[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by callvvijay

Guys, need some info here. Never have I ordered anything via aliexpress.com. Was browsing thru' the site yesterday and could see some nice-looking watches for some pretty good (cheap) rates.

Here in this thread saw that quite a few people have bought from aliexpress. Now you should be already be knowing my questions here. How long does it take for the product to reach? How is the product quality? I, obviously, do not expect the product to be of very high quality when I buy it this cheap. But, it should not be pathetic as well.

I'd bought an electronic item. Took about a month to reach me. The post woman came with a demand for customs duty of about 80 %of the value of the tiny product. As you see our government has absolutely no shame in demanding for anything for anything at whim. No way I'd pay for it. I lost a great deal and the seller was also inconvenienced or worse. Others have received small items without any additional charges, so it's about luck... And maybe even location.

[Safety is Param]

Originally Posted by Shadowspy

I am a loyal Seagate user If you want to be able to store data and then access it even a few years down the line without worrying that it will be lost, I suggest that you go for Seagate.

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Well, both are reputed brands, and both support USB 3.0; so go for either one. Between the two linked products, WD is cheaper. I've had failures with both brands, and my one WD failure was within warranty and that experience was good (in fact the replacement drive has been chugging along happily for 3 years and counting).

Originally Posted by govigov

I was also looking at these options and then went for the seagate as I had bad experiences with WD.

Originally Posted by dkaile

I just bought the WD one as my 3 and half year old Seagate 2TB failed yesterday and is no longer under warranty. So went for WD this time as I have had better previous experience with it.

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Do not buy Seagate. They now have highest failure rate. Don't make the mistake of comparing decade old drives. Go for HGST (Hitachi), or even WD. BTW the latter owns the former now..

First of all, thank you all for pitching in with your inputs. They were really helpful!

Secondly, I do own a Seagate 1 TB Expansion Drive (with power cord) since more than 4 years, and I am pretty happy with it.

However, I came across multiple references to failures in both, Seagate and WD, and kind of concluded that both are prone to failure and are equally capable of delivering excellent performance as well.

My desktop has an internal WD 1 TB drive serving us since 3 years, and I have no concerns on that as well.

I finally went ahead and bought WD 2 TB (2 nos.) because at the end of the day I had to decide on one. I won't say I have taken a risk by buying WD since it would have been the same had I bought Seagate as well!

I paid 200/- extra and went for Cloudtail as the vendor since I have had previous good experiences with Amazon's "own" retailer.

The landing price for each HDD would be INR 6322 minus 15% cashback.

Also, as compared to Seagate, I paid 400/- less for each HDD, which is not bad considering the prices of Diesel have dropped down to INR 48.77

Once again, I appreciate your inputs!

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by Safety is Param

I finally went ahead and bought WD 2 TB (2 nos.) because at the end of the day I had to decide on one.

I was checking for HDDs myself as I have a NAS with 9 GB storage which is full. The WD 3TB is available on ebay for Rs.69xx today. Incase you want to consider that.

[dkaile]

Originally Posted by diyguy

The WD 3TB is available on ebay for Rs.69xx today. Incase you want to consider that.

That's a internal hard drive... lolz.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by dkaile

That's a internal hard drive... lolz.

sorry didnt realize the purchase was for external drives!

[govigov]

This was in demand earlier and then the price had dropped again yesterday and today

http://www.snapdeal.com/product/blau.../656059560877?

[Fabiaous]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Every online retailing website I browse has plenty of fake power banks of known brands. Can anybody recommend a good 5200 or 10K mAh power bank with good performance and reasonable price.

most of the power banks have cylindrical 18650 (size is 18mm x 65.2mm) Lithium Ion cells. These are unsafe if not for a reputed brand then its a tonic for risk. Lithium-Ion Polymer are safer, but are costly and not available freely in Indian markets. 95% power banks sold in India are lithium ion 18650. Typically a 5400mAH will have 2 cells of lithium ion 18650. In Aliexpress there are some good powerbanks- prominent amoung them are -Vinsic 20000mAh Ultra-slim Power Bank there was a deal on it last weekend @ $40 , now its up to $ 70. These have good reviews in US Amazon.com IWO is another brand on Aliexpress , Lots of fakes in Mi and other chinese brands , not worth the risk I have PNY 5400mAH from Amazon.in for around Rs 600 since 6 months, does well for charging phones , also powers photon wimax card when power is not there.

[S_U_N]

The 'online shopping' thread becomes a powerbank thread every few days. There are more than 40 posts now on power banks.

Should we create a new thread and post there?

[heydj]

I have approx 2 TB of english movies and serials on DVD's. I am thinking of backing this up on a HDD, but need something that can be connected to my plasma via hdmi for easy access. Any suggestions on what to buy?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by heydj

I have approx 2 TB of english movies and serials on DVD's. I am thinking of backing this up on a HDD, but need something that can be connected to my plasma via hdmi for easy access. Any suggestions on what to buy?

My advice? Buy an AppleTV and you can play anything in your itunes library. Or you can play it on an ipad (or an android tablet, if you download an app) and stream it to the apple TV using Airplay.

The Apple TV despite its name is not a TV as such, it is a small box with a HDMI port that plugs into any standard HD TV. Costs under 5K here, $60 stateside.

Failing that a lot of TVs also have USB ports that you can plug your HDD into and play it directly off your disk. But it can get rather slow and jerky if you have an ultra huge drive like a 2 TB ++ hard drive.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by heydj

...but need something that can be connected to my plasma via hdmi for easy access. Any suggestions on what to buy?

1.You need some kind of streaming device like the apple TV, chrome cast or even playstation etc. Or if you have a laptop/phone that can out HDMI you can connect it to TV and stream movies from your HDD connected to main PC.

2.I have a Raspberry Pi that can stream movies however it is definitely not for you if you want plug and play connectivity. It will require a fair bit of playing around.

3. Or you can perhaps buy some old laptop with HDMI port and make it a media center. (Recently my dad purchased a few used laptops with serial ports for under 3k each for work). In this case the HDD will plug into the laptop directly.

Does your TV have any other ports like USB or Ethernet?

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Thanks I checked on 17Track. One of the items is through yanwen still shows only till landing in India. However another one that was shipped through China registered mail, shows "Send item abroad" Dont know what that means.



India Post website shows items not found.




I hope I end up in a better situation haha.

BTW did you finally receive?

Finally I recieved first of the three orders I placed on Aliexpress. My Magnetic cell phone holder.

Tracking result still is not updated. Two more orders are to be delivered. The wait is on.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by hserus

My advice? Buy an AppleTV and you can play anything in your itunes library.

Wow. Posted just 6 mins before my post. We think alike. Totally worth it to buy the apple TV.

[archat68]

Originally Posted by callvvijay

How long does it take for the product to reach? How is the product quality? I, obviously, do not expect the product to be of very high quality when I buy it this cheap. But, it should not be pathetic as well.

15 days if you choose HK/SG post. You won't be disappointed if you understand what you are buying and choose the seller carefully.

[heydj]

Will look at Apple TV option. Unfortunately internet speed in India is worse than speed in a little village in the Netherlands. Else would have stored everything online and used streaming option.

Have to look for a HDD based media player.