Hey guys:
While looking for the Optus MyTab this morning, I just saw again the deal of the Samsung MyStory 2TB HDD at Harvey Norman. The website shows a price of AU$136, but in-store the price is AU$99. I forgot taking a picture of the deal, but you can trust me ;). This was in the Canberra store, but it is possible Australia wide.
I bought this HDD when the deal first came out and I can say I'm really happy with the disk, it's really quite, not like the Seagate that is really noisy.
Cheers :)
Hahaha, looks like by 2012 no Aussie will be without an external hard disk, with so many offers. LOL
Isn't $99 for 2TB USB2 pretty standard now? Can't wait to see USB3 at this price.
WD one was USB 3.0 and only $14 more. so it's getting there.
OW has western digital 2TB for $98
I did the exact same thing: went to Harvey (Woden) looking for the Optus MyTab (they didn't have any), played with the ASUS Transformer instead (which is awesome), saw the 2TB for $99 deal as I was leaving. I prefer WD drives though personally.
Its a good deal, i have 3 * 2tb Story but in the USB 3 one, and they are very good and sturdy.
If anyone is like me and prefers to spend a bit more now so in the long run they dont have to.
PC Case Gear has the USB 3 model for $119.
these things get cheaper as time passes, not more expensive
He's saying so that you don't have to buy a complete new drive for USB 3.0
Ohhh crap - I knew there was something I forgot - I couldn't go for this one if it is not USB3 (I have USB3 on all my computers)
kool storeeh bra !
I beleive its operation is quiet is because it is an energy conserving eco drive. It most likely powers down when not needed. I would note the long wait time from when its switched on.
deleted (responded to wrong post)
What are the guts to this thing? Probably not a very good HD. You can buy a top of the range HD for a similar price and pay a little extra for a USB case.
which hd is that?
Good point, as the drive inside of this i think has only a direct USB connection instead of SATA. Limits is use for an OS and there may well be better combos to put together as you say.
It actually has a SATA connection FYI.
I have a USB 3.0 version that I got today for $119 and it has a SAMSUNG HD204UI inside, which is exactly the same as my 3.5" internal Samsung drives. I doubt Samsung make special 3.5" drives just for these external enclosures. I know they do for the 2.5" ones though. The internal version of this drive is around $88, so I doubt you could get a decent 3.5" enclosure with PSU for $11. $99 is a good deal, but I wanted USB 3.0.
"Hey guys:" is very informative.. need to change the title so ppl can easily read what the deal is on the front page.
god damnit >_<
i just bought 2 of these recently for around 150 each
btw great deal, i wouldn't mind buying another one when i run out of space
I purchased these last time they were on sale.
The only problem is they go to sleep so quickly, and for some reason Windows 7 occasionally has huge issues when it randomly powers up and down.
But for storage they are perfect.
What huge issues? I'd be interested in hearing about these issues.
The HDD will power up after being on standby but its not accessible.
This can get worse where sometimes it will power back up and make everything really slow, I think because win7 keeps trying to access it because its technically on.
I have two of them and they both do it in win7, but I have anther type of external hdd and it doesn't do it.
But in windows xp I have no issues.
All I have to do is turn it off and on and it works fine.
Interesting. I've never experienced any of those problems but I use WD hard drives only.
The only thing I've noticed is that because they go on standby after 5-10mins of idle time, it takes about 5 extra seconds for it to start spinning quickly enough before you can access it again like normal.
Be warned, these drives also seem to be useless for use with some PVRs. I've tried this drive on both my USB recording TV and my USB recording set-top box, and both have major issues with the hard drive's sleep modes. Some set-top boxes might have better firmware to deal with sleepy HDs, but mine don't.
If the hard drive is already spinning, I can successfully record to it. If the hard drive has spun down but isn't already in sleep mode and I try to record, the TV and PVR hang while the drive spins up, then display an error code along the lines of 'Drive not ready' and cancel the recording. If the drive has gone into deep sleep mode (when the power light turns off) when the TV or PVR turns on, they both ignore the drive and think it isn't even mounted, so it's impossible to schedule recordings. I can only use it to record TV if I'm physically in front of the TV and make it play a media file or something just before hitting record, so the thing is already spinning when the recording device needs it. Frustrating.
I do however like using the drive with my media player, because it spins down then goes to sleep automatically without me having to turn it off, so if I press stop or pause on a movie, I don't have to get up and physically turn the drive off. After a minute or so it spins down automatically.
Anyone got any pix of this pulled apart, just out of curiosity? I bought a Samsung a couple of weeks back. I'd have waited if I knew they were doing these again.
EDIT: Answer own question…
http://dieseltekk.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-disassemble-2t…
Also, if you just want if for the internal drive, it's cheaper elsewhere:
http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=samsung+HD2…
I bought three of the drives last November when they were on special for $99, which at the time was cheaper than you could buy the internal 2TB version. I opened the case of one of them and used the internal hard drive mechanism in my media player, it works very well. I also put a smaller Western Digital drive in the empty case and it works well. I really like the look of the case, but the power light is rather stupid. The knob on the front turns the hard disk on and also adjusts the brightness of the activity LED. No idea why you'd need to adjust the brightness of the LED. I'm also worried one day somebody will start playing with the knob on the front while I'm in the middle of a backup and accidentally turn the hard drive off in the middle of it!
The sleep mode is an advantage in a media player, because it spins down automatically if I pause or stop a movie and forget to turn off the player. I used to get a headache if I fell asleep in front of my old player and the hard drive was whirring away all night, but that doesn't happen now.
Went to Harvey Norman today and picked up 2 x 2tb WD USB3.0
They price matched with Officeworks.
It was $114
Pretty cheap considering I bought the internal 2 TB for $96 half a year ago. If the USB 3.0 version is only $14 more expensive then it's worth that upgrade.
Be careful with these drives. They come with a firmware bug that potentially loses data. Samsung has released a patch found here http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bb…
Tutorial on applying the patch if you don't have a floppy drive here:
http://www.flynsarmy.com/2011/05/updating-samsung-f4-ecogree…
that's classic. Bargain data-loss anyone?
unless these units were manufactured last year these shouldn't have a problem as they all came with updated firmware after dec 10
That patch only works for bare SATA drives. There's no information indicating the Story Station external USB enclosures are affected. The corruption occurs when SMART data is sent to the drive. Most USB enclosures do not support SMART commands, but I haven't tested it yet with this drive.
Its a USB3 model, got 1 at wagga store for $99
I just picked my second one from Mel city HN. It's USB2, but only for $89.
That's made it necessary for me to buy one !!
Go Harvey Go!