Huge External Drive Deal !

[Randy B. Singer]

For those of you with really huge storage demands, this is a stunning deal:

WD - Easystore 14TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive
$200

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-14tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/6425303.p?skuId=6425303

The drive mechanism inside is a
WD140EDGZ-11B1PA0
CMR Helium filled 7200 rpm (all good things)

 

[Groovetube]

Here in Canada it’s the seagate 14tb external on sale (239Can)

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Here in Canada it’s the seagate 14tb external on sale (239Can)

That 14TB Seagate is on sale at our U.S. Costco for only $150. (5% surcharge if you aren't a member.)

https://www.costco.com/seagate-14tb-expansion-desktop-hard-drive.product.4000203297.html

https://www.thepennyhoarder.com/save-money/how-to-shop-at-costco-without-a-membership/

However that Seagate isn't nearly as highly rated as the Western Digital I pointed out, which is a premium product. But for some people $40+ less is a lot of money.

 

[Groovetube]

That 14TB Seagate is on sale at our U.S. Costco for only $150. (5% surcharge if you aren't a member.)

https://www.costco.com/seagate-14tb-expansion-desktop-hard-drive.product.4000203297.html

6 Creative Ways to Enjoy Costco’s Deals Without Buying a Membership

However that Seagate isn't nearly as highly rated as the Western Digital I pointed out, which is a premium product. But for some people $40+ less is a lot of money.

The WD drive here in Canada isn't on sale here, it's 399. Just the seagate one is on sale here. So the difference for us is 160 bucks. Was just pointing out which one is on sale in Canada. Im passing on the seagate myself. Keep in mind the exchange rate is quite significant these days, so 150 bucks US is going to be close 210 Canadian.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...Just the seagate one is on sale here. ...

Let me put it this way. I've had a number of external Seagate branded rotating disk hard drives. Every single one of them turned out to be a POS. I wouldn't have one at any cost, because I value my data.

A friend in the hard drive recovery business told me that he sees more Seagate drives than any other brand, by far.

 

[Groovetube]

no argument on the seagate. That's why Im passing on it. Wish the WD deal was available here.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

no argument on the seagate. That's why Im passing on it. Wish the WD deal was available here.

I hear that sort of complaint a lot. At least here in the U.S., if you report huge price discrepancies like that to the proper authorities, they actually will spring into action. There is some sort of law that we have that says that if a company is selling goods here at prices that are more than a certain percentage higher than in other countries, we get really upset and the powers that be will threaten to retaliate with tariffs and the like.

Of course, this doesn't explain why drug prices are so obscenely high here, and so much lower in other countries.

If I were Canadian, I'd make friends with my state or province's equivalent to an Attorney General, and see what they have to say about all this.

 

[Groovetube]

heh. Well you can imagine how effective that might be. It's likely why I know people with US addresses etc.

Even apple stuff here is more expensive, even beyond the exchange rate often times.

Proud to be Canadian!

 

[pm-r]

Proud to be Canadian!

Ditto.

Even if we do have to pay a premium to do so.


PS: I cannot imagine doing a backup or working with an almost full 14TB hard drive of data. Yikes!!!



- Patrick
=======

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Well, here is another thought on what you can do if you are Canadian, to take advantage of U.S. sale prices.

There's a company that ships goods from their US warehouse to their Canadian warehouse (in Markham and Mississauga) legally.

https://www.crossborderpickups.ca

• You set up an account with them for free and you get a US "suite no" at their Niagara Falls warehouse.
• Order your goods from US sources and ship them (often free) to the Niagara Falls USA warehouse.
*Note that you will sometimes have to pay state taxes on your purchase..
• You will get an email notifying you of arrival at NY.
• You log into your account and declare your item purchase on the account interface and upload your receipt.
• You pay the applicable taxes and duties, plus their modest handling fee (brokerage fees are free!)
• Authorize/release shipment to Canada warehouse.
• A couple of days later you get an email saying your item(s) are ready for pickup and you can go get it or have them ship it to you for additional "remailing" costs.

 

[pm-r]

Well, here is another thought on what you can do if you are Canadian, to take advantage of U.S. sale prices.

There's a company that ships goods from their US warehouse to their Canadian warehouse

Thanks Randy for your handy and helpful suggestion, and we have such a service available that I have used a number of times that ships to an address in Blaine Washington, and the company has a flight several times a week that brings the goods into the Customs clearance building at the airport just north of us, and for a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, that system backfires when some US companies will not accept payment for the goods unless your credit card is issued to someone who has a US banking account and address, but of course, there are companies that can help one out on that point as well by setting up an account with them, but it can get quite confusing as to who's paying who and for what etc. And without some of the extra charges getting out of hand, and expensive.




- Patrick
=======

 

[lclev]

Thanks Randy! Another Christmas present bought!!! I have a budding photographer and a budding videographer - granddaughters - who are asking for storage items.

Lisa

 

[Groovetube]

The thing is, it's the duties that'll get ya. Though it may be worth it if the difference in price is significant enough that it's much higher than the duties. Which has been pretty brutal in some cases as I have painfully found out when I got bills for hundreds.

Ive actually bought things from Europe where there are no duties etc between them and Canada, and shipping was surprisingly cheap. (for smaller lighter items) I never understood why we have such a draconian system between Can/US. We're friends aren't we?

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks Randy! Another Christmas present bought!!! I have a budding photographer and a budding videographer - granddaughters - who are asking for storage items.

My pleasure! I hope that you enjoy the fruits of their endeavors.

My son uses a huge hard drive such as this one as a server for movies that he downloads. He has set up a home theater in what used to be his sister's room. He downloads movies in his room, and then transfers them via our home network to the server resident in our home theater. Watching movies in our home theater is way nicer than watching them in a movie theater!

 

[Randy B. Singer]

The thing is, it's the duties that'll get ya.

[shrug] A user on another Mac discussion list told me that he uses the service that I passed on the information about, all the time. So I'd have to guess that the various charges aren't too onerous, and that he has found the saving worthwhile. You might want to contact the service and see what they have to say about it.

 

[Groovetube]

Interesting that there’s something legal that has much lower duties? I have a few friends who do all sorts of things to avoid it I’ll ask them about this service.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

For you Canadians, a deal at last!
Prices vary with colour and size...
Best deals to be had (today at least) on Amazon:

Samsung T7 1TB in black $105 CAD
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0874YJP92/

Samsung T7 2TB in blue or black $140 CAD
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0874YHTXW/

 

[pm-r]

For you Canadians, a deal at last!
Prices vary with colour and size...
Best deals to be had (today at least) on Amazon:

There seem to be some pretty nice deals for some of the fast Crucial SSD drives there as well:
Crucial X9 Pro 1TB and 2TB 1050Mbps Portable SSD
$82.19 Was: $122.54
$120.55 Was: $207.05
https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=crucial+S...ial+ssd,electronics,156&ref=nb_sb_noss_1&tag=

I didn't check their prices on any huge big, over 10TB SSDs.



- Patrick
=======

 

[Groovetube]

I got the Samsung t7 2tb drive last sale, it's a nice drive for the $$

 

[Randy B. Singer]

There seem to be some pretty nice deals for some of the fast Crucial SSD drives there as well:
Crucial X9 ...

If I'm not mistaken, that drive won't be any faster than the cheaper X8 on a Mac, because the X9 uses a USB protocol that the Mac doesn't support. (Or so they said on the Mac consultant's list.)