Here’s the cheapest hard drive per TB right now
All you need is an old hard drive
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WD Elements 12TB hard disk drive - $219.99This 12TB hard disk drive from Western Digital is already available at a discount, but you can make an even greater saving by taking advantage of WD’s recycling scheme (see below).
The WD Elements desktop hard disk drive is the most affordable hard drive on the market, regardless of form factor (2.5-inch or 3.5-inch) and type (internal or external).
At $220, the 12TB version (WDBWLG0120HBK) is already a bargain and it’s the cheapest per TB across the range. However, using the trick described below, you can shave another 15% off the price, bringing the cost to just under $187. That’s a mere $15.58 per Terabyte - the lowest we’ve seen in a year (since lastAmazonPrime Day, actually).
The WD Elements range provides reliable high capacity storage with USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 compatibility. The drives come with a two-year warranty and have been formatted to NTFS. This device is likely to have a 3.5-inch 5400RPM drive spinning inside, which makes it perfect forbackup storage.
A few brave souls have also managed to extract a WD120EMFZ drive from the Elements external hard drive. The model has a 256MB cache and would be comparable to the 12TB WD REDNAS hard drive, which costs $330 - a whopping 50% premium on the original drive.
WD 15% discount trick
A little-known scheme from Western Digital allows you to save up to 15% off your next purchase from the company’s online store (provided you spend $50 or more).
In a nutshell, send over an old external or internal SSD or hard disk drive for recycling (doesn’t matter if it is in working order) and you’ll get a coupon code via email in return.
The entire process can take about two weeks and is described in further detail onthis page. Now, if you are willing to jump through the hoops, you can grab yourself an amazing bargain - just make sure you read all the T&Cs.
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Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled inwebsite buildersandweb hostingwhen DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.
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