Surprising Seagate 3.5" HDD specs.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I had assumed that the "retail" versions of Seagate's HDDs were the same
as the "bare drive" versions except for the packaging and the included
cables, yet I wondered why the "retail" versions were sometimes cheaper
than the "bare drive" versions with the same capacity (at such vendors
as NewEgg).

A few days ago I happened across a table of specs. and was surprised to
see that the "bare drive" versions are in many cases almost 50% heavier
than the "retail" versions. Look at the second table (the one with
"Model Number" in the left-hand column) on the following page:
http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/desktop-hard-drives/desktop-hdd/#

Once you get to the 2TB and larger drives, the "Drive only" ones weigh
600+ grams whereas the "Kit" versions weigh only 400+ grams.

Perce

 

[Arno]

I had assumed that the "retail" versions of Seagate's HDDs were the same
as the "bare drive" versions except for the packaging and the included
cables, yet I wondered why the "retail" versions were sometimes cheaper
than the "bare drive" versions with the same capacity (at such vendors
as NewEgg).

The reason for that is tha they are viewed as separate products
and hence are subject to different volume discounts and the like.
You often also get drives in an USB enclosure cheaper than the
bare drive. Sometimes the drives in the enclosure have smaller cache
(irrelevant), but often, it is the same thing as the bare model.
Warranty may also be a factor.

A few days ago I happened across a table of specs. and was surprised to
see that the "bare drive" versions are in many cases almost 50% heavier
than the "retail" versions. Look at the second table (the one with
"Model Number" in the left-hand column) on the following page:

Once you get to the 2TB and larger drives, the "Drive only" ones weigh
600+ grams whereas the "Kit" versions weigh only 400+ grams.

My guess would be that the bare drive weight is from the datasheed, while
the Kit weight is from the 1TB drive and somebody forgot that disks
can have different weight depending on capacity. The KIT datasheet
states the same weight for 1/2/3 and 4TB disks, despite the fact that
2/3/4TB are about 200g heavier. Or to put it differently: Somebody
at Seagate is too stupid to deal with weights or is functionally
illiterate. Would not surprise me.

Arno

 

[miso]

The only time I have received bad drives is when they were bare. That
doesn't mean every bare drive I have received is bad, but rather I never
got a bad drive out of a retail box.

I generally wait until Fry's has a sale and just get the retail boxes at
the bare drive price. I think the bare drives are parted out of 20
packs. With caution, that shouldn't be an issue, but you never know how
the distribution handled the bare drive.

In fact, Fry's has a sale on the HGST Deskstar 4T 64M buffer for $189.
Basically the internet price for a bare drive but you are getting a
retail box. It

http://www.frys.com/product/7057131?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Not a great price, but OK price for walk in the store and walk out with
the drive. The sale is good for a week, but usually the drives don't
last the full week.

I suppose new models are coming out. The next "thing" are the 128M
buffers. I don't think we are going to see more that 4TB for some time.
You have to wonder though how much buffering they need these days. They
were selling 4TB drive with 32M buffer for some time.

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

The only time I have received bad drives is when they were bare. That
doesn't mean every bare drive I have received is bad, but rather I never
got a bad drive out of a retail box.

I've read that some WD "bare" drives have been shipped by NewEgg
recently simply thrown in a carton with bubble-wrap to fill up the space
rather than wrapped around each individual drive. In some cases the
drives arrived with dented covers, The last Seagate "bare" drive I
bought came from NewEgg in its own individual box -- like the "retail"
pack but simply a brown box with a label -- inside the regular shipping
carton and plenty of packing between the inner and outer cartons.

I generally wait until Fry's has a sale and just get the retail boxes at
the bare drive price. I think the bare drives are parted out of 20
packs. With caution, that shouldn't be an issue, but you never know how
the distribution handled the bare drive.

In fact, Fry's has a sale on the HGST Deskstar 4T 64M buffer for $189.
Basically the internet price for a bare drive but you are getting a
retail box. It


Not a great price, but OK price for walk in the store and walk out with
the drive. The sale is good for a week, but usually the drives don't
last the full week.

This week BestBuy has the Seagate "retail" 2TB drives for less than
NewEgg's price for the "bare" drive.

I suppose new models are coming out. The next "thing" are the 128M
buffers. I don't think we are going to see more that 4TB for some time.
You have to wonder though how much buffering they need these days. They
were selling 4TB drive with 32M buffer for some time.

Some Seagate drives have 128MB buffers. I think I've seen Hitachi 8TB
drives somewhere on line.

Perce

 

[miso]

Some Seagate drives have 128MB buffers. I think I've seen Hitachi 8TB
drives somewhere on line.

Perce

The 8TB drives I've seen are two 4tB in a case. Hitachi sells them.

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I've read that some WD "bare" drives have been shipped by NewEgg
recently simply thrown in a carton with bubble-wrap to fill up the space
rather than wrapped around each individual drive. In some cases the
drives arrived with dented covers, The last Seagate "bare" drive I
bought came from NewEgg in its own individual box -- like the "retail"
pack but simply a brown box with a label -- inside the regular shipping
carton and plenty of packing between the inner and outer cartons.


This week BestBuy has the Seagate "retail" 2TB drives for less than
NewEgg's price for the "bare" drive.

The BB Web site shows the warranty on the STBD2000101 as only one year.
NewEgg shows it as two years, but I see purchasers complaining that the
warranty is in fact only one year. Today at my local BB I bought two of
them with box printing indicating a 2-year warranty, but one of the
remaining three on the shelf had printing indicating only a 1-year
warranty. The 2-year warranty ones were made in China, the one-year
warranty one was made in Thailand.

The "certified repaired" ST2000DM001 I received as a warranty
replacement for a failed ST32000641AS carried the balance of the
original 5-year warranty.

Perce

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

I've read that some WD "bare" drives have been shipped by NewEgg
recently simply thrown in a carton with bubble-wrap to fill up the space
rather than wrapped around each individual drive. In some cases the
drives arrived with dented covers, The last Seagate "bare" drive I
bought came from NewEgg in its own individual box -- like the "retail"
pack but simply a brown box with a label -- inside the regular shipping
carton and plenty of packing between the inner and outer cartons.


This week BestBuy has the Seagate "retail" 2TB drives for less than
NewEgg's price for the "bare" drive.

And today -- the day after I bought a couple of the "retail" ones at BB
-- NE has them for $10 less than I paid. But of course the ones from NE
are likely to have only the one-year warranty. I found some at BB with
the two-year warranty.

Perce

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

The reason for that is tha they are viewed as separate products
and hence are subject to different volume discounts and the like.
You often also get drives in an USB enclosure cheaper than the
bare drive. Sometimes the drives in the enclosure have smaller cache
(irrelevant), but often, it is the same thing as the bare model.
Warranty may also be a factor.


My guess would be that the bare drive weight is from the datasheed, while
the Kit weight is from the 1TB drive and somebody forgot that disks
can have different weight depending on capacity. The KIT datasheet
states the same weight for 1/2/3 and 4TB disks, despite the fact that
2/3/4TB are about 200g heavier. Or to put it differently: Somebody
at Seagate is too stupid to deal with weights or is functionally
illiterate. Would not surprise me.

Maybe you are correct, Arno. I just bought two STBD2000101 drives (still
with 2-year warranty*), and smartctl in FreeBSd identifies them as Model
ST2000DM001 -- the same as the "Bare" 2TB model, but with a different
"Part No." suffix.

*When I checked the warranty expiration date on the Seagate Web site --
plugging in the Serial numbers -- both show expiry dates a month or two
longer than two years from now. Perhaps they allow a little "shelf time"
when determining the expiry date.

One of the STBD2000101 drives on the shelf at BestBuy had only a 1-year
warranty, according to the markings on the box.

Perce