Hard Drive Bargain Watch

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Best I could find was a Western Digital 500GB (WDG1U5000N) for 87.00 at Target for Black Friday. Circuit City wants it for 99.00. Used pricegrabber.com best price I could find was 127.77. Although the post above for the $99 Hard Drive looks tempting, just would like to know where it is at. If not then the western digital looks like the best buy out there for black Friday.:up
 
Seagate 500

Office Depot until Nov. 21st:

Seagate® 500GB FreeAgent™ 3.5" External Hard Drive

$99.99

Should I go for it?
 
mraif said:
Office Depot until Nov. 21st:

Seagate® 500GB FreeAgent™ 3.5" External Hard Drive

$99.99

Should I go for it?
Click to expand...
My Staples price-matched this drive for me this morning, plus the $50 gift card I got from work, so all said I paid $56 after taxes for a 5-year warranty 500 GB drive. Works for me! :up
 
Foxbat said:
My Staples price-matched this drive for me this morning, plus the $50 gift card I got from work, so all said I paid $56 after taxes for a 5-year warranty 500 GB drive. Works for me! :up
Click to expand...

I was thinking about doing the same thing, but I've been reading this forum and I believe that the external hard drive software/firmware is having problems with the Seagate drives going into sleep mode. What a hassle. I think they said on the most recent Tech Chat that they were going to release a new firmware in Jan. that addresses this issue. The problem for me is that they didn't say Jan. of what year. :rolleyes: E* is infamous for delaying their firmware releases.

So now, the question becomes, do I spend the $99 to get the 500GB drive now and wait for the firmware release or do I wait for the firmware release and then buy the hard drive. Prices on the drives are bound to drop over time anyway.

Here we go again. Wait and see with E*. :rolleyes:
 
ChetK said:
So now, the question becomes, do I spend the $99 to get the 500GB drive now and wait for the firmware release or do I wait for the firmware release and then buy the hard drive. Prices on the drives are bound to drop over time anyway.
Click to expand...
The first thing to do with the FreeAgent drive is to disable the sleep mode. When Dish gets around to fixing the issue, you can re-enable sleep mode.

As far as waiting, I've already filled up my LaCie 500 GB drive, so I was looking for a 2nd drive anyway. This fits the bill...
 
Foxbat said:
The first thing to do with the FreeAgent drive is to disable the sleep mode. When Dish gets around to fixing the issue, you can re-enable sleep mode.
Click to expand...

Is this something that can be disabled easily or do I have to hook it up to a PC to do this?

Also, is there a single place where I can go to read the limitations of the external hard drive feature from E*? I could read through the bug thread, but there's a LOT there. I don't want to go through the process of buying a $100 drive and $40 to activate it if I'm unable to do what I want with it.

Basically, I've heard about this "move-only" thing, but don't know exactly what that mean.
  • Can I "move" it as many times as I want?
  • What's this "3-times" limit I keep hearing about?
  • What about moving the external drive to other receivers in the house? Is there a limit to the number of times I can do that?
  • Can I record directly to the external drive?
  • Can I watch directly from the drive?
  • Can I do both of the above at the same time?
  • Are there any bugs out there that are causing users to lose their content?
  • Is this external drive software really ready for prime time or is it really buggy?

I'm beginning to get really hesitant on this because A) I don't want to lose any content and B) I want to be able to freely move the content from drive to drive without running into limitations. I understand they don't want me to take the drive to a buddy's house and play back the content (or copy it), but I also don't want to be limited to what I can do with MY OWN CONTENT.

Thoughts?
 
:)I have two 500 GB Seagate USB drives. One is in an external enclosure I bought and the other is a FreeAgent. I like the Seagate for the 5 year warranty.
The 3 time move limit is moving it between receivers, this is something that is supposed to be changed to unlimited if a future software release.

You can move the contents of your receiver to the external drive and back as much as you want.

You can not record directly to the external drive, you must record it to the receiver then transfer it. You can transfer as many as you want, up to the limit of the external drive. It will transfer them one at a time until it is done or you cancel it. If you cancel anywhere in the process, nothing will be transfered.

You can watch directly from the external drive but you can not transfer anything at the same time.

The only trouble I have had is the FreeAgent drive going to sleep. This is supposed to be fixed in an upcoming software release. Even so, it never goes to sleep while you are watching or transferring something. When it does go to sleep it will either not show anything on the USB screen or it appears to take commands but not work.

I have heard some posters say they must reboot the receiver but all I have ever had to do was unplug the usb connection to the receiver. I use the front connector so as to do a quick reset when needed and also so I can plug in the other drive when needed.

Horseshoe
 
knock on wood but so far so good.

During a transfer the system is only making a copy of itself. Once the transfer is complete the original is made unavailable. I don't think it is actually deleted but the index of it is deleted. Sort of like deleting a file in windows, the content is not deleted but the reference and location is. The beauty of it is that any problems with the transfer including a power failure just leaves the original the way it was to start with. Having said that, I don't think I want to pull the plug to test it during a transfer.

Horseshoe
 
Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 500GB

Just bought the WD My Book Essential 500 GB online from CC for $89.99! I started watching the website last night and this morning, and was worried because it kept saying out-of-stock online and not available at local store, but patience paid off!

I'll be pouring over the EHD threads (again, since I'll actually have an EHD), but I'm wondering --- according to shipping info, I won't get it until sometime between Dec. 3 - 11. Should I go ahead and activate the feature or wait until i receive the drive? Also, is it easier to activate online or calling DISH?

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!!
 
mraif;1 I'll be pouring over the EHD threads (again said:
Might as well wait until you get it. Hook it up and the setup screen will tell you the number to call. No online activation that I know of. When you call, you should be good to go in less than 10 minutes.
Click to expand...
 
I already have one my book 500gb drive hooked up and just bought another one from cc for 89.95. It shipped the 20th and cc said that I should receive it beweeen Dec 3 and 11. But Fedx ground says that it will be here Nov 29th. So, check your oder status and click on the Fedx tracking number for an improved delivery date.
The hd I have has 50 movies on it and still has room for more, but for $90, I figured I might as well have more storage and have not had any problems yet.
 

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