Same as last deal in April. Comes with a US plug.
@impoze suggests you can get a free AU adapter if you register the drive with WD and then submit a support ticket to WD.
CamelCamelCamel.
Any chance you have that research on a Google Sheet?
ahhhh Nope…more like "is it under $200 yet? Nope"
"is it under $200 yet? Nope"
"is it under $200 yet? Nope"
"is it under $200 yet? Nope"
Edit. But you could always see the history with camelcamelcamel.
This has been the average price since some time around April this year.
I can confirm that you can get a free AU power adapter if you get in touch with them and give the serial/model numbers. They Fedex it out quite quickly.
Otherwise, any 12v 1.5a 5.5mm/2.1mm barrel adapters will work fine.
What about using a $1 powerplug adapter to convert the plug to AU (i.e. the US adapter can run on 110V or 240 V)?
Thanks in advance
That's fine as well. The US power adapter that comes with these hard drives are 100v-240v.
You can use a pair of pliers to turn the US blades inwards and it will work in an AU plug OK.
Please don’t do this, it won’t sit in the socket properly, and is more prone to arcing.
@Blunglefortness: Nonsense; AU plugs are made from cheese in the first place and they bend with the slightest provocation so this can't be any worse.
Who should we get in touch with for an AU adapter - WD or Amazon? And what's the best way to contact them?
WD, it's better to deal with them directly.
You can visit here and register your serial numbers, then open a support case.
Explain that you purchased the drive from the US Amazon and are requesting the AU power adapter, you'll go back and forth confirming the address etc. You'll have it all done fairly quickly.
Thanks a bunch!
Previous deal said expired so I thought I'd share for others benefit, is all. I'm not trying to amass points or anything.
Anyone knows whether this one is shuckable? After a desktop drive for a PC.
Copy + paste from one of my earlier comments:
I've shucked some of them and they've all been helium EMAZ white label drives. Basically the same as Reds with two year warranty instead of three.
Here's some more info if you're interested.
Hi Goldfire,
I've been wanting 2 x 8TB WD Reds for my upcoming NAS setup.
Are you suggesting the drives inside these WD Elements are equivalent (or better) than the WD Reds?
Does anything need to be done (such as taping pins) to have them work in a NAS?
Otherwise, will purchase two and shuck them.
Thanks!
I wouldn't necessarily say better, but easily equivalent - they have more cache than my 4TB Red drives (64MB vs 256MB) and run cooler than my air filled drives, for example.
Depending on your NAS, you may need to tape over the 3.3v pin, which is easily done. I didn't have to do that because I put these drives into a server case with a backplane that has the updated spec which doesn't supply 3.3v to that pin.
I'll be buying another pair when I have some money spare for a second parity drive + data drive.
@Goldfire: Thanks for the quick response. Makes sense.
Is there any way to tell from a NAS's specifications whether the 3.3V pin will need isolating?
I am planning on purchasing a Synology DS218+ soon.
Thanks.
@MitchAustralia13: Without digging into support docs or forums, I couldn't give you a surefire way of telling, sorry.
From a quick search though, the DS218+ appears to not supply a 3.3v supply, which is good, as that'll mean you can shuck and plug n play the drives. Worse case scenario, grab some kapton tape for ~$10 and cover the pin, takes about 10 secs and you'll be good to go.
It should be noted though, there is no danger to the drive if it receives 3.3v, it's simply a reset line.
In simple terms:
3.3v supply = drive disabled
3.3v not supplied = drive enabled
You can safely shuck the drive, put it into the NAS, see if it works. If it does, no worries, otherwise it's a tape job.
The one I got was an air filled, not helium…. But I've had no issues with it so far!
Interesting that they're still air filled ones floating around (no pun intended).
No issues for sure, air filled only really run a little bit hotter compared to helium with similar reliability that I've found.
@Goldfire: I thought it was the other way around - the first lot were all helium, but then they changed to air filled because they're cheaper?
@MrGareth: From what I've read on forums and Reddit, some people got air filled, others helium at similar times.
Recently though, helium is more common.
It seems to be simply what stock they have on hand at the time and not a cost of production thing, not confirmed though, just an observation from my end.
It has been reported as being shuckable. I have shucked the 10TB ones
Just shucked one of these myself about 1 month ago and works fine, except you might need to modify it slightly: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Fix-the-33V-Pin-Issu…
as they can be stuck off with normal sata cables. I use a sata power cable extension which is of the old design, and so it works fine without modification to the drive: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/20CM-SATA-15-pin-Power-Supply-Ex…
Any good deals on hdd?
$28/TB is hardly exciting when portable (2.5") is only $33/TB from Officeworks.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/469445
The speed difference is small compared to ssd vs hdd.
I got excited about my 10TB for $130 order but that was a price error :(
Things that aren't making sense in my mind when I read your post.
Whoa an 8TB 2.5" is $33/TB, sign me up!
It is the 21st century - you can join smaller drives into one big logical drive.
Put 5 in a RAID to get 12GB with redundancy for $500.
The speed difference between an ssd and hdd is small.
No. If speed matters, get SSD, at least as a cache.
There is little benefit and much cost for 3.5" these days. It will soon die like 5" and 8" drives before. Squeezed between SSD and 2.5".
Which 2.5" drive are you getting from Officeworks?
From your calculations you are using 3tb drives that cost $99 shipped. Please show me a 3tb 2.5" drive from Officeworks for $99.
for Xbox
SO? What is the difference? It still seems to be USB. Different cable? Preformatted?
You're really not a fan of this particular deal are you.
I dunno the exact details but yeah you would most likely have to reformat it so that Windows can read it
I think I'd rather pay a little more and get the WD over a Seagate any day.
That's funny because I am the opposite. Seagate over WD any day.
Never Seagate
Thanks for the shout out,
yep, I've done the AU plug request a few times without any issues.
Just register the drive and send a support request for the AU plug and they'll ship it out to you for free.
I don't want to be a Debby Downer… But I've just received one of these and it was DOA (couldn't detect it on 2 different PCs). It's going to cost me $50 to return it to the US via AusPost… Having said that. I'm probably going to order another one anyway as I need another 8TB HDD to go with my existing 3 x WD Red 8TBs.
Any hint as to why my comment was down voted?
Surely Amazon should pay for postage for a DOA?
I didn't downvote you btw, just saying.
Via USB? Or after shucking? I'm assuming you're aware of the 3.3V pin trick?
No, fresh out of the box. Good example of why you should test before shucking. No harm done. Ordered another. Hopefully the postie doesn't drop kick this one…
Just got off Amazon support chat and they've assured me they will refund the postage cost in full.
? is that why you were down voted? saying $50 return postage. ?
Down-voted by Debbie Downer.
I was gona say they would pay for it. Returned 4 things bought from Amazon US and AU. They've always reimbursed me for postage. Even twice where postage was $75 each, when they told me they'd support a product warranty that the company wouldn't after having the item for 3 years! Amazon's not good, they're f'n great!
Ordered 2 of these with 4.5% cashback from Shopback.
Will confirm what is inside when received.
If u shuk it assume you dont have any warranty, so why would you do that ?
If you shuck the drive correctly, you won't damage the enclosure at all, they are still valid for RMA and warranty.
Other than that, other people have mentioned they sent the bare drive itself back for warranty. The serial number on the enclosure matches the internal drive.
I've been tracking hard drives for a while now. Average price for weeks now.