What's the opinion here on "shucking" external drives?

[SeaFox]

I'm looking to buy drives for a new build right now.

I have a 20% off code for buying from Western Digital direct, and the code can be used on up to 5 items. So I've been comparing pricing on various sizes of drives between wd.com, NewEgg and Amazon.

Meanwhile, there is a Best Buy sale on a certain external 10TB WD drive, which people say can be easily taken apart to free the internal 3.5" disk within. The drive itself is the special part. It's referred to as a "WD White" for its white label, but it is generally considered a relabeled Red. One change is a certain pin on the SATA power connector is active due to an update made in the SATA spec, and some folks have problems with just connecting the drive direct to their system without using a SATA/Molex adapter (which isn't going to work if this is going into a backplane) or taping over this contact on the drive end so it's blocked, because their older power supply does not meet this spec.

The external drive is a much better $/TB ratio than buying actual Reds. Was curious what people thought to going this route to reduce build costs.

 

[emk2203]

I am also pondering to use the WD Whites for FreeNAS. Just as a concrete example: WD 10TB w/ enclosure is €220, WD 10TB Red starts at 330€.

That's a full 50% more, looking at 10 disks, the difference isn't trivial. Where did you get the promo code from?

 

[SeaFox]

Where did you get the promo code from?

My Plex Pass membership. My original idea was to use the code this weekend and maybe bag savings on top of President's Day deals, but I'm not really seeing any such sale at WD's site. I'm not seeing any storage sales from any eRetailers really (at least not on internal drives). Seems everyone wants to sell external USB3 drives instead.

 

[Jailer]

I recently replaced my 6 drives with 8TB easystore's I purchased from Best Buy on sale. I had to use the SATA-molex connectors on mine but they are all working great. Just make sure you keep the packaging in case you need to RMA and thoroughly test the drives before putting them in service.

 

[Chris Moore]

One of the reasons for the extra cost on the bare Red drives is the longer warranty. If you are not worried about the warranty, I don't see any problem with getting these external drives. I have seen a lot of posts about people successfully using them. They appear to be as reliable as any other hard disk drive.
If I were in the market for Western Digital drives, I would be getting those.

 

[SweetAndLow]

I have had 8x8TB drives I have shucked from easystores for just over a year now. The price is just so cheap, I can buy 2 for the price of one basically. I'm a huge fan, I also keep my boxes so I can put it back together if needed.

 

[emk2203]

Sounds good so far. If any EU-based poster is aware of a good deal, I would appreciate if it gets posted here. So far, nothing in sight - I really cannot wait until the cyber monday / black friday events.

 

[southwow]

BEWARE THE SEAGATE, lol.

Bad experience with about 20 seagate 5TB and 8TB shucked drives.

Sounds like somebody signed up for a plex-pass and discovered the 20% off perk!

 

[Chris Moore]

Sounds like somebody signed up for a plex-pass and discovered the 20% off perk!

What is this perk of which you speak?

 

[southwow]

@Chris Moore https://www.plex.tv/plex-pass/perks/#

 

[SeaFox]

@Chris Moore https://www.plex.tv/plex-pass/perks/#

Note: Despite the wording on that, you can't use the code "5 times". It's more like "5 items on one order".

I ended up doing something different, so I'll have to keep that offer in mind before it expires.

 

[LTCM]

Just make sure you check the drive before shucking. There have been reports of people replacing the drives with old junk.

Also, the warranty void if opened stickers are not enforceable in the US. Lots of people have returned the bare drives for warranty claims without the enclosures.

But yea, the easystores have been great.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Just make sure you check the drive before shucking. There have been reports of people replacing the drives with old junk.

Also, the warranty void if opened stickers are not enforceable in the US. Lots of people have returned the bare drives for warranty claims without the enclosures.

But yea, the easystores have been great.

There are no warranty stickers on the easystore enclosures.