Yesterday, 01:56 PM
Thanks for posting — and you’re absolutely right, drive prices right now can feel brutal, especially when you’re trying to fill a 4-bay or bigger NAS in one go.
A few options worth looking at:
• Server Pulls / Refurbs:
Sites like ServerPartsDeals, GoHardDrive, and on eBay from reputable sellers (look for “Dell HGST 12TB SAS” or similar) often have enterprise drives pulled from data centres at half the cost of new. They’re tested and usually still very reliable.
Just make sure you’re OK with SAS drives if you buy enterprise pulls — some NAS models support them, some don’t.
• eBay / CEX (UK):
You can find new or barely-used WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf or Exos drives on eBay. Always check the SMART report before putting into service. CEX in the UK sometimes has WD or Seagate NAS drives at decent prices with a 2-year warranty.
• Shucking External Drives:
Often the cheapest route. WD Elements 14TB or 16TB external USB drives are sometimes on Amazon, Currys, or Costco for far less per TB than bare NAS drives — and inside is a white-label WD Red or similar. Search “shucking drives” if you’ve not done this before.
(Note: Ugreen NAS will take these fine, but sometimes you need to tape a pin on the power connector if the drive won’t spin up — minor issue.)
• Watch Price Trackers:
Use tools like PCPartPicker or HotUKDeals to watch for drops. Sometimes big sales bring 18TB drives down close to £14–15/TB.
If you can stretch your budget a little, I’d still recommend WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf over generic desktop drives — they’ll last longer and run quieter. If you’d like, I can also suggest a good balance of capacity and redundancy for your 4800+.
A few options worth looking at:
• Server Pulls / Refurbs:
Sites like ServerPartsDeals, GoHardDrive, and on eBay from reputable sellers (look for “Dell HGST 12TB SAS” or similar) often have enterprise drives pulled from data centres at half the cost of new. They’re tested and usually still very reliable.
Just make sure you’re OK with SAS drives if you buy enterprise pulls — some NAS models support them, some don’t.
• eBay / CEX (UK):
You can find new or barely-used WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf or Exos drives on eBay. Always check the SMART report before putting into service. CEX in the UK sometimes has WD or Seagate NAS drives at decent prices with a 2-year warranty.
• Shucking External Drives:
Often the cheapest route. WD Elements 14TB or 16TB external USB drives are sometimes on Amazon, Currys, or Costco for far less per TB than bare NAS drives — and inside is a white-label WD Red or similar. Search “shucking drives” if you’ve not done this before.
(Note: Ugreen NAS will take these fine, but sometimes you need to tape a pin on the power connector if the drive won’t spin up — minor issue.)
• Watch Price Trackers:
Use tools like PCPartPicker or HotUKDeals to watch for drops. Sometimes big sales bring 18TB drives down close to £14–15/TB.
If you can stretch your budget a little, I’d still recommend WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf over generic desktop drives — they’ll last longer and run quieter. If you’d like, I can also suggest a good balance of capacity and redundancy for your 4800+.