Hey guys, first post here. Saw this deal not long ago with the earlier model on for sale, now there is a deal for the newer model (STEB5000100) is on for sale for $130 USD or AUD 175.44 while shipping charges to brisbane metro was AUD 15.41 (may be cheaper for sydney), bringing a total to AUD 190.85 at Amazon.
CamelCamelCamel.
Models vary and you can see 1 seagate model had a 0% failure rate. I'm worried that WD RED 3TB had a 12.87% annual failure rate. I went WD last week in my new NAS because I was nervous of seagate. Wish they had seagate NAS models in that report.
Anyway, that's why we backup!
different model so can really directly compare…they clearly had one really bad model but the rest dont deviate too far from the 'norm'. If anything their higher capacity drives are more reliable than WD.
Using that logic you avoid Western Digital also with one of its models having a high 'failure' rate?
Also you have to consider that the drives in that test are running 24/7 in an environment with vibration caused by the many other surrounding drives. They are using consumer drives in place of enterprise drives to save cost.
Good price, but yes I would also stay away just in case.
I bought one for offsite backup so it wont actually be running much. I have some seagate externals that work 24/7 fine. I think it was the 2tb versions that seageate really hurt their reputation on. Feedback on this model is pretty good on amazon.
I own 4 Seagate drives, all 2TB, been serving me well for 2-3 years.
All drives fail, I have had a range of brands and only had a WD die after 6 years of constant use.
Yeah it might have been a 1.5tb model now that I think about it, but that was literally years ago, so todays models wont compare anyway.
Same, and I've had mine for close to 5 years. No problems at all with them thankfully :) Although I'm now looking to upgrade simply due to the fact that they are getting old and the chances of failure are probably increasing with each year
I have something like 10 drives.
All mine run very hot with anything but light use. A full drive backup requires a large desk fan blowing to cool them. The venting isn't sufficient. And while I use to be a die hard Seagate fan I've now had too many of these die to even consider them. I've only had a couple of my WD drives die and they were a similar closed case design. The newer ones have proper venting. Well worth $20-$50 a drive IMHO.
Wonder if the drives inside might use SMR as suggested here and in various comments elsewhere. Guessing it wouldn't be to the same extent as the 8TB Archive drive, but any undeclared SMR would be a bit of a worry.
My thought exactly
Could you please tell us all why SMR is a bit of a worry
Spinning harddrives write data in concentric tracks around the platter with empty space in-between. SMR drives pack in more data by reducing the empty space between tracks. Every time it writes it erases a little bit on an adjacent track, so to maintain data integrity it needs to read and then overwrite the next track. This is like the overlapping of roof tiles ("shingles").
Unfortunately this means that when overwriting any bytes on the drive, many more reads/writes are needed to maintain the overlapping.
It's suitable for archival "WORM" (write once, read many times) workloads, such as a media drive. Not suitable for desktop usage (latency on random IO is bad).
FYI I bought a 4tb external and took out the drive for use in my HTPC. It failed a few months later..
People only whinge when drive fails. Nobody raves about a drive that hasn't failed.
I've been raving about my Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 drives for years, their SMART stats are far better than newer drives that have been in use for far less time. Backblaze results also seem to rate Hitachi as the more reliable brand as well.
:)
Not true. It's like sports, politics, religion. There are fans that are passionately committed to their HD manufacturer of choice…until they have a string of failures at least.
I have never had an external hard drive failure that was not caused by my own carelessness. Whether I bumped it or knocked it over.
Some local stores might be keen to move stock before the EOTFY with $$ going through the till.
Give negotiation a try, I have had an Office works store also offer me a price match with Amazon, much to my surprise.
***Also thanks OP for the posting. ***
Then you don't use them heavily. I'm finding I have to run a desk fan when I do large copies. Otherwise I see SMART temperatures in the 60s.
How do you even see the temperature?
Any utility like Hard Disk Sentinel that displays SMART data. Plus they're quite hot to the touch through the case.
Anyone seen deals on 8TB drives?
8TB = SMR drives
i have around 4 seagates, all still running for 6+ years
the one that having the problem is actually 3 x WD drives and 1 hitachi
maybe i am just lucky.
Maybe stupid question, but do they come with a universal power supply so that you can use it in Aus, or will I need to but an adapter to convert it?
That's not a stupid question as the situation could be either. Unfortunately, in this case the units come with a US power supply, so you'll need either an adapter or an (Input AC 100-240V, 50/60Hz; Output 12V, 1.5A) Aus power supply. Just be aware that many of the cheap Ebay-type adapters don't meet Australian Standards so an Aus power supply is probably a safer option for a device that will be used regularly.
They will run globally on voltage, you just need to make sure you get a pin adapter the connects the US 2 parallel pins to the AU /\ angled pins. No voltage conversion is required, the power pack sorts it all out.
Mine arrived today (I pre-ordered before stock was available for this deal to be posted). The "ugly" looking pattern is not so noticeable. It's very subtle and kind of nice. They must have used intentionally harsh angled lighting to get the shot they use online. It will make a lovely 5tb offsite backup.
Just picked up a 5Tb from Officeworks for $229 and noticed that the default plug is US. The kit comes with 4 different connectors including the angled AU plug.
Does the US versions come with the same 4 connectors on the plug pack?
While there I noticed that the new version of the 5Tb (SGEX5000DE) has holes in the case - should help keep the drive a little cooler than the previous design.
Price dropped US$1 to US$129 >> Now AU$190.01 Shipped
Camel say lowest price
AmazonGlobal Standard Shipping (averages 9-12 business days)
Add about AU$6
AmazonGlobal Expedited Shipping (averages 7-11 business days)
Not sure how much for
AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping — get it Tuesday, July 7
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STE…
Seagate Expansion 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STEB5000100)
List Price: $249.99
Price: $129.00
You Save: $120.99 (48%)
Order Summary
Items: AUD 174.56
Shipping & handling: AUD 15.45
Total before tax: AUD 190.01
Estimated tax to be collected: AUD 0.00
Order total: AUD 190.01
Again, Seagate failure rates. Not sure if applicable since it's a different model, but I'd stay away just to be safe. www.backblaze.com/blog/best-hard-drive/