Get a 1-terabyte external drive for $69.99

This is the lowest price yet on a 1TB external hard drive.

(Credit: Buy.com)

First up, some important business: I'm on vacation this week! But I couldn't leave you hanging without one more sweet deal, so here's my farewell post. See you next Monday! (Unless I just can't stay away... you never know.)

Holy ridiculously cheap storage, Batman! Buy.com has a Fantom G-Force 1-terabyte external hard drive for $69.99 shipped.

The catch? Yep, you guessed it: There's a $20 mail-in rebate [PDF]. I know that's a deal-breaker for some, but even in the unlikely event you get the short end of the rebate stick, $89.99's a pretty awesome price, too.

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

CNET hasn't reviewed the drive, but it averages 4.5 stars out of 5--from a whopping 342 users--on Buy.com's product page.

If you don't mind waiting a month or two on those 20 rebate dollars (the offer expires Aug. 23), this is the best deal yet on a 1TB external hard drive.

[jca671]

Have a great vacation, Rick.

[rickbroida]

Thanks! It's my first break from full-time blogging in nearly three years.

[NervClaX]

I think he should blog about cheap women and drink specials while he's away.

[jaguar717]

How bout women specials and cheap drinks?

[bleu_tropix]

hahaahaaa good one, jaguar.

[zyxxy]

I am looking forward to a "The weather is here, wish you were beautiful" post.

[pemmons001]

Bear in mind you'll probably pay the full $89.99...Fantom has a notoriously complicated rebate system and will use any minor discrepancy to deny you your rebate....especially if you order through Google Checkout or Paypal. I bought one through Buy.com, filled out my rebate meticulously and never saw said rebate again...just a web note a couple of months later that I hadn't complied with the rebate correctly.

Better move, offer the rebate up till a certain date, then tell everyone you are backordered till after the dateline. NO rebates sent. This is what Buy.com did to us.

[Nychocolips]

Who unshackled Rick to his desk and Laptop? I have great issue with this!!!

I have one of these drives from a previous Cheakpskate. I liked it. Couldn't bet the eSata capability to work to save my life. I've been reading complaints about this online. It does not seem to be related to the drive. Love the drive otherwise and will continue to diagnose my eSata issues.

Rick,

Enjoy your vacation. I'm sure we'll be posting finds to each other in comments or something while you are away.

Cheers.

[jfuda]

ooo i woudlnt recommend this...i've been using it for about 6 monthes now...i originally used it via its usb port then after a month of just using about 50 gigs its performance lagged and crashed daily, where i couldnt access my files or so at a verry sloww transfer rate [especially when trying to save to 100mb+ files to the drive, that took forever ]....
recently i took it apart, opened up its case and took out the main drive then installed it inside my desktop via internal sata [i dont have an external sata]...but still to this day i am not compleyely satisfied with its performance, its is very very slow, unstable and unreliable. (i also formatted it twice in 6 monthes because of its jammed performance :S )

[scifidaddyo]

Can you tell us the brand of harddrive that was in YOUR enclosure?

[GrahamNY]

Have a great time Rick!

[bahduwa]

Yeah... I don't do rebate.. I think rebates are stupid way to get people money.. if you will give the money why not just offer it up front ... I will pass on that

[Surrylic]

Well they do that because lots of people just don't bother with the rebate after they buy the product. People are lazy, so they skip the extra work or just never get around to it, even if it'll get them $20 back.

[rtgavin14]

this drive looks exactly the same as the Iomega 1 TB drive i bought from best buy for 89.99

[arhil]

I'm very wary about Fantom drives. There seems to be a problem with the drive motor after a year or so of use - they boot up and then shut down, boot up and shut down, several times before finally catching, and when the thing finally goes bye-bye they just keep trying unsuccessfully to boot up. I had that problem with two Fantom external hard drives in a row, I'm using Iomega drives now and couldn't be happier!

[The_JBJ]

I have two of these drives. I love them. I have them running in raid on my 2 eSATA connections and I could not be happier. Since these are just used to backup my primary system, I don't really have anything to say about their speed. I have them do their job at 2 AM every night and I've never actually seen them do it. Also, I use the included "Shadow 4.xx" software that came with the drives and it works pretty well. I was happy that I could just run it and never have to think about it. The only issue is that this automatically installs "ninja" and does not tell you. The "Ninja" program is for encyrption, but it runs a process that takes a lot of resources. I turned it off in services and uninstalled it without an issue. As for the drives that someone asked about, they are both Western Digital 1TB green drives. So their cheap and slow, but they don't get too hot and they seem to be pretty reliable. Read the reviews on newegg.com about these drives and you'll get a lot of information about their speed.

Be careful of Buy.com which is where this leads you. I ordered two of these (one for my son) and then found out you can only get one rebate per billing address. When I tried to change the order 10 min's later, there was no way. Buy.com has no phone number you can call. When you send a message to their customer service, they say they will reply. When they do, they don't address the problem. You can't really seem to change or cancel the order.

[jca671]

Haven't had to use the # myself, but I read it's 1-800-800-0800. Good luck if you decide to try and call to rectify your snafu.

[jca671]

Oh, site I found the Buy.com # on (http://www.dvdtalk.com/csr.html) also shows a host of others- good resource for everyone who ever gets frustrated with a major e-commerce site

[pgrocky]

Upon reading this article I immediately placed an order for one of these drives. I just got an email from Buy.com that they are backordered! Well, there goes the rebate offer!

[mibyte]

Can we order this in Australia?

[KurtisWH]

Well, I hope you have a good vacation Rick... but just promise us you won't do this to us again anytime soon...

I normally just follow the updates through google reader, and was really missing my fix, so I actually came to cnet to see what the issue was. I'm sad to miss my updates, but everyone needs vacation!

[wesrhherald]

I had 2 Fantom drives and they did exactly what arhil was describing. Fantom wouldn't admit to any problems with the units. Took the drives out and they work wonderfully elsewhere. Also never have liked buy.com. They're shady to say the least.

Caveat emptor.

[HlLLARY CLITON]

didn't I just read somewhere about Buy.com selling customers personal info. Even credit card data

[eastmanweb]

Yes, they are doing that. I heard about it on a podcast called "Security Now" on the twit.tv network. Fortunately I never had a problem with them in the past, but I'm very upset to hear that they are doing this.

[lathamchorny]

Careful with this offer. I ordered one of the drives several days ago; they charged me almost $16 for shipping and handling, and then informed me the drives were on back order.

[derekmski]

How did that happen? Did you not see what you were doing? I made sure I got the free shipping. Handling is $0. So I don't know what you did.

[ballmerisanape]

You get what you pay for. If you need 1 terabyte backups.. you need quality. Just my 2 cents.

[IanX211]

LOL stating the more you spend the BETTER the quality.

............But I shouldn't expect anything different considering your username.

[ballmerisanape]

Your right. You don't get what you pay for. I stand corrected.

[capatel81]

I have had a Fantom drive (250GB) for over 4 years now and never had a problem with it. I also never had issue with the rebate system. Just follow directions and you'll be fine.

[IanX211]

Brought this from TigerDirect around January and it's great for backup. People complain about the "blinding" light but the light is as bright as a LED light. Also, for me, it seems the light doesn't come on when you use eSATA unless you restart with it plugged in.


Also note, this drive doesn't come with any eSATA cord. So the price AR is approx. $75

[Marco881]

Hey,
Where did you go Rick?

[rickbroida]

Still on vacation. Says so right up at the top of the post. :)

[Seaspray0]

maybe he meant, "where did you go on vacation".