Why can I not find any 2.5" 2TB drives in NZ

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timbosan

2161 posts

Uber Geek

#173700 2-Jun-2015 13:56

I haven't seen any on pricespy, or on retailers sites, for a while (like 6+ months). But they are available overseas:

Samsung SpinPoint at Amazon

(edit - hit enter to quick and created a blank topic!)

Inphinity

2780 posts

Uber Geek

#1316215 2-Jun-2015 14:16

They're hard to get here because they're relatively expensive and relatively low demand - Seagate don't make them at all, and WD only make them in the WD Green Mobile series, which typically run about US$130 (the desktop variant is about US$75).

rendezvous

194 posts

Master Geek

#1316239 2-Jun-2015 14:33

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2907311&ref=61248

That's about it! Not in stock though of course...

timbosan

2161 posts

Uber Geek

#1316243 2-Jun-2015 14:37

rendezvous: http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=2907311&ref=61248

That's about it! Not in stock though of course...

Yeah, I did see those but discounted them being "Enterprise" and so damn expensive! But they are the only 2.5" drives that run at 7200rpm, so would be fast.

timmmay

20598 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1316246 2-Jun-2015 14:38

Agree it's probably demand. You can't even get HGST drives in NZ, and if you can the prices are unreasonable. Same for SuperMicro motherboards.

dclegg

2806 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1316255 2-Jun-2015 14:47

timbosan: I haven't seen any on pricespy, or on retailers sites, for a while (like 6+ months). But they are available overseas:

Samsung SpinPoint at Amazon

(edit - hit enter to quick and created a blank topic!)

I went through a similar search at the beginning of the year, and came to the same conclusion as you. I ended up importing the same one you linked from Amazon.

Hiamie

354 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1316260 2-Jun-2015 14:54

Couldn't you just buy an external 2TB HDD, and take the drive out of the case? I think they contain a 2.5" Sata HDD - but I could be wrong.
You could then sell the case on TradeMe and recover a few $$$.
The last external 2TB HDD I bought cost me $145 from memory from Noel Lemming (either was a Samsung or WD model).

Athlonite

1828 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1316261 2-Jun-2015 14:54

Would it not be easier to just buy a bare drive and an 2.5" external case to put it in

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wasabi2k

2098 posts

Uber Geek

#1316285 2-Jun-2015 15:55

Hiamie: Couldn't you just buy an external 2TB HDD, and take the drive out of the case? I think they contain a 2.5" Sata HDD - but I could be wrong.
You could then sell the case on TradeMe and recover a few $$$.
The last external 2TB HDD I bought cost me $145 from memory from Noel Lemming (either was a Samsung or WD model).

Some disk makers integrate the USB controller into the PCB, so you don't have a standard SATA connector on there, specifically to prevent people from doing this.

2TB 2.5" are rare and expensive - as you have found the ones you get tend to be "enterprise". You don't enjoy the economies of scale.

I just have a number of externals and rotate my media out to it on a regular basis.

Stan

929 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1316505 2-Jun-2015 23:12

I just bought one of these pulled it apart and got the Samsung hard drive out.

jpoc

1043 posts

Uber Geek

#1323314 12-Jun-2015 12:33

wasabi2k:
Hiamie: Couldn't you just buy an external 2TB HDD, and take the drive out of the case? I think they contain a 2.5" Sata HDD - but I could be wrong.
You could then sell the case on TradeMe and recover a few $$$.
The last external 2TB HDD I bought cost me $145 from memory from Noel Lemming (either was a Samsung or WD model).

Some disk makers integrate the USB controller into the PCB, so you don't have a standard SATA connector on there, specifically to prevent people from doing this.

2TB 2.5" are rare and expensive - as you have found the ones you get tend to be "enterprise". You don't enjoy the economies of scale.

I just have a number of externals and rotate my media out to it on a regular basis.

That is correct but even if you do get a drive with a SATA interface available, the potential for trouble does not end there.

Quite often, the drives that are made to be retailed in USB cases have different firmware. The manufacturers will tell you that they are optimised for performance over the USB interface. The result is that the drive runs slowly compared to a regular internal drive when hooked up to a normal SATA port.

tommywd

15 posts

Geek

#1325262 15-Jun-2015 19:13

Hi @timbosan, if you're looking for a mobile drive which is 9mm in thickness, I'd suggest you to check out WD Green here, if you haven't done so already. http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=gCN7qE

Although it might not fit into the hdd bay of some laptops, like certain ultraportables but it seems like it has the similarity specs of what you're looking for. Hope it helps. Cheers! :)