this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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[–] ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com 26 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I'll just note there is still a loophole: external drives have sales in the $10-11/TB range, and you can shuck the drives.

Right now $280 for 26TB, for example: https://slickdeals.net/f/19091557-26tb-seagate-expansion-desktop-usb-3-0-external-hard-drive-280-free-shipping

That's apparently CMR Barracuda inside.

These may disappear completely, or may simply be drives that AI data centers do not prefer permanently, since they are not rated for 24/7 use. Fine for RAID home server use, apparently, though

[–] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I remember doing this years ago, but the only problem I remember is they were 2 hard drives instead of 1 inside split in size to lower the cost. Idk if its different now, but if you expect 1 drive at that size that could be wrong.

[–] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Did you buy an offbrand ext drive? I mainly stick to EasyStore models (and its been a minute since I had to buy), and they were always 1 internal HDD in their annoying to open enclosure

It's just one: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/1mkt0vd/26tb_seagate_expansion_shucking_experience/

The size of the enclosure isn't large enough to accommodate more than one 3.5" drive.