Purchasing hard drives from Amazon (with international shipping) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 12:20:09 am
content: I'm in the process of upgrading my NAS. The drives currently in use are Hitachi Ultrastar 2TB and they have been exceptionally reliable for over 9 years now.I've been looking at the 8TB WD Ultrastar HC320 drives which I can get from my supplier for AUD$475.20. Amazon US have the same drives listed for AUD$289.50. I'm just wondering why the huge discount? Amazon have the 6TB models for $404. They are listed as "new" but can new mean refurbished? They do advertise the standard 5 year warranty on them as well.Has anyone had any issues ordering drives from Amazon? I'm particularly mindful about drives shipping around the world from US to Australia.If these are in fact brand new, genuine drives, there is a very significant cost saving, particularly as I'm buying 8 of them.

author: greenpossum
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 01:22:19 am
content: People on the OzBargain forum do it all the time.

author: ChunkyPastaSauce
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 01:35:16 am
content: Maybe they're not the same drives? There are 5 different HC320 8TB drives depending on interface and encryption option.https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/product/data-center-drives/ultrastar-dc-hc300-series/data-sheet-part-numbers-ultrastar-dc-hc320.pdf

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 01:48:41 am
content: Quote from: ChunkyPastaSauce on July 19, 2020, 01:35:16 amThese ones are the base model non-self encrypting SATA drive but even so, they are are VERY cheap for 8TB Ultrastar drives. My supplier is a distributor so I'm already getting them at a discount.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:01:27 am
content: Bugger, they are limiting quantities to 1 only.

author: cliffyk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:33:22 am
content: Make sure you buy items shown asfulfilled by Amazon, or preferablyShips from and sold by Amazon--also, if you are not a Prime member seriously consider same, you get elevated purchase and return support in addition to free shipping (free on returns as well)--it's worth every penny if you buy from them even a little bit "regularly"...I have never been disappointed by Amazon, in nearly 10 years of buying from them (81 orders this YTD, 110 last year).

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 19, 2020, 02:44:49 am
content: Quote from: Halcyon on July 19, 2020, 02:01:27 amMakes for a small NAS.Disappointing, but that tends to add credibility to the drives being a good buy. The term "loss-leader" comes to mind.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 20, 2020, 07:58:48 am
content: I'm just going to buy them through my suppliers. At least if I need to make a warranty claim, I can literally drive 5 minutes down the road and swap a bad drive out with a new one. It saves dicking around trying to bypass Amazon's 1 item limit. I also don't fancy hard drives knocking about through the postal/courier system all the way from the US.They are also a tax deduction.