[DEAD] WD reds 4/8TB $90/$200 via shucking - update, 8TB reds now $180, 4TB deal looks dead.

[Hank C]

so what about the firmware on these? do they support TLER?

 

[JTech007]

I have 4 of these now. The first two I ordered online as they did not have any locally when the price was $199. Those drives were made in China. Picked up two drives today at my local BB (Portland, Or). Both were Thai drives. I can see that there is a sticker or two below the Red drive sticker. Not sure if these are the re-branded HGST drive or not.

 

[mmo]

picked up 4 from BB today and all of them have #MGBJRCK label, have anyone returned any drives due to bad sectors? i would like to see how reliable these drives are and if i should do full test on them.

Thanks,

 

[dragonme]

Physically the 8tb Thai drives look just like they 10tb red pros on the server the home review on the main page... the case is definitely different than my ezzx drives....

 

[Hank C]

even if WD won't take shucked drives, will extra year warranty provided by credit card be able to work? =)

 

[dragonme]

@Hank C

If you shuck it you are probably on your own... I dont think anyone will take it back...although worth a try

 

[Cybertron]

It would seem that we can return the drives all day long as long as we stick them back in the case?

I purchased 6 initially, and now I just got 2 more, but they are the 256mb variation and model WD80EFAX... opposed to WD80EFZX. Does anyone know if i'm going to run into raid issues if i put all these drives together? I do hope they will be fine. But if I need to buy 6 more to match, well geez, i better do it.

 

[Gene]

@Hank C

If you shuck it you are probably on your own... I dont think anyone will take it back...although worth a try

Look up how to take them out without breaking plastic tabs. Was really easy using cut in half old credit cards

 

[Richard Wad]

It would seem that we can return the drives all day long as long as we stick them back in the case?

I purchased 6 initially, and now I just got 2 more, but they are the 256mb variation and model WD80EFAX... opposed to WD80EFZX. Does anyone know if i'm going to run into raid issues if i put all these drives together? I do hope they will be fine. But if I need to buy 6 more to match, well geez, i better do it.

Raid controllers don't look at hd cache when making a vd, they look at drive sizes.

 

[dragonme]

@Cybertron

Yeah.. if you get it back in the case without physical damage you Might be able to smoke it past the $10 an hour best by kid.. in the 30 day window.. but when you send it back to WD.. they are going to know... even if you dont break the clips I would not be supprised the minute you format this drive without using the firmware on the USB imposed board it probably overwrites a sector somewhere and they know....

 

[klammore]

@Cybertron

Yeah.. if you get it back in the case without physical damage you Might be able to smoke it past the $10 an hour best by kid.. in the 30 day window.. but when you send it back to WD.. they are going to know... even if you dont break the clips I would not be supprised the minute you format this drive without using the firmware on the USB imposed board it probably overwrites a sector somewhere and they know....

Have you personally RMA'd any of them? If not please do not make claims about the RMA process.

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!! Update on my dead easystore. • r/DataHoarder

A recent discussion on RMAing easystores, I have not RMA'd any of these BB 8TB yet. But in my experience WD and Seagate give no shits if you shucked them as long as you reassemble them before RMA with minor to no damage to the casing. I've successfully RMA'd 3 seagate expansion 5TB drives and 2 WD my book 6TB drives.

Last time these drives went on sale there were reports of people successfully RMAing without the enclosure because the drive has matching serials with the enclosure. They reported that they received a new 8TB easystore as replacement.



EDIT: Deal looks dead, back up to $249

 

[ClintSouthwood]

Wonder if it will drop to sub 150 next time. I may not be able to resist grabbing more if it does. While loading it up, it got quite warm in the supplied enclosure. Does anyone use these in a different external enclosure? I started looking around at 3.5" enclosures but I couldn't find the perfect one. Ideally I would like something akin to the older brushed aluminum g-Raid enclosures but I couldn't find anything similar. Would like to use one or two of these as a cold backup of my unraid array.

 

[slatfats]

Was $249 yesterday and back down to $199 now. I wonder how much longer until they're back to $160?

 

[loggedinasroot]

For the europeans out there thinking of using Shipito to ship them these drives. Here's a little rundown on the "Hidden" costs.
2x8tb= $319.98
Domestic Tax = $24.32
Assisted Purchase Fee(BestBuy doesnt ship to freight forwarders)= $8.50
Processing Fee(Paypal cut)= $14.80
Commission(literally cant find this on their website)= $27.54
Total Shipito BestBuy order= $395.14

Shipping costs from Shipito to the Netherlands= $54.99

Total costs as a dutchman to buy 2 WD EasyStore 8TB drives from BestBuy= $450.19/€381

Now I am not sure if I need to pay tax again in NL. I don't think I have to, but if I will you can add another 21%.
Seeing as the WD RED 8TB costs around €280 it's an okayish deal.
BestBuy 16TB= €381
NL 16TB=€560

Hope this makes it clearer for the fellow europeans.

Any questions let me know!

 

[slatfats]

I've never been charged commission by Shipito before. Maybe that's an assisted-purchase thing? (I've never used the assisted purchase service)

 

[loggedinasroot]

I've never been charged commission by Shipito before. Maybe that's an assisted-purchase thing? (I've never used the assisted purchase service)

I can't find it anywhere either. They already charge $8.50 for assisted purchase. Might ask them later what the commision is actually for.

Edit: If only they had a new pair of eyes for sale... Assisted purchase is $8.50 + 8% of order total.

 

[ColPanic]

I RMA'd one of these after shucking then reassembled. I was careful not to break the tabs on a couple just in case. One out of nine had the click of death so I stuck it back in a USB case and returned it. They barely even looked at it and refunded my CC as none were in stock at the time.

 

[dragonme]

@ColPanic

I assume you are talking about taking back to best buy? Or did you do a physical RMA to WD direct?

the morons at best buy take back boxes with phone books in them then tape em up and resell them without ever looking or do people not remember those incidents in the news?

even if best buy took it back once they send it to WD hopefully they won't crosscheck the serial on the case with the drive.. as they should match.. best buy knows the serials they sold you by the way.. its on the recipt.

Best buy is supposed to be cracking down on people but who the hell knows.. glad it worked out for you none the less...

I try and burn em in while they are still in the case but only so much you can check without physical access... I do a drive fill and chart it to see dips in write speed that would be indicative of reallocating blocks..

 

[RyC]

The serial numbers were not on the receipt when I purchased a bunch in store

 

[dragonme]

my not be on the recipt but I would be surprised if its not tracked.. otherwise you can go and buy something at best buy to replace something in your house that is defective just to swap out the defective item..

I worked in retail computers 20 years ago and we tracked every serial at point of purchase

not saying for sure... just saying if it were me.. I would not be mixing and matching serials ...