Help with buying new hard drive

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:34:04 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:02:04 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

Just checked the prices and Samsung, Crucial, Kingston are all similar. I'll go for Samsung then.


That must have hurt....... ;-)

Am I missing something?

--
When eating a tongue sandwich, how do you know when you've finished?

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:22:17 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:48:51 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

I expect to order another 1/2 dozen Samsung drives within the next sixty days. I
would enjoy perusing some reliable data which might sway my purchasing decision.

Looking up the French link, I've now decided Samsung are probably best.

Crucial, Intel, and now Samsung. Three 'best' brands in as many days. What
will tomorrow bring? ;-)

Just kidding.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:06:04 -0000, Char Jackson wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:22:17 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:48:51 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

I expect to order another 1/2 dozen Samsung drives within the next sixty days. I
would enjoy perusing some reliable data which might sway my purchasing decision.

Looking up the French link, I've now decided Samsung are probably best.

Crucial, Intel, and now Samsung. Three 'best' brands in as many days. What
will tomorrow bring? ;-)

Just kidding.

The problem is I don't have much information to go on. Surely there is a website somewhere with reliability stats? You can get such things for cars. All they need to do is collate customer experiences.

--
Seen in a lift:
"Please do not allow excessive obnoxious gaseous substances to be released from your anal orifice as the ventilation system is limited".

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:16:11 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:35:06 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:



Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

You are joking right?

If I am buying new products I purchase almost everything from Amazon or Costco.
With Amazon Prime I do not pay for shipping. Without Prime I would use free
super-saver shipping.

I usually only buy products sold by Amazon itself, but if I wish to buy from one
of their associated vendors, Amazon demands those vendors offer the same level
of customer service and return policy as Amazon itself.

I really like the assurance of being able to return just about anything I
purchase for a full refund if I am not satisfied. Combining just about the best
prices anywhere, free shipping, no hassle returns and having the item within two
days, Amazon is always the first place a I look.

I have bought numerous used items via eBay and have had to create numerous cases
against sellers who didn't ship, shipped the wrong or defective items, sold
counterfeit merchandise or sold stolen goods.

One time I purchased 4 Dell Precision workstations from a seller in North
Carolina. They arrived promptly and worked fine, although I thought it was
strange the hard drives were not wiped and booted up trying to connect to a
University of North Carolina in-house domain. About six weeks later I got a
phone call from the UNC campus police telling me the computers were stolen and
in a strong arm fashion demanded that I return the machines and absorb the
financial loss and pay for all shipping.

I denied their request. I offered to sell the machines to UNC at the price I
paid plus the cost of shipping, the officer told me to "forget it, just keep
em."

eBay can be great for many things, but if I am buying new, the prices are rarely
better and very frequently there are tremendous hassles.

Your experience is nothing like mine, I've had virtually no problems with Ebay. Almost every seller rectifies any problems, and those that don't require only a simple message to Ebay and they sort it for me. Also I find the Ebay search engine easier to use, you can narrow down results easily, their feedback system is way better, and they actually take action against accounts with bad feedback. Why did I find a seller on Amazon with 18 bad reviews and 2 good ones, that was still trading? I also could never work out if I was buying from Amazon themselves or from a private seller. And then you have the added complication of some sellers shipping from Amazon warehouses, what the hell is all that about? Far too complicated for my liking.

Trying a test.... I typed "SSD" into Ebay and Amazon. First thing I notice, I can't sort by price on Amazon until I've selected a "department" (I assume that means category). That's enough to leave the site right there. So I select my category and now it suddenly flips to displaying three columns of results instead of one. I didn't ask for that, and there appears to be no way to change it back either. I want to look at one at a time, not three. I narrow it down to a Samsung one, Ebay has 1000 results, Amazon only has 100. Hmmm, less choice. I'll now try to find a 256GB one by adding that to my search. Oops! Amazon's forgotten I only selected Samsungs and is showing me more makes. I give up, their site is unusable.

--
Viagra Lite
For people who only want to masturbate

Viagrallium
A mix of Viagra and Vallium: if you don't get to ****, then you don't give a ****.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:24:38 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:13:52 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:06:04 -0000, Char Jackson wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:22:17 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:48:51 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

I expect to order another 1/2 dozen Samsung drives within the next sixty days. I
would enjoy perusing some reliable data which might sway my purchasing decision.

Looking up the French link, I've now decided Samsung are probably best.

Crucial, Intel, and now Samsung. Three 'best' brands in as many days. What
will tomorrow bring? ;-)

Just kidding.

The problem is I don't have much information to go on. Surely there is a website somewhere with reliability stats? You can get such things for cars. All they need to do is collate customer experiences.

Aside from Consumer Reports here in the USA, I don't know of any source of
comparative, objective reviews of automobiles. Everyone else accepts
advertising and seem to be influenced heavily by the manufacturers.

I have no idea what resources you have in Scotland, I believe that is where you
claimed to be located, correct?

There's loads! A quick Google shows this: http://www.reliabilityindex.com/ along with HonestJohn and Whatcar (which are the two I've heard of) and many more.

--
Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest. (Rev. Larry Lorenzoni)

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:35:06 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:28:45 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

If I have absolutely no basis for comparison, the reviews can be very
enlightening. It is certainly better to consider thousands of reviews from
verified purchasers than it is to accept a review published on an obscure
website and written by a 28 year old who is writing articles for the web because
he couldn't handle the math to become an engineer.

Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

I frequently buy from Amazon because of their selection, pricing, and fast
delivery. Easy returns should be included, as well. The biggest con is that
they charge sales tax in my area. (They have a huge warehouse about 2 miles
from my house, which might have something to do with it.)

I almost never buy from Ebay. I've sold things there, but buying usually
gives me the creeps. I've also sold a few things on Amazon, FWIW, which went
very well.

As for wondering why a business is still alive, for me that's Starbucks. I
had to meet with a customer yesterday morning and I let him pick the place.
Now I can say I've been to a Starbucks three times in my life, and I still
have no idea why people are paying those kinds of prices for coffee.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:46:38 -0000, Char Jackson wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:35:06 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:28:45 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

If I have absolutely no basis for comparison, the reviews can be very
enlightening. It is certainly better to consider thousands of reviews from
verified purchasers than it is to accept a review published on an obscure
website and written by a 28 year old who is writing articles for the web because
he couldn't handle the math to become an engineer.

Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

I frequently buy from Amazon because of their selection, pricing, and fast
delivery.

Funny, that's precisely why I use Ebay. And I find it WAY easier to select something from Ebay, it's so easy to narrow it down to what I want and sort in order of price etc.

Easy returns should be included, as well. The biggest con is that
they charge sales tax in my area. (They have a huge warehouse about 2 miles
from my house, which might have something to do with it.)

Can't comment on that, as I'm in the UK so tax is the same through the whole country. I've bought from other countries on Ebay and only once got hit by a ****ing import duty - I bought a used tape backup drive from America and he never mentioned import taxes. Most people posting from abroad lie on the customs label so I don't pay anything. Needless to say that guy got nasty feedback from me.

I almost never buy from Ebay. I've sold things there, but buying usually
gives me the creeps.

Why? You simply look at the feedback of the seller and if it's not good enough for what you're buying, pick another seller. They also have "top rated sellers" so you can see at a glance the ones that have excellent track records without even having to look through the feedback. I myself was marked as toprated for a few years (I'm not selling enough on there to count at the moment).

I've also sold a few things on Amazon, FWIW, which went
very well.

I tried to sell on Amazon and couldn't - they don't let you open an account without filling in all sorts of ****. You have to be a tax registered company or something? Way too much hassle. And when I calculated the selling fees compared to Ebay, it wasn't worth it - it was over double!

As for wondering why a business is still alive, for me that's Starbucks. I
had to meet with a customer yesterday morning and I let him pick the place.
Now I can say I've been to a Starbucks three times in my life, and I still
have no idea why people are paying those kinds of prices for coffee.

I don't understand any fast food places. There's two here right next to a supermarket, you can get stuff in the supermarket ready to eat, even fresh from their bakery, at a quarter of the price of the fast food outlets.

--
Watching his date from the corner of his eye while he poured her a drink, the young bachelor said, "Say when."
She replied, "Right after that drink."

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 17:37:48 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 11:46:38 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:35:06 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:28:45 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

If I have absolutely no basis for comparison, the reviews can be very
enlightening. It is certainly better to consider thousands of reviews from
verified purchasers than it is to accept a review published on an obscure
website and written by a 28 year old who is writing articles for the web because
he couldn't handle the math to become an engineer.

Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

I frequently buy from Amazon because of their selection, pricing, and fast
delivery. Easy returns should be included, as well. The biggest con is that
they charge sales tax in my area. (They have a huge warehouse about 2 miles
from my house, which might have something to do with it.)

I almost never buy from Ebay. I've sold things there, but buying usually
gives me the creeps. I've also sold a few things on Amazon, FWIW, which went
very well.

As for wondering why a business is still alive, for me that's Starbucks. I
had to meet with a customer yesterday morning and I let him pick the place.
Now I can say I've been to a Starbucks three times in my life, and I still
have no idea why people are paying those kinds of prices for coffee.


I would add, coffee that tastes like battery acid! 7/11 and Dunkin' Donuts have
the best retail brewed coffee I have ever had. I have been told McDonalds brews
a good cup of coffee as well, but I have never had it.

Since that ridiculous lawsuit, McDonalds coffee is probably luke warm now.

--
"Dear Santa, this year please send clothes for all those poor ladies in Daddy's computer, Amen."

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 17:41:22 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:35:05 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:24:38 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:13:52 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:06:04 -0000, Char Jackson wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:22:17 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 13:48:51 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

I expect to order another 1/2 dozen Samsung drives within the next sixty days. I
would enjoy perusing some reliable data which might sway my purchasing decision.

Looking up the French link, I've now decided Samsung are probably best.

Crucial, Intel, and now Samsung. Three 'best' brands in as many days. What
will tomorrow bring? ;-)

Just kidding.

The problem is I don't have much information to go on. Surely there is a website somewhere with reliability stats? You can get such things for cars. All they need to do is collate customer experiences.

Aside from Consumer Reports here in the USA, I don't know of any source of
comparative, objective reviews of automobiles. Everyone else accepts
advertising and seem to be influenced heavily by the manufacturers.

I have no idea what resources you have in Scotland, I believe that is where you
claimed to be located, correct?

There's loads! A quick Google shows this: http://www.reliabilityindex.com/ along with HonestJohn and Whatcar (which are the two I've heard of) and many more.

Huh, that one is published by an insurance company. No reason to be suspicious
of insurers who work directly with select dealerships and or
manufacturers.........

If you're that pessimistic, all you have to do is use a few sites.

--
"There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky."
- From an old carrier sailor

Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:35:06 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:28:45 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

If I have absolutely no basis for comparison, the reviews can be very
enlightening. It is certainly better to consider thousands of reviews from
verified purchasers than it is to accept a review published on an obscure
website and written by a 28 year old who is writing articles for the web because
he couldn't handle the math to become an engineer.

Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

I frequently buy from Amazon because of their selection, pricing, and fast
delivery. Easy returns should be included, as well. The biggest con is that
they charge sales tax in my area. (They have a huge warehouse about 2 miles
from my house, which might have something to do with it.)

I almost never buy from Ebay. I've sold things there, but buying usually
gives me the creeps. I've also sold a few things on Amazon, FWIW, which went
very well.

As for wondering why a business is still alive, for me that's Starbucks. I
had to meet with a customer yesterday morning and I let him pick the place.
Now I can say I've been to a Starbucks three times in my life, and I still
have no idea why people are paying those kinds of prices for coffee.

I never understood the Starbuck's pricing and apparent customer
loyalty....but then again while I've had a few coffees (probably about
the same as you 3-4 times in my entire life), I've yet to have any cup
of their coffee that tasted better than Dunkin Donuts or even the QT or
Speedway gas stations (which has more flavor and roast choices and
probably sells more cups than DD).

--
....winston
msft mvp consumer apps

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 17:51:57 -0000, ...winston‫ wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:35:06 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265"
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:28:45 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

If I have absolutely no basis for comparison, the reviews can be very
enlightening. It is certainly better to consider thousands of reviews from
verified purchasers than it is to accept a review published on an obscure
website and written by a 28 year old who is writing articles for the web because
he couldn't handle the math to become an engineer.

Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

I frequently buy from Amazon because of their selection, pricing, and fast
delivery. Easy returns should be included, as well. The biggest con is that
they charge sales tax in my area. (They have a huge warehouse about 2 miles
from my house, which might have something to do with it.)

I almost never buy from Ebay. I've sold things there, but buying usually
gives me the creeps. I've also sold a few things on Amazon, FWIW, which went
very well.

As for wondering why a business is still alive, for me that's Starbucks. I
had to meet with a customer yesterday morning and I let him pick the place.
Now I can say I've been to a Starbucks three times in my life, and I still
have no idea why people are paying those kinds of prices for coffee.

I never understood the Starbuck's pricing and apparent customer
loyalty....but then again while I've had a few coffees (probably about
the same as you 3-4 times in my entire life), I've yet to have any cup
of their coffee that tasted better than Dunkin Donuts or even the QT or
Speedway gas stations (which has more flavor and roast choices and
probably sells more cups than DD).

I detest the taste of coffee, and have also never understood why people rink something hot to quench their thirst. I asociate wet with cold and dry with hot, so a hot drink? Oxymoron!

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:02:03 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 16:33:08 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

Your experience is nothing like mine, I've had virtually no problems with Ebay. Almost every seller rectifies any problems, and those that don't require only a simple message to Ebay and they sort it for me. Also I find the Ebay search engine easier to use, you can narrow down results easily, their feedback system is way better, and they actually take action against accounts with bad feedback. Why did I find a seller on Amazon with 18 bad reviews and 2 good ones, that was still trading? I also could never work out if I was buying from Amazon themselves or from a private seller. And then you have the added complication of some sellers shipping from Amazon warehouses, what the hell is all that about? Far too complicated for my liking.

Trying a test.... I typed "SSD" into Ebay and Amazon. First thing I notice, I can't sort by price on Amazon until I've selected a "department" (I assume that means category). That's enough to leave the site right there. So I select my category and now it suddenly flips to displaying three columns of results instead of one. I didn't ask for that, and there appears to be no way to change it back either. I want to look at one at a time, not three. I narrow it down to a Samsung one, Ebay has 1000 results, Amazon only has 100. Hmmm, less choice. I'll now try to find a 256GB one by adding that to my search. Oops! Amazon's forgotten I only selected Samsungs and is showing me more makes. I give up, their site is unusable.

Interesting. I am able to navigate Amazon with great ease, drilling down to
relevant results almost instantly.

Must be a Human Interface preference. For example I cannot operate an Apple computer or device without constantly cursing about its terrible interface, yet there are people who say the same about Windows/Linux/etc. To me, Apple products look like kids toys.

eBay's listings aren't difficult to navigate, but for new items there is almost
never an advantage to purchasing from an eBay seller, IMHO.

I find Ebay cheaper, more selection, and anyone can sell on there without handing over their birth certificate and mother in law, I couldn't work out how to create a seller account on Amazon at all! The feedback system is also unparalleled.

--
Crazy Laws in towns of the state of Illinois:
The English language is not to be spoken.
You must contact the police before entering the city in an automobile.
You may be convicted of a Class 4 felony offense, punishable by up to three years in state prison, for the crime of "eavesdropping" on your own conversation. -720 ILCS 5/14-2.
Law forbids eating in a place that is on fire.
It is forbidden to fish while sitting on a giraffe's neck.
It is legal to protest naked in front of city hall as long as you are under seventeen years of age and have legal permits.
One may not pee in his neighbor's mouth.
Humming on public streets is prohibited on Sundays.
Wheelbarrows with For-Sale signs may not be chained to trees.
A man with a moustache may not kiss a woman.
It is illegal to go trick-or-treating on Halloween.
It is unlawful to change clothes in an automobile with the curtains drawn, except in case of fire.
It is illegal to expectorate from any second-story window.
It is against the law to use a slingshot unless your are a law enforcement officer.
A rooster must step back three hundred feet from any residence if he wishes to crow. Hens that wish to cackle must step two hundred feet back from any residence.
Bees are not allowed to fly over the village or through any of Kriland's streets.
Ice skating at the Riverside pond during the months of June and August is prohibited.
There is a ban on unnecessary repetitive driving on 23rd Avenue.
It is against the law to make faces at dogs.

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:52:41 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 18:17:07 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

I find Ebay cheaper, more selection, and anyone can sell on there without handing over their birth certificate and mother in law, I couldn't work out how to create a seller account on Amazon at all! The feedback system is also unparalleled.

As a buyer, I see no advantage to it being easier for "anyone" to sell on eBay.
In fact, it is a marked disadvantage as there are many scumbags selling via
eBay.

And those scumbags have bad feedback, so you don't buy from them. And there aren't "many", just a few.

The advantage is there are more sellers so you get more choice and a lower price.

The feedback system has it's value, I agree.

I believe they invented the idea. Some Frenchman I think.

I just looked on ebay for this Samsung EVO 850, MZ-75E250B/AM

I can buy as many as I need from Amazon, be assured they are not counterfeit,
have them within 2 days and have a no hassle return policy, all for $105.42
each.

On ebay, there is one of these available at auction for $99 but the auction ends
in two days and I have no doubt the price will be bid up.

I never use auctions, I'm too impatient. I always tick the "Buy It Now" box. There are none of those SSDs you were looking for in the UK, but in the USA (where you are?) there are 30 available without bidding. Why did you find only one?

Buying new, especially in quantity, from eBay has very few if any advantages.
Sure, you can get lucky, but you are usually saving only pennies and your
exposure in time, energy and money is far greater.

I find it much quicker and easier to buy on Ebay. I don't do it to save pennies.

I will give you the final word on this subject.

Fine, fold your arms and run off like a girl :-P

--
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart -- H. L. Mencken

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 17:56:22 -0000, Tough Guy no. 1265 wrote:

I detest the taste of coffee, and have also never understood why people rink something hot to quench their thirst. I asociate wet with cold and dry with hot, so a hot drink? Oxymoron!

I surely don't drink coffee to quench my thirst, but I definitely do
drink coffee. You *could* widen your horizons in thinking about people's
motivations.

As for Starbucks coffee tasting like battery acid (I lost track of who
posted that), I totally disagree[1]. But I also don't like it :-)

I go to Starbucks because that's where I meet regularly with a few
friends to socialize; the coffee is the price I pay for that. BTW, I
don't find it expensive, but then I drink plain coffee, not coffee with
spangles & truffles.

[1] In truth, I've never tasted battery acid, so how can I be sure? But
I still don't like Starbucks coffee...

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 19:31:13 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 12:17:32 -0700, "Gene E. Bloch"
wrote:

[1] In truth, I've never tasted battery acid, so how can I be sure? But
I still don't like Starbucks coffee...

Difficult to do much work on cars without ever getting a taste of battery acid.
Obviously I am from the old school and used to do all my own auto maintenance
and repairs.

Have you syphoned a battery or something?

--
Hey diddle diddle the cat took a piddle,
All over the bedside clock.
The little dog laughed to see such fun.
Then died of electric shock.