Price watch: 1TB external drive for $79.99

You'll have to deal with a pair of rebates to get this 1TB drive for $80. But so what?

(Credit: Fantom Drives)

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new low! OnSale.com has the Fantom GreenDrive 1 terabyte external hard drive for $79.99. UPS Ground shipping will run you a very reasonable $4.99.

OK, you knew there had to be a catch, right? Actually, there's a pair: rebate No. 1 (PDF) and rebate No. 2 (PDF). They're $20 apiece.

I don't have a problem with rebates, but I know that some people hold them in the same regard as AIG bonuses. (Surely, they aren't that bad.)

As for the drive itself, it features USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, Mac and Windows compatibility, and a two-year warranty. Fantom bundles no backup software to speak of, but there are plenty of great freeware backup utilities out there.

And what puts the "green" in GreenDrive? "The latest advances in power-saving technology and ROHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive)-compliant materials and process." OK, then.

CNET hasn't reviewed the drive, but several dozen OnSale buyers rated it an average of 4.5 stars out of 5. If you don't mind waiting a couple months on those 40 rebate dollars, this is the best deal yet on a 1TB external hard drive. Act fast!

[He_And_Him_Studios]

Nice, except there's a rebate. The reason I hate rebates is because I don't always have enough to pay for it before the rebate. I am only a 15 year old kid with a limited budget. I have seen deals before, went to go buy it, and then found out there was a rebate, and I couldn't afford it. That is why I hate rebates. That, and why can't they just take it off the price? It saves paper and it's more convenient. But, this is still one of the best deals I've seen, but I'll have to skip it due to the rebates.

[dashingemt]

Rebates are simple...they hope you forget/get too lazy to send the rebate in.

[greekboy]

Checked Newegg. there is problem with getting rebates from this company. They have it for 110 and a $20 rebate and free shiping. From the reviews it seems like a good drive but don't count on seeing the rebate.

[MCVanOLinda]

I have one of their older model 1TB drives and it works great for me. I also own this exact drive, but I haven't used it enough to give a good opinion on it, but I liked the older model so much I bought this one too

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Pass. I have to agree with He_and_him_Studios. The rebate is the killer. best price on external 1tbs are around $90 shipped. You can even get 1tb HP PMDs that dock in an HP system (or can be used externally) for around $115 IF you are patient and wait for coupon codes. I prefer dockable drives that don't need a power brick

[rickbroida]

Hey, Jasper, any idea if you can buy just the casing for one of those HP docking bays and stick in your own drive?

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

Rick

I've not seen any, but that would be awesome. Esp if you can put another drive in there. I did a quick search and some have recommended buying dead units or empty cases. Also even if it is docked it still uses USB2, its just that the computer PSU provides the power it. It sounds like its a PATA 3.5" inside, but I would check inside first before getting a drive. eSATA would have been nice...

[rickbroida]

I actually totally forgot that my M9350f had a PMD slot. Just bought a 750GB SATA drive to install internally and use for cloning. Hope the PSU can handle it!

[j_a_s_p_e_r]

I think you were better off installing a drive, at least speed wise. USB2 doesn't quite cut it. eSATA is king at the moment at least in my book and at least till USB3 comes out.

I don't have a PMD (Personal Media Drive), yet. I've still got spools and sppols of CD-Rs that I need to get rid of, so I'm doing my backups on those. I know its sad...

Suddenly this drive deal does not look so bad. I did a quick check and my best price $90 has to be raised to round $100 or $110, at least for today. Dell's deal on the eGo 1tb for $91 is gone, so is the seagate outlet store deals (next outlet store event is 4/9/9), so is NewEgg's 1tb Freeagent deal ($86 with coupon code - coupon expired), etc.

[ywkhgqo]

for those wondering, e sata is WAY faster than USB 2.0 if you can take advantage of it

[HulkSmashForever]

I bought this same drive several months ago, and the rebate process was very painless. It took about six weeks to get my $20 check and it didn't bounce. And the drive is spectacular!

[Gonzo BobH]

As was noted already re the rebate, according to the Newegg.com comments, fahgetaboutit!

I just bought Eagle Tech I-Series ET-CS2000IU2-BK 2TB 7200RPM 16MB Cache USB External Hard Drive with One touch back up from them.

200 beans for 2 terabites of JPOD storage. I don't keep hardly any movies, but have a lot of music and pics. I backed up my laptop and desktop. I still have an unmounted 80GB HD that I need to add, but still -- 2T of back up. I haven't even put a dent in the 2T usage.

Gonna be a long, long time before that thing is full.
It's nice and small too. But I don't like the face plates and just kept it black.

Something to consider.