, that the WD ELEMENTS line of drives might be a straight SATA to USB adapter, which would be nice, just not something I can guarantee from my own experience.
my 4tb is failing now and need a replacement.
TIA
my 4tb is failing now and need a replacement.
TIA
https://slickdeals.net/f/15587038-costco-members-8tb-seagate-backup-plus-hub-external-hard-drive-129-99
what I really want is WD Blue 4TB for $50
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Especially considering the 14TB seems to regularly go on sale for $200 never mind $170, even for $60 more you are getting 80% more capacity.
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