18TB HGST Ultrastar 550 $348

[josh]

Too good to be true? Anyone with experience with OWC? Do they pack drives well?

Western Digital 18.0TB Ultrastar DC HC550 Hard Disk Drive

Provides 29% more capacity in the same form factor as a 14TB HDD and enables data centers to lower CapEx by reducing hardware and system-level costs.

eshop.macsales.com

Edit: Price increased to $348 now

 

[zack$]

Bought and returned some ssds from OWC.

The drives were packed very well. Their return policy was a breeze as well (a drive showed errors in the burn-in process).

I would buy again from them in a heart beat.

 

[josh]

Bought and returned some ssds from OWC.

The drives were packed very well. Their return policy was a breeze as well (a drive showed errors in the burn-in process).

I would buy again from them in a heart beat.

Would they survive being shipped to a forwarder?

It's a toss up between these or the Elements for $300

 

[itronin]

Nice! may be in for a few. This price does not surprise me though since BB BF deal is 299 for the 18tb easystores. But I'll trade 27.00/drive for not having to shuck and a 5 year warranty on the bare drive!

 

[zack$]

Would they survive being shipped to a forwarder?

It's a toss up between these or the Elements for $300

I believe they would. These guys, in my experience, pack really well with the double boxes, air bags and cut-out red foam so the drives are snug and safe.

 

[josh]

Nice! may be in for a few. This price does not surprise me though since BB BF deal is 299 for the 18tb easystores. But I'll trade 27.00/drive for not having to shuck and a 5 year warranty on the bare drive!

But the difference could buy you an entire cold spare. I think I'll grab 6 + 1 elements as cold spare.

 

[josh]

I believe they would. These guys, in my experience, pack really well with the double boxes, air bags and cut-out red foam so the drives are snug and safe.

From your experience do they like to combine shipments or can I order 6 drives separately and expect each of them to be well foamed?

 

[azsrz]

But the difference could buy you an entire cold spare. I think I'll grab 6 + 1 elements as cold spare.

problem is BB deal is oos as of now

 

[josh]

problem is BB deal is oos as of now

Newegg elements coming up

 

[zack$]

From your experience do they like to combine shipments or can I order 6 drives separately and expect each of them to be well foamed?

I bought one day apart and they did not consolidate. This leads me to think that they ship per invoice.

I would also expect the drives to be well foamed regardless of how you order them in quantity.

 

[Samir]

Ime, owc is a solid company--bought some ram from them quite a number of years ago, but they seem to be the same company as they were back then.

But the difference could buy you an entire cold spare. I think I'll grab 6 + 1 elements as cold spare.

But to get a true enterprise drive with the 5yr warranty is the real deal--I personally only get enterprise drives like this and this price is a steal for what you are getting. Makes me even wonder how they're able to do it.

 

[josh]

Ime, owc is a solid company--bought some ram from them quite a number of years ago, but they seem to be the same company as they were back then.
But to get a true enterprise drive with the 5yr warranty is the real deal--I personally only get enterprise drives like this and this price is a steal for what you are getting. Makes me even wonder how they're able to do it.

Yep. I need a cold spare though. Not sure if it's worth paying for 5 years of warranty if it's going to be sitting in the cupboard for 2-3 of it. Any thoughts?

 

[Samir]

Yep. I need a cold spare though. Not sure if it's worth paying for 5 years of warranty if it's going to be sitting in the cupboard for 2-3 of it. Any thoughts?

I wouldn't let a drive sit that long--I would rotate one of the other drives out each year, but that would be a stress on the array if you're rebuilding that often. Personally, I stopped using raid in the 1990s and only work with 1 or 1+0 today--bit rot and rebuild issues with raid5/6 have me off raid until I can move to zfs to try it again.

Honestly, it's worth the extra for these enterprise drives as you're essentially getting 2x the guaranteed life via the warranty.

 

[Stephan]

Unless you like nasty surprises, or it doesn't matter if your data are gone or not, do not let SSDs or HDDs sit in the cupboard for years. Instead, fully use all devices in a RAID and let the OS check SMART and checksums (e.g. ZFS or ext4 metadata) regularly. For example I run ZFS scrub on all zpools once a month. On Linux use smartd to get notified of suspicious health values right away.

 

[josh]

Unless you like nasty surprises, or it doesn't matter if your data are gone or not, do not let SSDs or HDDs sit in the cupboard for years. Instead, fully use all devices in a RAID and let the OS check SMART and checksums (e.g. ZFS or ext4 metadata) regularly. For example I run ZFS scrub on all zpools once a month. On Linux use smartd to get notified of suspicious health values right away.

I wouldn't let a drive sit that long--I would rotate one of the other drives out each year, but that would be a stress on the array if you're rebuilding that often. Personally, I stopped using raid in the 1990s and only work with 1 or 1+0 today--bit rot and rebuild issues with raid5/6 have me off raid until I can move to zfs to try it again.

Honestly, it's worth the extra for these enterprise drives as you're essentially getting 2x the guaranteed life via the warranty.

Is there some research on this? It's not fine to leave unused drives in cupboard until needed?

 

[Sacrilego]

Is there some research on this? It's not fine to leave unused drives in cupboard until needed?

I usually do leave various spares on hand at work in case they're needed, but only after verifying the drives are healthy and never beyond their warrantied date. They usually get used before that happens though.

Personal unscientific experience for me at home though:
I have a moderate number of drives that sat undisturbed in a cabinet for about 6 or 7 years. I started recycling them and ran into several that no longer worked properly. Some SCSI drives needed a small nudge for them to start spinning, some outright just didn't spin while some SATA/IDE drives sounded very rough. Seems most of the issues encountered was related to the motor. All of these were in working condition when they were stored.

 

[Samir]

Is there some research on this? It's not fine to leave unused drives in cupboard until needed?

I don't know of a source of definitive research, but ime the drives I've had problems with were the ones I loaded up with stuff and didn't use frequently or stored. The ones that ran 24x7 have been less troublesome.

 

[Samir]

Hey anyone have a promo code to sweeten the deal?

 

[josh]

I don't know of a source of definitive research, but ime the drives I've had problems with were the ones I loaded up with stuff and didn't use frequently or stored. The ones that ran 24x7 have been less troublesome.

But does it matter if I don't really care about the data until I plug them in?

 

[73DodgeCharger]

Happy me, poorer me. In for four.
Thank you!