Hard Drive Bargain Watch

There really is no need to keep your eye on a thread. Go to dealmac.com - Find the lowest prices on iPod, iBook, PowerBook, Mac, eMac, PowerMac G5, iMac, News on Apple Mac prices. and you can register and tell it what you are looking for and they will search the web day in, day out and everytime the search engine finds a deal, it e-mails you and lets you know the details.

I just tried them and got very limited results. I'd rather go to PriceWatch.com and check things there on a daily basis.
 
As I have mentioned in another thread, it's a more expensive way of doing it, because you are paying 3 profit margins, instead of one. The manufacturers pay large volume discount wholesale prices for the drive, the enclosure, and the cables.

If you find a quality external HD that has good reviews, it is almost always cheaper than the individual components.
The problem with brand name drives is the enclosures are most always plastic and nearly if not totally impossible to open up and remove the drive if so desired. I've just ordered a combo WD that is cheaper than their own external, and with a better drive at a similar price point.
 
Cheapest hard drive?

My 721 died this week. The DVR functions work perfectly. One or both of the tuners appear to be shot. E* said they would give me $10 for the old receiver.

Would the 721 HD work in an external case? I wonder if the 622 would see any of the old recordings or would it just reformat the drive?
 
My 721 died this week. The DVR functions work perfectly. One or both of the tuners appear to be shot. E* said they would give me $10 for the old receiver.

Would the 721 HD work in an external case? I wonder if the 622 would see any of the old recordings or would it just reformat the drive?

No. 721 have Lunux EXT3+XFS file system, but 622 EFS for recordings.
As new storage 721's HDD should works OK, 622 will reformat it.
I would recommend to run low-level diag ( MHDD with REMAP=ON) to eliminate bad sectors.
 
John:

I've seen that 10GB/hr kicked around before, but if the 622 ship with a 320GB HDD, and 1/2 of that is reserved for Dish on Demand (or whatever it's called), that leave 160GB (i.e. 16 hrs) for recordings...yet it holds 30+ hours?!?

I have the OTA captures of 1080i stations that can prove it to you ;)

Wanna see the directory listings?

Am I misquoting the size of the HDD in the 622? Or does Dish programming only take appx 5GB/hr for MPEG-2, and less for MPEG-4, -vs- 10GB/hr for OTA?

It depends on the channel and bit rate. The numbers they quote are estimates only.

Cheers,
 
I just ordered a 70" FH97 JVC tv from BUYDIG.COM and they have a LaCie,design by F.A. Porsche 500gb harddrive for 117.97,free shipping. Would this work ok, I don't know much about stuff? They also have Western Digital my book 500gb for 135.00.
 
I just ordered a 70" FH97 JVC tv from BUYDIG.COM and they have a LaCie,design by F.A. Porsche 500gb harddrive for 117.97,free shipping. Would this work ok, I don't know much about stuff? They also have Western Digital my book 500gb for 135.00.
Stay away from LaCie!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a better deall with a better spec WD drive...it's 8mb cousin was the drive chosen for the ATT Homezone 622. Don't buy a brand name external drive. Plastic, and mostly non-removable.
EagleBit.com - Eagle Consus W-Series 500GB 7200rpm 16MB USB 2.0 to IDE + SATA Aluminum External Hard Drive powered by Western Digital 500GB Hard Drive - Brand New
 
Thanks KAB, it sure sounds good, I don't know anything about harddrives. Have you ordered from eaglebit and recommend them? I would like to have one or two when dish enable's this feature. I have two 622's full.
 
Thanks KAB, it sure sounds good, I don't know anything about harddrives. Have you ordered from eaglebit and recommend them? I would like to have one or two when dish enable's this feature. I have two 622's full.
This is my first order from them, but their customer reviews via PriceGrabber were positive.
 
No for me

Those Fry's Maxtors are Maxtors so I would not touch them. Some newer ones are reported Seagates, but you only get three years warranty instead of five. I would not risk it. True Maxtors Die-Easy!

I have never had problems w/ Max's. Your talking 3 yrs what's wrong w/ that for a back up device. Plus it would be possible to power down the HDD since it is an external.
 
I think a lot of hearsay is being passed around.

Some computer professionals buy LaCie external drives for their corporate use, and have not had unusual problems.

If you look at the customer reviews of any hard drives, you will definitely find reviews like "DOA twice in a row, POS drive!" for every single drive.

This is because hard drives are the most fragile part of any computer system, and all brands have failures.

I've been using PC's since day 1 (27 years ago), and have seen a constant parade of dead drives. In the last 5 years, I myself have had a dead Western Digital, a dead Maxtor, and a dead Seagate.

Flip a coin, pick a brand...
 
On the other hand, I've been building computers for about 12 years now and the only drive I've ever had crash was a Maxtor. When I talk to the IT guys here at work, they all say, "Never buy a Maxtor. Seagate is the most reliable."

I've never had a problem with Seagate.
 
How many PC you built ?

Only when you're working in IT for companies with 1000s computers, then you have right for preliminary statistic report :).
I recall serious problem with Maxtor 160 GB SATA disks when they just came on market, but Seagate is pretty mass production device with normal failure rate - nothing extraordinary. I have more faith in Fujitsu or WD HDDs.
 
On the other hand, I've been building computers for about 12 years now and the only drive I've ever had crash was a Maxtor. When I talk to the IT guys here at work, they all say, "Never buy a Maxtor. Seagate is the most reliable."

I've never had a problem with Seagate.

Of course Maxtor and Seagate are now one company.
 

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