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Is it a good idea to purchase refurbished HDDs off Amazon ? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I see some fairly interesting prices for refurbished drives on Amazon, 35~40% cheaper than new. Example here: 16TB Seagate Exos X18 Refurbished at 166€ and New at 260€.

I am considering this option for my home NAS, running with BTRFS RAID10, plus important files are backed-up to a cloud storage, but not my media collection.

In your opinion, how risky is it to use refurbished drives ? Do you have to good or bad experience doing so ?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I don't know if SPD ships to where you are but a manufacturer recertified 16TB from them goes for ~$160. I have 7 drives from them so far, 5 in continuous use since spring, no issues so far.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I am checking now, they do deliver to my play, it cost ~40€ for shipping, but they mention this does not include import/duty taxes and I have no idea how much this would cost.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I don't know where exactly you live, but if your in the EU customs/taxes + shipping will make the deal worse, but better than expected.

E.g. for Germany, this drive would cost 382€ with UPS Saver Duties & Taxes included, instead of 273€ for the drive itself.

I've found the same drive with a local commercial eBay seller for 420€, including taxes and shipping.

A new 24TB drive would cost 485€.

Edit: IMO a better deal would be 22TB drives, which have the same price per TB but are new. But then again, their used/recertified price is also ~10% lower than new.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the advice. I found that the import tax would be 80~100€. I when for eBay Germany, and ordered some drive there: 4x WD Ultrastar DC HC520 12TB, helium-sealed, for 120€ each. I will test them upon receiving and see how it goes from there :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Great to hear you found my comment helpful.

Just make sure you make backups regularly. Especially with used drives, I wouldn't count on them surviving the stress of a rebuild. If a second drive fails in a RAID10, all data might be gone.

Edit: I'd be thankful if you could report back how the test goes. I need a drive for a backup ;) and I'm considering buying from eBay too.

I will test them upon receiving and see how it goes from there:)