8tb drives pricing

[Eli Singer]

Well, been browsing a bit and found this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1206776-REG/wd_wdblwe0160jch_nesn_16tb_my_book_duo.html

This enclosure seem to come with two WD RED drives like this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1237919-REG/wd_wd80efzx_8tb_red_5400_rpm.html

Thing is, the enclosure and the drives are less expansive than just getting the drives- just wanted to make sure there's nothing fishy here before i order a bunch of those enclosures...

 

[Spearfoot]

Yes, there's been discussion about this odd pricing phenomenon here on the forum, and at one point WD was shipping HGST Helium drives in the My Book enclosure!

You get a good price on the drives, but there's a caveat; you have to 'schuck' them out of the My Book enclosure, which (probably) voids the warranty.

 

[Robert Smith]

Reminds me of the times when we were buying Sony mp3 players to pluck 4GB Microdrives out of them.

The biggest caveat is that you lose warranty. Also the drives may or may not be up to spec; maybe those are lower quality binned drives, or something [speculation].

If you read the technical specifications for the enclosure, you will find that some of the specs are ether more relaxed or not published at all.

 

[jgreco]

Well, been browsing a bit and found this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1206776-REG/wd_wdblwe0160jch_nesn_16tb_my_book_duo.html

This enclosure seem to come with two WD RED drives like this one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1237919-REG/wd_wd80efzx_8tb_red_5400_rpm.html

Thing is, the enclosure and the drives are less expansive than just getting the drives- just wanted to make sure there's nothing fishy here before i order a bunch of those enclosures...

For the price differential between $270 and $320, that may not be worth the loss of warranty and other risks.

I picked up some of the HGST He8's in the MyBook's, got a $500+ drive at $250. At those prices I am fine with self-warranting the drives. Bought five when I needed four and it still comes out ahead.

 

[Eli Singer]

I couldn't find any indication that the warranty will be voided if I'll take out the drives, on the contrary, the fact that you can simply replace the drives is being published as a feature on this product so why would it void the warranty? I'm not doing anything to the disk itself to void the warranty...?

Eli

 

[Robert Smith]

You can plug in the serial numbers over here, to check the warranty status:
http://support.wdc.com/Warranty/warrantyStatus.aspx

HTH

 

[Eli Singer]

You can plug in the serial numbers over here, to check the warranty status:
http://support.wdc.com/Warranty/warrantyStatus.aspx

HTH

I didn't buy it yet so i have no serial number, but in any case, it doesn't answer the question- will the warranty be voided if the drives will be used outside of the enclosure. I don't see any reason why it won't have the warranty so if you can refer me to somewhere where it says that, it would help.

 

[Robert Smith]

The legal language at the end of the user’s manual allows WD to deny warranty pretty much for any reason they fancy to come up with. Whether it makes business sense for them to be stodgy is another question.

Somebody with personal experience may be of more help.

Sealed enclosures are a definite no on the warranty, once opened. Good question on the ones that are officially user serviceable. I do not know. Let us know when you find out.

 

[brando56894]

I can confirm that taking the drive out of the enclosure voids the warranty. The special USB3 cable broke on mine, but the drive worked perfectly. They wanted me to send the whole drive back, I said screw that and put it in my PC. A few years later the drive died and I RMA'd it and it went through. I put it back in the case (which wasn't perfect) and shipped it back, they sent me a new one...but charged me full price.

 

[Linkman]

If you need to shuck the enclosure, the warranty is almost certainly void. Since the OP's linked product has replaceable drives ("With the simple push of a button, pop open the enclosure and insert new drives with ease. No tools required.") then it would probably depend on the warranty fine print, but I don't know why they wouldn't warranty the drives individually in that case.