USB HARD-DRIVE Bargains
(about 12 cents per Gigabyte
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INTRODUCTION: This is a page of ('external' or 'portable') USB hard drives that were for sale (unused, NEW, not-refurbished) at low prices --- mostly in 'brick-and-mortar' stores. These are drives that were being sold for far less than one dollar per Gigabyte. For example, a 500 Gigabyte drive on sale for $60 would be about 12 cents per Gigabyte. I have found that one can usually find as good prices for USB hard drives at 'brick-and-mortar' stores as on the internet. This is probably because one can take advantage of 'clearance' and 'inventory reduction' sales --- and 'promotional offers'. The term 'hard drive' was probably used to distinguish from the old 'floppy disk drives' that were used back in the 1990's. Around 2016, 'solid state' hard drives --- 'internal' and 'external USB' --- started appearing as prices came down to make them more competitive with 'rotating disk' drives. This page may show more 'external USB' 'solid state drives' (SSD's) as time goes on. However, it should be pointed out that, circa 2020, SSD drives may be less reliable than 'rotating disk' drives in applications where thousands of write operations are being done every day. The reliability of SSD's versus rotating-disk-drives is a very complex subject, but as one 2020 article put it: "To keep it simple: An electric effect results in the fact that data can only be written on a storage cell inside the chips between approximately 3,000 and 100,000 times during its lifetime." A historical note: In 2011, flooding in Thailand interrupted the supply of hard disk drives world wide. "Thailand is the world's second-largest producer of hard disk drives, supplying approximately 25 percent of the world's production. Many of the factories that made hard disk drives were flooded, including Western Digital's . . . As a result, most hard disk drive prices almost doubled globally, which took approximately two years to recover." THE FOLLOWING DATA: Within each year-group below, the information for each USB-hard-drive may include:
The USB external storage drive 'makes' may be shown in the order --- Seagate, Western-Digital, Toshiba, and other --- larger sizes first. Backup Software Issues: I prefer USB hard drives WITHOUT 'automatic backup software' on them --- such as the Seagate 'Expansion' and Western Digital 'Elements' drives, which were 'so unburdened' in the past. I hold that opinion (like some others do) because that backup software has been very hard to remove, if it was removable at all. Hence the 'UNremovable' warning notations below. The storage drives branded Seagate 'BackupPlus' and Western Digital 'MyPassport' (and 'MyBook') are 'burdened' with 'automatic backup software'. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the USB hard drives for sale in 'big box' stores (such as BestBuy, Costco, OfficeDepot/Max, Target, Walmart) are the 'BackupPlus' and 'MyPassport' and 'MyBook' drives. Because it is so rare that a 'Seagate Expansion' or 'Western Digital Elements' drive goes on sale locally, I tend to buy those drives when they become available. There is more discussion of this backup software issue on the USB Hard Drive Bargains INTRO page. As mentioned on that page, I use 'rsync' file-backup scripts, so I do not need backup software on a storage drive. There are various advantages to the 'rsync' method of backing up files --- such as simple, 'non-proprietary' access to the backed up files. Fewer newspaper ads: Starting about 2017, 'brick-and-mortar' stores advertised hard-drives-for-sale (in local newspapers) far less than before. To find bargains (in 'USB hard drives' --- especially Seagate 'Expansion' and Western Digital 'Elements'), you may have to roam the aisles of stores like Walmart, OfficeDepot/Max, BestBuy, Target, and Costco --- rather than depending on newspaper ads. Some Preferences: Since I find that most of my files can be easily contained on a 320GB drive, I seldom find the need for more than a 500GB drive. (For example, I do not save lots of full-length, 2-hour movie files.) I present prices of 1TB, 2TB, 3TB and larger drives below, but I would seldom find the need for drives that big --- unless they go on sale at a price that is too hard to resist. Furthermore, as of 2021, I still find more peace-of-mind in using 'rotating disk' drives, rather than SSD's, for backup of files. My main use for 'external storage drives' is for backup of files in 'home' directories. Rotating disk drives will probably last 10 years or more when used to do 'rsync' backup of files no more than once per day. |
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2021 USB HARD DRIVES: If I find any newspaper ads in 2021 for USB hard drives, I intend to put the data here. |
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2020 USB HARD DRIVES: 2020 Western Digital 3TB USB hard drives:
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2019 USB HARD DRIVES: Did not save any hard drive prices from newspaper ads. Did not see any ads for 'Seagate Expansion' or 'Western Digital Elements' drives. |
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2018 USB HARD DRIVES: Did not save any hard drive prices from newspaper ads. Did not see any ads for 'Seagate Expansion' or 'Western Digital Elements' drives. |
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2017 USB HARD DRIVES: 2017 Seagate hard drives:
2017 Western Digital hard drives:
2017 PNY hard drives:
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2016 USB HARD DRIVES: 2016 Western Digital hard drives:
2016 SanDisk USB INTERNAL solid state drives:
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2015 USB HARD DRIVES: 2015 Seagate: 2015 Seagate 5TB USB hard drives:
2015 Seagate 2TB USB hard drives:
2015 Seagate 1TB USB hard drives:
2015 Seagate 500GB USB hard drives:
2015 Western Digital: 2015 Western Digital 4TB USB hard drives:
2015 Western Digital 3TB USB hard drives:
2015 Western Digital 2TB USB hard drives:
2015 Western Digital 1TB USB hard drives:
2015 Toshiba: 2015 Toshiba 5TB USB hard drives:
2015 Toshiba 4TB USB hard drives:
2015 Toshiba 3TB USB hard drives:
2015 Toshiba 2TB USB hard drives:
2015 Toshiba 1TB USB hard drives:
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2014 USB HARD DRIVES: 2014 Western Digital: 2014 Western Digital 2TB USB hard drives:
2014 Western Digital 1TB USB hard drives:
2014 Western Digital 500GB USB hard drives:
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2012 USB HARD DRIVES: 2012 Western Digital: 2012 Western Digital 500GB USB hard drives:
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2011 USB HARD DRIVES: 2011 Seagate: 2011 Seagate 1TB USB hard drives:
2011 Seagate 500GB USB hard drives:
2011 Hitachi: 2011 Hitachi 2TB USB hard drives:
2011 Hitachi 1TB USB hard drives:
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2010 USB HARD DRIVES: 2010 Seagate: 2010 Seagate 2TB USB hard drives:
2010 Seagate 1TB USB hard drives:
2010 Seagate 500GB USB hard drives:
2010 Seagate 320GB USB hard drives:
2010 Seagate 250GB USB hard drives:
2010 Western Digital: 2010 Western Digital 1.5TB USB hard drives:
2010 Western Digital 1TB USB hard drives:
2010 Western Digital 750GB USB hard drives:
2010 Hitachi: 2010 Hitachi 500GB USB hard drives:
2010 Hitachi 320GB USB hard drives:
2010 Hitachi 250GB USB hard drives:
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For more bargains and info: Here are some links to WEB SEARCHES for more bargains and for more info related to external storage drives.
For more info on 'storage drives', try the following pages --- and follow links from those pages. |
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