Still thinking about HDD...

Still thinking about the HDD. It's a real steal.

Back in Singapore a normal 500GB HDD would cost S$190 and the enterprise 500GB HDD cost S$250. For you girls out there, enterprise HDD in theory, is more reliable and less prone to failures. Eventually, WL will upgrade all his storage media to enterprise HDD.

Now I always thought that there was a price premium for the enterprise HDD, but I was wrong. Newegg sells (with shipping cost + tax included) the normal 500GB HDD at US$115 (S$165) and enterprise 500GB HDD at US$130 (S$185). Incidentally, I'm starting to hate California. We get a fucking tax everytime Newegg ships something here... and Newegg is one of the most reliable and competitive online computer shops in America! FUCK CALIFORNIA AND THEIR TAXES!!!

Point is for the enterprise HDD it's a steal with a 26% discount from local Singapore price. Now, the catch is that the warranty is only valid in the States. BUT it's a 5-year warranty...

The logic now goes that the enterprise HDD should not fail that easily... if not why bother with it in the first place? And even if it fails, 5 years is a long time... conceivably, I'll return back here for one reason or another. If I don't, then seriously I've got bigger problems to worry about than a spoilt 500GB HDD. Another alternative, would be to ship the unit back to the US for RMA. Cost of shipping could probably negate the price difference. So at the bottomline, it seems that one can't lose.

Of course now the situation also means I need to buy an enclosure for the HDD. Unfortunately most of the enclosures in the US are pathetic (i.e. no fan), which means that the HDD can die of overheating. The good ones with proper ventilation and fan have a full cost of US$50++. I also managed to find the Vantec NexStar MX that cost US$63 with shipping + tax, and that can hold two 3.5" HDD. Now, I forsee that I will have use for large-capacity external storage, and seriously a single HDD won't cut it in the future. Dual HDD enclosures are the way to go!

Problem is, I'm quite reluctant to spend so much on a fucking HDD enclosure. But if I'm not mistaken my single HDD 3.5" IDE enclosure with fan (a very good buy) cost S$70-90 I think. Anyway, I checked SLS pricelist, and the cheapest dual HDD enclosure retails for S$110 (US$75), so if I were to buy one eventually, it'll still be cheaper in the States.

Now the worst case scenario is that if the enterprise HDD goes kaput once I get back home. Maybe different climate/humidity and then it fucks up. That would mean a loss of US$130 until I can get it RMAed. WL rationalize this by saying that eventually he would give into the temptation of buying a Seagate Freeagent 500GB Ext HDD that cost about the same price. But unlike the enterprise HDD that I intend to buy, the Seagate Ext HDD has a poor enclosure design and is probably based on the consumer-level HDD.

So how? Total damage is US$193!!!