Seagate 3TB $89.99 @ Newegg

[korith]

If you talk to them can sometimes get a shipping label w/o the cost. I always take a picture of of the packaging after I open it, in case I need it, not sure if it would do any good though.

[rdenney]

From reports from other users you can request a shipping label and they will provide you with one. Worth a try, save a few bucks

 

Yes, though there is nothing on the RMA form or web page that indicates such. Once I ordered the label, it appeared I would have to wait for it to be shipped to me, which seemed insane, so I called them and waited on hold for about half an hour. They cancelled that shipping label and they are sending me a new one via email, at their cost. So, at least it's a free pain the butt rather than one I have to pay for.

 

The (so far) good drive is building parity, with 408 GB done at a rate of 95 MB/s. I'm not tempted to complain about that!

 

Once this drive has built parity, I'll install the old 2T parity drive as an array drive.

 

Rick "who'll have to wait a couple of weeks to mess with the replacement drive" Denney

[korith]

Yes, though there is nothing on the RMA form or web page that indicates such. Once I ordered the label, it appeared I would have to wait for it to be shipped to me, which seemed insane, so I called them and waited on hold for about half an hour. They cancelled that shipping label and they are sending me a new one via email, at their cost. So, at least it's a free pain the butt rather than one I have to pay for.

 

I found out about calling in to get shipping costs waived from someone's hard drive review on their site. It sure wasn't mentioned anywhere else by newegg themselves. Still love newegg though, rma is just one of the hassles you gotta deal with when buying stuff online.

[aRe-eYe-pEa]

I am betting that most of us have spent waaaaaaay too much money at NewEgg over the years.  Anytime I need to RMA an item I call and ask them to check my account to see how much I have spent.  This always leads to them paying the return shipping.  I am sure that a Norco 4224 wouldn't be.  Now that I am a Shoprunner member there is a hidden page to get the free RMA return shipping.  (This is for items that were shipped with Shoprunner.)  They still don't make it easy.  I can say that it used to be 2/3 of drives were shipped crappy.  Mostly based on where they ship from.  NJ & TN were really bad.  I have never had any problems with CA.  Anymore 1/4 is a crappy pack job.  The other 3/4 are in the factory boxes (cardboard boxes with the plastic sleeves packed inside another box with packing peanuts.)  NewEgg is just like anything else....  I can recall at least 3 shipments were things were missing.  Like in the good old days of ATI 550 TV Tuners were I would get the product visibly opened missing the remote or missing the RF sensor.  I can say I haven't seen anything like that for a while just saying you never know who is working in their warehouse. 

[rednick69]

I think some of you were expecting Jesus to arrive holding your hard drives. Mine was wrapped just like the OC(original complainer) stated and I believe they could have dropped it out of an airplane onto my front steps and these drives would be fine. You do understand that just  because it isn't pretty doesn't mean it wont work? If any of these hdd's have issues it's more than likely not because of shipping. And yes, I am a newegg fanboy.

 

Seriously, did you even read my post. If you think that your drives could have survived ANY kind of drop, then yours were packed differently than mine. I don't care how "pretty"it is, but when the box is half full of packing so the drives are fully mobile AND they are practically devoid of any supporting padding, then that's just not right. So go ahead and call me a complainer, but I have never seen such half-assed packaging in my life.

 

Your last comment about the shipping not being at fault if the drives don't work - you're just talking out your ass. But, thanks for pointing out your newegg fanboyism, I'm sure that would have escaped our notice 

I did read your post and yours sounded exactly like mine. My 3 drives were in some type of styrofoam that it looked like they came in originally, the one strip of bubble wrap. The bubble wrap was long enough to roll mine up in a ball bigger than a basketball then stuck in a box with paper. The box was a little bigger than the packaging so the package could move around inside the box.  I didnt mean any harm to you on this, I just see bad reviews on actual decent companies I've used and your situation sounded exactly like mine and if so you are explaining it wrong or just wrong.

[ratmice]

I did read your post and yours sounded exactly like mine. My 3 drives were in some type of styrofoam that it looked like they came in originally, the one strip of bubble wrap. The bubble wrap was long enough to roll mine up in a ball bigger than a basketball then stuck in a box with paper. The box was a little bigger than the packaging so the package could move around inside the box.  I didnt mean any harm to you on this, I just see bad reviews on actual decent companies I've used and your situation sounded exactly like mine and if so you are explaining it wrong or just wrong.

 

Look, I've bought TONS of stuff from Newegg, and have never had a problem - until this time. I'll repeat that the packaging sounds similar, but on mine only one single layer of bubble wrap. So nowhere near a "basketball". The interior padding was about 1/4 to 1/5 the volume of other packages I have received. The box itself was about a 2-foot cube, so substantially bigger than the drive bundle inside. Large enough that the packaged drives bounced around enough to damage the outer shipping carton (it had to be re-taped en route). Sound like good packaging practice to you?

 

So, I'm not explaining it wrong, or just wrong. I have expectations that delicate, expensive equipment should be packed and shipped properly. If you are happy with the service you received, great. However, I am not. In this instance Newegg gets an 'F' for effort. S*&t happens.

 

Oh, and in response to 'not meaning any harm', characterizing me as 'expecting Jesus to deliver my drives' and as 'OC (original complainer)', seem to refute that.

 

I was just making an observation about this particular shipment, not denigrating Newegg in general. I will continue to use Newegg, as I have for many years, so no need to come to their defense (again).

 

<ex-equine sufficiently assaulted>

 

p.s. Newegg CS seemed genuinely aghast at the description of the packaging, and grateful that I alerted them to a possible problem in their shipping dept. They did tell me to hold on to the pictures I took in case they need them. We'll see.

[Influencer]

Come on now guys & gals, no need for this to turn into an argument. Be happy, don't worry

[ratmice]

Come on now guys & gals, no need for this to turn into an argument. Be happy, don't worry

 

Well it's that, or weigh in on the "where 5.0 final?" debacle, so I can put these drive to use. 

[squirrellydw]

Very happy with the way mine arrived. Pre clearing it 3 times to really test it out. Any idea how long that will take?

[eroz]

Very happy with the way mine arrived. Pre clearing it 3 times to really test it out. Any idea how long that will take?

About 30-33 hours per cycle, so close to 100 hours for 3 cycles.

[gimlet]

Yeah I got a couple of drives packed like that from newegg, just a drive in the antistatic bag rolling around in a box not even half full of peanuts.  Not too awful if you only have one drive, but with 2+ I cringed thinking of them smashing against one another.  I got lucky I guess, they survived testing and burn-in and have been running for 4 years now.  Haven't gotten one from them in a few years (partly due to that packaging), I got a few batches from Amazon and as stated above they came very well packed.  3 out of 12 failed testing and burnin though, but getting a free return label and getting replacements was a breeze. 

 

[ratmice]

Well, to finish off the story, all three drives came through a badblocks destructive test and a preclear cycle without issue. Still, i hope I never get drives packaged that way again.