Newegg has the Seagate STCA4000100 4TB USB 3.0 Backup Plus Desktop External Hard Drive for $150 - $10 off with coupon code EMCYTZT3134 [Exp 3/23] = $140 with free shipping. Goes for $176+ elsewhere. Features one-click custom backup and transfer speeds of up to up to 5 Gbit/sec.
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anyone wanna weigh in - is this deal worth it? I know it's cheaper than most 4gb on the market but is it that good of a deal that we should buy this even if we don't need it right now?
(I figure when iI do need it within the next year it'll come down in price anyway?)
...TB
I don't think HD storage prices are going up in the future. So if you don't need a drive today then wait.
As for the claim of 5 Gbit/sec, USB 3 claims the bits can fly that fast but the real work payload is only 4 Gbit/sec.
4 Gbit/sec is 512 Megabytes per second. You'd probably be lucky to get 100 Megabytes a second out of a (likely) 5400 RPM drive in an external enclosure. Just because the interface is capable of a certain speed doesn't mean the drive can actually hit anywhere near that speed.
^ It depends on the access pattern, in other words as always with USB, random, especially concurrent I/O will take a bit hit. However Amazon reviewer details make it look promising at "up to" 151MiBps on USB3.
5400RPM drives are fairly fast today except for a couple ms higher latency, however a few data points across the web claim there's a 7K2 RPM HDD in it, but I was too lazy to check whether they were all on the 4TB model or other models.
Atto Benchmark, FWIW-
[image]
Image taken from an Amazon review here:
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Desktop-External-STCA4000100/dp/B00829THLE
Prices will slowly drop over the next 18 months but the key word here is slowly. I couldn't hold out any longer on HDDs, but bought at a lower rate than before the flood. $140 is a decent price right now, you'll pay near $100 for a 2TB.