I pride myself on being one of those guys that never needs tech support; I understand that I’m just dealing with someone on the other end who’s reading from a script (and probably not in their native language, at that!) and any company puts their tech support info online anyway. But I just had the retardo tech support experience of all time with Western Digital.
I bought a WD “My Book” external hard drive (this link will be important in just a moment) the other day because I’ve been running out of space on my PC and I found a great deal on the 1TB model - just over $100, which is what I paid for a 250gb model just a year or two ago. When I got it home, I realized that it’s quite a tall design - I can easily imagine the cat, or me, or a stiff breeze knocking the thing over while it’s in operation and killing it dead.
So I started looking around to find out which side to put it on for optimum cooling if I wanted to use it horizontally; the old generation of MyBooks were notorious for hardware failures, and this new model is a fan-less design. Strangely, there’s not a hint of info ANYWHERE about actually using it in a horizontal position, like every other external hard drive out there. Not in the manual, not on the website, not in the FAQ, nowhere. In fact, there isn’t a single picture of the thing being used horizontally - in every picture of it on the box, website, manual, it’s only shown being used in taht super-tall, ready-to-tip position.
So I broke down and called WD’s phone support, and here’s where the story gets retardud. I had to talk to no less than FIVE people before I got an answer! I explained my question over and over to such responses as, “You want to do what?” and “Why would you want to use it on its side?” Nobody seemed to have ever even considered the idea that someone might use the HD horizontally - once again, like every other external hard drive on the market - instead of standing it up on its side. Eventually, person number five put me on hold for about 10 minutes then finally returned with, “uhh, yes, you can use it on its side.” :rolleyes: Amazing.
…when I thought to myself “Careful…that thing is about as stable as a Parkinson’s patient on a unicycle”.
I had mine for less than an hour when it fell off my desk and crashed to the floor. Something broke inside – you can here a distinctive plasticy “tinkle tinkle” sound when you shake it, but the data seems to be fine.
Her: This is Comcast Technical support, how can I help you?
Me: Yeah, we have 3 computers in the house, and the internet connection keeps going out simultaneously on all of them. It will be out for hours at a time and then restart on its own. We can’t track down what is wrong.
**Her: Ok. Go to Tools. **
Me: Tools? What tools? Her: up at the top.
Me: Oh, you want me to launch my web browser. Ok. Tools <click> Now what?
**Her: Go to internet options. **
Me: I don’t have an internet options under Tools. Her: Are you in Tools?
Me: ? Yes. Wait, what web browser are you using? Her: I am looking at the program for the internet.
Me: ?? Yeah, but are you using Internet Explorer or Mozilla or Netscape or what? Her: Internet Explorer.
Me: Oh. Hold on. <closes Mozilla, opens IE>. Okay, Tools, Internet Options. Now what? Her: Click on "Delete Cookies."
Me: Wait, why am I doing that? The internet is coming in and out for all 3 computers in my house simultaneously. It’s not a cookies problem. Her: I need you to clear the cookies.
Me: You know what, I need to go.
I called back half an hour later and got someone who wasn’t a complete dipshit. Eventually tracked it down to a faulty router.
FJ, where did you find that for 100 bucks? Online store price is $229.
Oh yeah. Whatta bunch of morons. I too seem to have the ineffable ability to pick a question that seemingly has never been asked in the history of the product.
Did they say anything that eased your concerns about potential heat buildup in the horizontal position, or are you just assuming that because they said it could operate on its side, that it was a non-issue?
They specifically confirmed that it would not cause a cooling issue or shorten the life of the drive, and if nothing else, I have a “case number” in case that very thing does happen…for what it’s worth. :dubious:
I just got an Iomega eGo 1TB external drive for only $150. Not quite as good a deal as the OP’s, but as you can see from the picture, lying flat is about the only option. This works just fine for me, but if you wanted to put it on a long edge to use less desk space, you’d be SOL, because they’re rounded. You can’t stand it on one of the short sides because the cables connect to it. You could set it up on the other short edge, but it’s highly unstable in that position, especially with the cables coming out the other end.
Heh. I got something kinda similar awhile ago from Earthlink. Some fool kept saying that my internet connection was dying because I had too many programs open. I had to call back three times before I got someone with a brain; on the third call, though, I got a guy so good that he called me back a couple of times to check on my progress (this was in dialup days, and I only had one line).
As a ComCast user, I had read that the online chat tech support is much better than the phone-in. I had occasion to use it about a month ago, and my online chat tech support experience was perfect - and it was one of those issues where I feared they were going to “script” me, and go off on tangents when I knew what the core issue was.
Just wanted to say that I have had superb service from Comcast from the get-go, both online and phone. Installation was prompt and smooth and they even came back because my asshole landlord did not like the look of the wire they put on the outside of the house. I hear all these bad Comcast stories and I guess I am lucky in this regard.
Good point. Fortunately, this time it was a ComCast change in their SMTP policy, so I had connectivity.
My 8-year experience in metro Atlanta is that my Internet connection is rock-solid all the time (no intermittent issues), but it does go out once every 14 months or so. And when it goes out, its dead for the 5 days or so until they can get out here. Oddly, it’s always “something at the street” that needs replacing.
Beware of any deal that gets you a TB for anywhere near $100. Tech support is bad for items like that and so is the hardware. I’ve had several different models fail over the last 6 months, Western Digital, Lacie, Netgear…you name it.
