The 8Tb Easystore drives are on sale again...

rvassar

Guru
Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
971
My local Best Buy has the WD 8Tb Easystore USB drives on sale again. $139.99 here in Texas, and the local store had at least 50 of them.

If the shelf is bare, ask. They seem to be storing them up high, they had too many at my store to put anti-theft devices on.
 

Snow

Patron
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Messages
309
Can you shuck them with out voiding the warranty? I know if you want to return them you would have to put them back in the shucked case.
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
The EasyStores are susceptible to damageless shucking if you are gentle with appropriate application of several guitar picks to the case. If I recall correctly it is two on each edge of the "flat" side and then some thicker picks to pry the front of the case forward (one at the top, one at the bottom) and it'll fall apart very nicely. Bag the controller and screws, put them back in the shell without completely closing it, and stick it back in the box, and you can easily store everything needed to reassemble the drive.

DO NOT USE A SCREWDRIVER OR ANY HARD-EDGED IMPLEMENT or you will leave obvious signs of damage to the plastic.

Also wear ESD gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, or at least wash your hands first. Pretty sure they'll know you've been in there if there's peanut butter all over the drive. ;-)
 

Snow

Patron
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Aug 1, 2014
Messages
309
But peanut butter is so good :)!
 

rvassar

Guru
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May 2, 2018
Messages
971
Interestingly... I picked one of these up several months ago, did a pre-use exercise / burn-in, and then used it as floating USB block storage, while I waited for an opportunity to pick up a second one. I picked up the second, the day I originally posted this thread. I did my pre-use burn-in & badblocks runs in the USB case, attached via USB3.0 to my Linux desktop, and schucked the first unit and replaced the Toshiba 3Tb in my NAS. As expected I found a white label 8Tb helium drive.

This morning I decided to shuck the newer unit, and replace the other 3Tb drive in my mirror pool. Guess what I found! An actual WD Red Label NAS drive. Model WD80EFAX, with a Feb 2018 production date.
 

jro

iXsystems
iXsystems
Joined
Jul 16, 2018
Messages
80
I've got about 30 of these 8TB EasyStore drives in my FreeNAS system, they're a fantastic deal. Price has gone back up to $200 now, but they can be had for $130 during the holidays.

FYI, even if they set per-purchase limits, you can submit multiple orders back to back and they go through just fine. My last go-around, I ordered 16 of them but had to buy them in 8 different orders. Despite being 8 orders, they were all packed together in two big boxes.
 
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