I'm waiting by my door for my big Amazon Prime Day purchase: a 1TB portable hard drive.
That's right, I purchased exactly one thing during the 48-hour Prime Day sale. I looked at everything from pools, to luggage, to computers, to tools, and even clothes. I suggested a queen-sized memory foam mattress to my wife who looked at me like I was carrying Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on my shoulders.
In the end, I was too timid to plunk down hundreds of dollars across multiple discounted items. That's the problem with Amazon Prime Day: Everything looks good, but you can't buy everything. But then that paralysis, brought on by indecision and a shrinking wallet leads you – or at least me – to back off from everything.
As I noted last week, I don't really need anything Amazon is selling, but I want a lot of stuff. To ward off confusion, overspending, and more looks from my wife, I went to my safe space, which is storage.
I agree with my colleague Michelle Rae Uy, who noted during Prime Day that we all always need more storage. I've been considering buying another portable hard drive for some time. I have an 11-year-old 500MB portable Seagate drive that, while it seems fine, I worry could fail at any moment. If it does, it will take backups going across four different jobs. I can't afford for that to happen.
Portable drive prices have been tumbling for a while, especially the less expensive spinning hard drives. SSDs still tend to be more expensive.
It didn't take me long to find a good option, a $43 Toshiba Canvio Basics 1TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (opens in new tab) (10% off, a deal that persisted past Prime Day). It's small (4.3 x 3.1 x 0.55 inches) and from a trusted brand. I expect it to arrive within a day and plan to transfer the contents of my aging drive to it ASAP.
I almost didn't even buy it. After putting the drive in my cart, I had second thoughts and left it there all day. Because I was working late on Prime Day, I was able to watch the entire event end on the East Coast of the US at midnight. Right before that, I returned to my cart and pulled the trigger.
Look at me, big Prime Day spender.
Should I have bought more? I know people who bought laptops, components, clothing, and more. I bet they're all feeling pretty good right now, and I'm feeling like a Prime Day shopping coward.
Maybe next year.
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