Hello everyone. I am in the market for an external hard drive. Newegg, walmart, and Best Buy all have the same price on the same drive in retail packaging. How can I buy the hard drive in a plain cardboard box and save the money....yet get the same product? Thanks for the help.
Buying computer hardware wholesale/OEM?
- Thread starter s1mp13m4n
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MicroCenter sells hard drives like that. Don't know if there is one in your area. Also, look for one of those places that sells computer parts.
Did you try tiger direct?
Frys.com is another good source
- Thread starter
- #5
Tiger Direct is the same price for no name drives. If the drive retails for $180 then why could I not find it for $120 in a plain box? 
Micro Center is the same way with the same prices. Hmmmm
Micro Center is the same way with the same prices. Hmmmm
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Probably because you are not buying a pallet of them. When my office was installing flat panel tv's I was shocked to see how little they were paying. Then I walked by the loading dock and found 3 more pallets of them waiting to be picked up.
Are you looking for a drive that is already in an external enclosure, or just a bare drive? I haven't seen an OEM, plain box, external drive for sale at any of the online retailers, except maybe as a refurb. Newegg and Zipzoomfly have some of the best prices on gear, but don't forget to check Amazon, their prices are just as good as Newegg. Also, check LACIE.com closeout and refurb section they have good prices on externals. Buy.com also has some great prices on new Lacie drives.
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- #8
Thank you all for the help. I was looking at a ready to go external hard drive, not a seperate hard drive and case. I was just try save those few bucks. I will get the drive from newegg because they have always worked well for me with no problems. What I was looking for was that "knock off no name" drive that is made by a major company but cheap because it is "genaric". You see this in auto parts such as motor oil and oil filters. The filters will be made by puralator, but because they are wrapped in shrink wrap, are painted black, and only have a sticker telling you what the part number is....you get them for half the price.
I was just try save those few bucks. I will get the drive from newegg because they have always worked well for me with no problems. What I was looking for was that "knock off no name" drive that is made by a major company but cheap because it is "genaric". You see this in auto parts such as motor oil and oil filters. The filters will be made by puralator, but because they are wrapped in shrink wrap, are painted black, and only have a sticker telling you what the part number is....you get them for half the price. 
Some of the lesser known brands actually have well known hard drives, and they sell for a fraction of the big-boys. I use an acomdata 1TB external hard drive, which supports eSATA and USB 2.0. The Hard Drive inside is an upper-class Samsung. The case is metal which greatly aids in heat transfer, unlike some of the more expensive brand-names which use heavy plastic that is far worse for the drive.
The whole thing cost me $120CAN, and the HD itself is usually in the $90-100 range. Compare that to some of the more known brands which can go for up to $300.
You can read some customer reviews at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/AcomData-PureDrive-Desktop-External-PHD10000USE-72/dp/B000YUFUCO/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1265865779&sr=8-1-fkmr1
The eSATA is great to use if your computer has an eSATA port (external-SATA). The transfer speed is just as fast as you'd get if the drive were internal.
I've recommended the same brand to a friend and he loves it, too!
On a related note, if you are looking for some good, basic automatic backup software to use with your external drive (assuming that is what you want it for), then try SynchToy 2.1 from Microsoft. It's free and works quite well: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en
The whole thing cost me $120CAN, and the HD itself is usually in the $90-100 range. Compare that to some of the more known brands which can go for up to $300.
You can read some customer reviews at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/AcomData-PureDrive-Desktop-External-PHD10000USE-72/dp/B000YUFUCO/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1265865779&sr=8-1-fkmr1
The eSATA is great to use if your computer has an eSATA port (external-SATA). The transfer speed is just as fast as you'd get if the drive were internal.
I've recommended the same brand to a friend and he loves it, too!
On a related note, if you are looking for some good, basic automatic backup software to use with your external drive (assuming that is what you want it for), then try SynchToy 2.1 from Microsoft. It's free and works quite well: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en
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