Places to buy hard drive

sheffbag · 21-01-2008, 10:18

Due to my hard drive dying last night i need to buy a basic one today

I had a maxtor 80Gb IDE drive and ideally a straight relpacement would be great, can the great forumsters of sheffield recommend a place to go buy one.

Dont say pc world as i have checked their prices as DABS looks cheaper but ideally i want to buy in person.

ken1 · 21-01-2008, 10:24

ebuyer is usually cheaper than dabs too. you have to add delivery costs & wait, if you buy online though.

all shops will charge more than online, but if you need one today, i'd suggest trying a few of the shops on london road/abbydale road.

ken1 · 21-01-2008, 10:26

check the price for a 160gb drive too, it shouldnt cost much more than 80gb now. 320gb can be bought for a bit over £50 online.

shakermaker · 21-01-2008, 10:43

ebuyer is notoriously bad at returns when things go wrong

aria, scan, tekheads may be worth a try

and as ken says, 160gb will probably be cheaper or the same price as an 80gb drive now

also, paying for next-day delivery from an online site will probably be cheaper than buying from a 'real' shop

ken1 · 21-01-2008, 10:47

next day delivery normally makes it a similar price to the cheapest shops & then you can get it today, if thats important. of course, if you order more than just a hard drive, you'll save a bit. it is much easier to order online, than go walking up & down london road in the cold & rain.

i never had a problem with returns to ebuyer, they even send a courier to collect it, full refund, no problem.

most of the people that complain about ebuyer seem to be disgruntled ex-employees (there were a lot, when they moved offices, from sheffield). they wouldnt still be in business, if it was anything as bad as you'd heard. order from wherever is cheapest, the big sites are all reputable & they all sell the same products. ebuyer is one of the best, from my experience.

SimpyTimpy · 21-01-2008, 10:53

SheffBag, I have two 80GB brand new IDE hard drives that I'd bought for a PC, but decided not to use them. I can sell one to you if you'd like?

Western Digital and I'll sell for £20? PM me if you're interested, I can do it as soon as possible too.

Shiesh · 21-01-2008, 11:11

Have you tried www.bigpockets.co.uk ???

shakermaker · 21-01-2008, 11:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken1

most of the people that complain about ebuyer seem to be disgruntled ex-employees (there were a lot, when they moved offices, from sheffield). they wouldnt still be in business, if it was anything as bad as you'd heard. order from wherever is cheapest, the big sites are all reputable & they all sell the same products. ebuyer is one of the best, from my experience.

no, i must have ordered £2000 - £3000 worth of stuff from them over the past 5 or so years

i've had numerous problems when i've had to return stuff (faulty equipment)... ranges from losing things, not replying to emails, taking 4 months to replace a dvd-drive, sending used/damaged products as replacements, 'forgetting' to re-imburse my postage costs (£10 on a £100 item) and when something does go wrong, they're a nightmare to get hold of and sort it out

mr chris · 21-01-2008, 11:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimpyTimpy

SheffBag, I have two 80GB brand new IDE hard drives that I'd bought for a PC, but decided not to use them. I can sell one to you if you'd like?

Western Digital and I'll sell for £20? PM me if you're interested, I can do it as soon as possible too.

That's a good deal, tbh.

To the OP - avoid Maxtor drives like the plague - they're cheap and nasty and die quite easily.

Take SimpyTimpy up on his offer - I would if I wasn't on SATA.

ken1 · 21-01-2008, 11:42

chris, maxtor arent too bad, they're seagate now. to be honest, western digital would be the brand i'd avoid & hitachi or seagate would be my preference, but thats mainly personal bias.

i was thinking about buying the other drive, its a very good price for 80gb, but i think i'd rather get a bigger one & wd arent my favourite. 160gb is only a bit over £30, £40 for 250gb, £50 for 320gb. if nobody else wants them, i'll take both, if they're mint condition, in sealed bags, but i'm not in much of a rush.

ken1 · 21-01-2008, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by shakermaker

no, i must have ordered £2000 - £3000 worth of stuff from them over the past 5 or so years

i've had numerous problems when i've had to return stuff (faulty equipment)... ranges from losing things, not replying to emails, taking 4 months to replace a dvd-drive, sending used/damaged products as replacements, 'forgetting' to re-imburse my postage costs (£10 on a £100 item) and when something does go wrong, they're a nightmare to get hold of and sort it out

like i said, they've always been pretty efficient with me. i've ordered more than that, over at least 7 years, they're the main site i use for computer equipment, i build computers for my friends & i've worked as a network admin too. only had one thing i needed to return, a blown psu, last summer. i went out and bought a replacement, got in touch with ebuyer through their site & they arranged a courier to pick it up a few days later, full refund a couple of days after that. only other problem i had was a 10p sachet of thermal paste missing, which was slightly annoying, but i coped, they even refunded that.

anyway, i dont want to sound like an advert, you can find better prices if you shop around. i've just used them, a lot, for years & never had any of these bad experiences i seem to hear so much about, the opposite in fact.

sheffbag · 21-01-2008, 15:33

cheers for the (conflicting) info guys, : think im sorted now

gabby · 21-01-2008, 15:40

Try www.svp.co.uk. Used them many times, good customer service, no hassle with faulty goods etc

sheffbag · 21-01-2008, 16:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by SimpyTimpy

SheffBag, I have two 80GB brand new IDE hard drives that I'd bought for a PC, but decided not to use them. I can sell one to you if you'd like?

Western Digital and I'll sell for £20? PM me if you're interested, I can do it as soon as possible too.

simpy tried sending you my number but your pm box is full, mail me to my private address which you have and can we arrange a collection tomorrow, i work in centre of sheff but can travel

mr chris · 21-01-2008, 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken1

chris, maxtor arent too bad, they're seagate now. to be honest, western digital would be the brand i'd avoid & hitachi or seagate would be my preference, but thats mainly personal bias.

i was thinking about buying the other drive, its a very good price for 80gb, but i think i'd rather get a bigger one & wd arent my favourite. 160gb is only a bit over £30, £40 for 250gb, £50 for 320gb. if nobody else wants them, i'll take both, if they're mint condition, in sealed bags, but i'm not in much of a rush.

Every Maxtor drive I've seen has packed in. Oddly enough, WD have been perfect for me every time. I know most of it is down to experience, but Maxtor have been the cheap and nasty OEM drives whenever I've come across them.

sallonoroff · 22-01-2008, 09:58

I've always been a Seagate man myself... avoiding Maxtor where possible, but now they're the same company i'll be keeping an eye-out for problems.

.

Classic Rock · 22-01-2008, 10:24

I got one recently from Amazon. It was a lot cheaper than ebuyer and ebay.

ken1 · 22-01-2008, 12:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr_chris

Every Maxtor drive I've seen has packed in. Oddly enough, WD have been perfect for me every time. I know most of it is down to experience, but Maxtor have been the cheap and nasty OEM drives whenever I've come across them.

i've only had one wd drive, a 40mb one, never bought one since, it was that bad. that was a hell of a long time ago now & im not really that biased, i've just always opted for other brands, given the choice. they arent usually that much cheaper.

i've never actually seen a maxtor drive die & i've used/seen a lot at various jobs. its probably just down to luck though. they have always been cheap, nasty, clunky, hot, slow drives, i never liked them. they've always seemed reliable enough to me though.

they have been bought by seagate though now, so i think the newer drives are just like the cheaper models that seagate used to release, just re-branded as maxtor. i got a couple of maxtor laptop hdds a few months ago & they seem fine.

hitachi are my first choice, even though i had an ibm 'deathstar' die on me. ive still got 3 old ibms running fine in daily use. they do seem to be the fastest drives.

Preacher Man · 22-01-2008, 12:15

does anyone remember when ebay was actually cheap for pc bits? i had a look at 750GB externals before christmas and ebay was dearer than ebuyer/scan/dabs etc.

i have had a 250GB maxtor in my pc for years with no problems. its been partioned, reformated, repartioned countless times and its still fine. got another one in my old xbox with no problems again.

its just personal experiance. i have got an lg dvd-rw thats packing in after a year so i wont buy anymore but i bet loads of people have got them that have lasted 3 years with no problems at all..

sheffbag · 22-01-2008, 12:20

Simpy - Empty your pm box mate please, want to send you my number