If you want a good deal on 18TB USB drives, this is the best price that I know of:
$365.73 = $20.32 per TB
But be warned:
I once ordered from this (see link above) amazon store, not realizing that it is not based in the USA.
Amazingly, the drives got delivered to me the next day, from overseas!
But because they shipped from Great Britain, they did not come with power bricks for USA outlets.
Western Digital helped me, after a few weeks of calling them, and they shipped me power bricks. But there is no way that I am going through that, again.
But if you know where to purchase power bricks for USA outlets, that will work properly with these drives, then you might want to order them at this attractive price.
If I knew where to get power bricks at a reasonable price, and those power bricks were designed to work with these drives, I would order more of these drives. Alas, I do not know how to determine the electrical specifications of the power bricks, followed by finding them for sale somewhere, and at a reasonable price.
You might have a warranty issue.
Knowing how Western Digital does everything possible to avoid honoring their warranties, you might be rolling the dice with these drives.
If you should need a warranty claim, Western Digital might tell you that your drives are “Out Of Region”, and tell you to take a hike. You do not want to deal with the chaos that is known as the WD RMA process.
If anyone in the USA orders them, I would appreciate if they would reply with how they got them to work without the box containing USA compatible power bricks.
That drive warranty is only 2 years (if even valid, as you said). You could argue that when you buy a drive with 5 years warranty, it should last 2.5 times longer. Assuming that this is close to be true, those 5 y warranty drives may still be 2x less expensive in the long run, even though cost more per unit. Although, those 5y warranty drives are usually not USB ones. For instance price for 5yw 16TB WDC Ultrastar is right now $322, what is about $20/TB.
As far as the power brick, I think those are 12V bricks (maybe 3A max), so you could purchase one for about $10 with different tips, so one would fit.
Until someone comments that they actually got the adapter to work, I will not take any chances with this. If the brick feeds the drive the wrong current/voltage/amps/watts, the drive might get damaged.
Aside from loss of data and down-time, there is a good chance that Western Digital will detect what happened, and void the warranty.
I will wait for someone to hopefully provide a link to an adapter that they purchased and are using with no issues.
But don’t the power bricks do more than simply provide a physical connection?
Don’t the power bricks step down the power from your outlets?
So if we were to use the included power bricks, for Great Britain, and attach the power adapters, then we would be feeding USA juice into an adapter that is designed for Great Britain juice.
That is where I am not comfortable in assuming that it is okay to simply use the adapters that you are showing a photo of.
I just do not know, and will not take that risk.
But if you do it, and you have no issues with the drives, then please let me know.
Or if anyone that is reading this knows for sure that it is okay, then please let me know.
By the way, the personnel at Western Digital did not mention such adapters. They simply put in an order for two power bricks for me, at no charge. This is another reason why a power brick, designed for USA power, might be necessary?
I’m not sure they’re in the UK, I am, and they’re not available for me to purchase.
I’m guessing they’re already in the states and it’s a different price region.
They’re dearer here.
The amazon page reads:
Ships from Amazon Global Store UK
Sold by Amazon Global Store UK
(the above is just below the “Add to Cart” and “Buy Now” buttons)
A few months ago, I purchased two drives from them (not noticing that they were UK based).
The return address on the box read “Great Britain”
The power bricks came with all manner of adapters, except for USA outlets.
So it is bizarre that I can purchase them in the USA, and you cannot purchase them in the UK.
Although Crystal Disk is a very popular and trusted software package, I regret that I will not install it on my Chia PCs.
To avoid having any possible conflicts, I am keeping my Chia boxes free from any and all 3rd party software. I installed only the OS and Chia.
It is frustrating for me, too, as I have wanted to perform various tests with 3rd party software. But I neither have the time nor the risk tolerance to deal with even the slightest issue of having non essential software on my Chia boxes.
All those manufacturers/stores jacked up prices when Chia got hot. Since net-space is not growing, looks like they may have over supply right now. Maybe it would be good to wait for Black/Cyber Friday/Monday, as at that point they will really get desperate to move their inventories.
