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4TB External half the price of 4TB Internal..?
- Thread starter Trackr
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No, they're 7200RPM. But even if they were 5400RPM, half the price is insane.
The first comment on the WD external says it's a 5400RPM
"...
The drive inside is a Hitachi / HGST HDS5C4040ALE630 Deskstar 5K4000, 5400 RPM, 32MB cache."
My only concern is that one you open the external, the drive that came from inside of it should no longer be covered by warranty. The serial number is typically going to be a specific series for the external ones, so it may not be covered any longer.
"...
The drive inside is a Hitachi / HGST HDS5C4040ALE630 Deskstar 5K4000, 5400 RPM, 32MB cache."
My only concern is that one you open the external, the drive that came from inside of it should no longer be covered by warranty. The serial number is typically going to be a specific series for the external ones, so it may not be covered any longer.
Well, the Segate is 7200RPM. You know WD..
I don't want to open it up. I just don't understand the price difference..
This question comes up often. Its the economies of disk manufacturing now. There are simply more externals in the channel - tons more. Demand for >2TB SATA desktop class internals is eclipsed by externals. Example go to Costco and you see pallets of externals, not internals.
You mean Internals are more expensive because they can get away with it..?
So, people are too stupid to realize that they're getting an internal drive PLUS an external enclosure for free..?!
Again, the issue is greater volume in the channel. Which stems from the increased user-friendliness of external units. Joe Consumer doesn't know how to install an internal 3.5" disk into his PC/Mac, or has a PC/Mac that doesn't support internal 3.5" disks (laptop, whatever). However joe consumer knows how to plug in an A/C adapter and USB connector. As well, people often just want backup storage to complement the primary storage that came preinstalled in their existing PC/MAC.
As such, its not hard to see why demand for external drives - especially in the 2TB and up class - would be exponentially greater compared to their counterparts SKU'd as internals.
Because of the increased demand, harddisk manufacturers produce more volume of the external SKU's, and more end up in the channel, and because of the greater volume in the channel, there is more leeway to price them more aggressively when resellers decide it's time to speed up sell-through - example to meet a milestone near the end of a sales quarter.
So on the surface it might seem like an external should be more expensive because there are more materials involved - enclosure, A/C adapter, controller board - the reality is they become inconsequential due to volume manufacturing economies.
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High demand + high supply = low prices (see: today's DDR3 RAM prices.)
It's perfectly ordinary to get a bunch of external drives, pop them open, and use the drives within as internal drives. Like this guy did. (Edit: and this guy.) It's just a matter of knowing what internal drives can be found in which external drives.
It's perfectly ordinary to get a bunch of external drives, pop them open, and use the drives within as internal drives. Like this guy did. (Edit: and this guy.) It's just a matter of knowing what internal drives can be found in which external drives.
In theory yes, but just be gentle and keep the parts around. I've returned drives with damaged plastic clips and never had an issue.
I thought it was common knowledge that the internals were simply externals with the case removed. For some people not having to remove the case is worth the premium.
All you guys seem to agree that Externals are cheaper because there is more demand for them..
But this does not explain why Externals have NEVER been cheaper (let alone half the price) of Internals before today.
When I bought my 1TB External, Internal 1TB drives actually cost less.
So, this is still unsolved as far as I'm concerned.
But this does not explain why Externals have NEVER been cheaper (let alone half the price) of Internals before today.
When I bought my 1TB External, Internal 1TB drives actually cost less.
So, this is still unsolved as far as I'm concerned.
Not sure if serious...
Anyways, we're talking niche drives here. 4TB production has to be less than 1% of total production. For some reason external drives are favored by the manufacturers at the moment, I would guess that they would have done this for healthy margins, and it's now backfiring.
Seagate 4TB is not even available as an internal drive (or very rare, I'm not sure).
Old Hippie
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It's not common knowledge and I still see people on this forum that have no idea.
While the external case may cost them 15.00 ignorance is how they make the sales of these things.
But with an external, you never truly know what you're getting, right?
ninjaturtle
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But you have to watch out with WD externals because the HDD's control board might have a USB only interface. Seagate's IIRC still use standard boards.
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You do realize that you can purchase a brand new car, disassemble it, and sell the parts for more than the purchase price of the whole.
In fact, you can do that for most household appliances.
Ignorance has nothing to do with this. It is just normal good marketing practice.
Dreamerbydesign
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Exactly...
So I guess you were serious...
No, hard drives are not born as externals. They're all internal, until some are sent to another plant where the enclosure is added, and the warranty reduced.
Some here suggest that crappy drives are chosen for this, or that a special crippled firmware is applied, but I don't know if it's true, since I have never in my life bought a 3,5" external drive.
Dreamerbydesign
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I opened more than a few WD externals only to find refurbished drives in them. 3 out of 5 were refurbs.
Old Hippie
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Good marketing that depends upon the public's ignorance of computers. LOL!
I've seen some bargain externals that contain drives that were assembled by a 3rd party from rejected/refurb parts of 1st tier manfgs.
If an external drive only offers a 90 day warranty that means a refurbed/remanfactured drive.
Some people will always go with the cheapest. The smart ones will purchase the drive and case seperately.
I was only half serious.
I remember times when one could get mice and keyboards for free. I remember times when I could build a stock computer for less than I could buy one assembled.
I know small mom&pop stores that order retail and resell simply because they can get better eals buying retail rather than wholesale.
Economics is not always what you want. If I had a customer who wanted 4TB hard drives, I would by them in exteral enclosures and pay a kid to remove them. But I don't have customers.
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I have been trying to buy a 4TB hard drive just to see how well it works in Windows 7. I just cannot make an economic argument for it. Even buying an external and removing the case has the price too high. (but I have about 6TB of free space and I don't need more space.)
+1.
Also, if you purchase drives and cases separately, you have flexibility to reconfigure your storage between desktops, laptops, and external drive cases.
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