Getting hard disk sent from the UK ?

[MrMuddle]

I've had no end of problems with portable hard disks I buy here, so I'm thinking about getting one sent from the UK, a mate will send one for me, as a birthday present, using postage that is tracked and insured. What would be the Customs position on this ? Would I need to have "gift" written on the package ? Anything else I need to know ?

[Crossy]

Send it Royal Mail International Signed-for. Be truthful on the customs declaration, they can tell it's a portable hard drive, so declare a value that's not unreasonable for a small HDD.

 

You may have to pay VAT on it when it arrives, but coming via the postal service it won't be anything like what you would pay with a courier.

 

Stating "gift" will make no odds, duty and VAT is paid on gifts too.

[MrMuddle]

Thank you, for your reply. I always thought that putting "gift" on a parcel exempted it from duty. I've sent various items to the UK before, and never had a problem duty wise - or is it only not valid in Thailand ?

[Crossy]

Nah, "gift" won't exempt you from duty anywhere in the world, it may have done in the past, but those days are long gone

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, MrMuddle said:

I've had no end of problems with portable hard disks I buy here, so I'm thinking about getting one sent from the UK

They all come from the same factory so it does not really matter where you buy them...

[JaseTheBass]

They all come from the same factory so it does not really matter where you buy them...

Yes it does, they're tested and graded. The good ones go to proper countries, the not so good ones stay here or are shipped to other dodgy countries.

Sent from my R2D2 droid using my C3P0 manservant

[OneMoreFarang]

12 minutes ago, JaseTheBass said:

Yes it does, they're tested and graded. The good ones go to proper countries, the not so good ones stay here or are shipped to other dodgy countries.

Sent from my R2D2 droid using my C3P0 manservant
 

Do you have any respectable source for such allegations?

 

Or did you hear that rumor from R2D2 or C3PO.

Edited April 21, 2018 by OneMoreFarang

[KhunBENQ]

19 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

They all come from the same factory so it does not really matter where you buy them...

And Thailand is an important manufacturer of hard disks.

Don't be surprised if your disk from UK is Made in Thailand

About 40% of the world market.

( Western Digital Corporation, Seagate Technology LLC, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Toshiba Corporation)

 

I really wonder what these problems with the portable disks are and whether it will not go back to your device (PC, laptop).

[OneMoreFarang]

41 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

And Thailand is an important manufacturer of hard disks.

Don't be surprised if your disk from UK is Made in Thailand

About 40% of the world market.

( Western Digital Corporation, Seagate Technology LLC, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Toshiba Corporation)

 

I really wonder what these problems with the portable disks are and whether it will not go back to your device (PC, laptop).

Sometimes there are bad series of hard disks. Many years ago I bought lots of IBM hard disks in Thailand. About half of them failed within a year. I never bought IBM HDDs again and soon after that they stopped manufacturing them...

[KhunBENQ]

Maybe they were recovered from the great flood 2011.

Sorry couldn't resist

 

BTW: my old PC had given up again.

As I was not up for yet another repair I have new one.

What it still running strong (recovered and put in an external housing) is the harddisk.

 

Seagate Baracuda 7200, 320 GB

About 10 years old.

Product of China

So this would be my other bet for the harddisk "from UK".

Edited April 22, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

Just checked the Seagate date code:

"07526 corresponds to 2007-07-02".

Almost 11 years and never a glitch from the harddisk Made in China.

[KittenKong]

I think that rather than buy a portable hard drive as a single item I would buy a caddy and a bare hard drive as separate purchases. Then just put the two together. That way you know what drive is actually inside the caddy, and you will have the full manufacturer's warranty on it.

I dont trust manufacturers to always use the best drives in sealed portable units anywhere.

[bendejo]

I bought at least 6 disks in Thailand and Malaysia over the years, all ran well.  These were all used inside laptops -- buying my own larger drive, then swapping out the installed one, saved me about US$100 each time.  Usually bought them on the upper floors of Pranthip.

Still have a 1Tb external I bought in 2012, no problems with it, but I don't use it all the time, it's my archive.

And yes, usually marked Made in Thailand.

 

But that said, I would put the swapped-out drive in an external USB case, and I've had some bad luck with the circuitry in those. 

 

 

[JaseTheBass]

Do you have any respectable source for such allegations?
 
Or did you hear that rumor from R2D2 or C3PO.

My ex-gf was a QA engineer at Western Digital, Bang Pa-In, so fairly respectable.

Sent from my R2D2 droid using my C3P0 manservant