How can I find out more about this mystery hard drive?

[dogus2000]

I am in the market for an external hard drive. I'd prefer one that has 16MB cache. In terms of connectivity, while I want USB 2.0 as an option for portability, I'm thinking of frog-jumping over the firewire options and going straight to eSATA.

That's why the following hard drive seemed so appealing: http://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop/detail.asp?dpno=7193213

The Western Digital MY BOOK PREMIUM ES EDITION (WDG1SU500N). Seems like a good drive. The problem is, I can't find it anywhere on the internet. In fact, that link above is the only place I could track it down. I could not find any reference to it on Western Digital's website, and in typing in the model number into google, the above link was the only link to show up...

Any idea on why this hard drive is so rare? The only reason I knew to look for it at all was I saw it at Best Buy, where it was $280+tax. I figured I could go home and find a better deal online - but I'm cautious to buy any drive that is so obscure...

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[WizardOZ]

This is most likely one of those GD "special market" devices. These are usually normal production devices that have been tweaked in some small way to be sold exclusively by one chain. Since they are limited production and specialized distribution and not part of the normal product line, you are extremely unlikely to find any mention of these sorts of products on the manufactureres web-site.

This is most often seen with notebook systems sold at FutureShop, BestBuy etc.

Avoid this stuff like you would the plague. When something goes wrong with the device, the place you bought it will refer you to the manufacturer. As you have already discovered, the manufacturer won't even admit to having anything to do with said products. The only way you will be able to get any kind of support from the manufacturer is through a convoluted telephone process. And it will be on your long-distance dime.

 

[g-paw]

Have you thought about putting it together yourself? You can get a 500GB for about $200 and a good case for $35. E.G.,

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817106098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148136