Refurbished Drives: More Trouble Than They're Worth?

[ewhac]

So, Newegg is having a special this week -- "Refurbished" 3TB 7K4000 HGST Ultrastar drives for $60 each: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=1Z4-001J-00224

$60 for an Ultrastar is squarely in the too-good-to-be-true camp. "Refurbished" isn't meaningfully defined anywhere, the refurbisher isn't identified, and the warranty is 30 days. The 7K4000 line was launched around April 2012, so these are almost certainly OEM- or server-pulls with some thousands of hours on them. OTOH, Ultrastars are best in class, and four of these as a RAID-Z2 would solve my immediate storage shortfall issues.

Currently leaning against, but willing to entertain counterarguments...

 

[Jailer]

Don't. Just don't.

 

[Spearfoot]

Refurbished Drives: More Trouble Than They're Worth?

Yes

 

[danb35]

If you search a bit, you can find my posts about "white label" drives, I think the experience would be relevant. I've had four failures, and one semi-failure, out of six drives within a few months.

 

[ewhac]

Yes

You neglected to add: "This has been another edition of Simple Answers to Simple Questions." :)

If you search a bit, you can find my posts about "white label" drives, I think the experience would be relevant. [ ... ]

Found them; very instructive. Hope all your data survived.

Newegg is the seller in this case, but their mealy-mouthed definition of refurbished ("tested and repaired as required to meet the standards of the refurbisher, which may or may not be the original manufacturer"), alongside the 30 day warranty, were the big red flags.

Thank you all. I will not be taking the deal.

 

[danb35]

Hope all your data survived.

No issues with the data--that's what RAIDZ2 and proactive monitoring will do for you.

 

[CookiesLikeWhoa]

Newegg is the seller in this case, but their mealy-mouthed definition of refurbished ("tested and repaired as required to meet the standards of the refurbisher, which may or may not be the original manufacturer"), alongside the 30 day warranty, were the big red flags.

Thank you all. I will not be taking the deal.

If it still had a 5 year warranty then it would be worth while, but a 30 day warranty from Newegg is the real killer. That's a pretty meaningless warranty for a HDD.

 

[ewhac]

These 3TB Ultrastars keep showing up, this one for $57.59: http://www.frys.com/product/8972503

Sadly, I noticed this one too late -- a 5TB Deskstar NAS new in box for $120.00. Unsurprisingly, it's sold out everywhere: http://www.frys.com/product/8599849