Are refurbished hard drives safe?

[Ali Tauseef]

Hey everyone.
I wanted to put my money on a 2 TB hard drive since I am running low on my 500 GB, wanted to know if refurbished HDDs are safe to buy?
I can find them relatively cheap so..
Thanks.

 

[Barty1884]

I don't think there's any conclusive data to confirm how they hold up vs a "new" counterpart. Manufacturer refurbished probably should be ok, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Given how cheap storage is (a 2TB HDD should be in the $60-$80 range), the small savings opting for a refurbished unit don't seem worth the risk (however slight the risk may be).

 

[USAFRet]

Depends on who refurbished it.
From the manufacturer, probably OK. And only if there is a significant price difference, and more than a 90 day warranty.

 

[Giroro]

There's a good chance a hard drive sold as refurbished is probably just an open-package return that had minimal, if any use.

I still wouldn't trust one, unless putting it in a redundant array, or low importance/easily recoverable data like in a PS4

 

[DSzymborski]

Hey everyone.
I wanted to put my money on a 2 TB hard drive since I am running low on my 500 GB, wanted to know if refurbished HDDs are safe to buy?
I can find them relatively cheap so..
Thanks.

I would *only* consider a refurbished hard drive if you have a regular, automatic backup solution that backs up your important data. You really should anyway, but especially with a refurbished hard drive.

 

[Ali Tauseef]

Hi guys, thanks for your replies.
Well yeah I wouldn't buy on Ebay and I would keep the suggestion in mind to buy it from the manufacturer. I am just scared if it dies, I probably won't be able to afford another one.
Anyways, I found a Hitachi Ultrastar, well it's weird, it is refurbished but it says it's original price is 70$ which is reduced to 40$ because of sale, I think the hard drive is 76$ new so it's only a 5 dollar saving, would this be worth it? I think Hitachi hard drives generally aren't bad quality.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822146134

 

[Barty1884]

Looks like it's Manufacturer refurbished and a 90 day warranty period - about as good as you'll get.

HGST are one of the better manufacturers and have a pretty low fail rate - but I believe that's only measured vs "new" items.

For $40 though.... it's tempting, but a listed "new" one is <$60:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.88 @ Amazon)
Total: $58.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-07 14:15 EDT-0400

Reviews are hit & miss though, but with an Amazon purchase, they'll refund you if it's not "new" - so i'd go for that instead.

 

[Ali Tauseef]

How about this? I choose the "new" filter instead of refurbished and this showed up but it says Certified Refurbished.
https://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Ultrastar-HUA722020ALA331-Enterprise-Refurbished/dp/B01CM85C0K/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491589293&sr=1-5&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin%3A8067152011%2Cp_36%3A1253504011

 

[junkeymonkey]

I would use them for Linux to kick around , but for windows I prefer 1st quality hard drive and be sure to back up real regular or not put critical data on one [nothing that cant be easily recovered or reinstalled ]

I think like usaf said as well if a factory WD or Seagate referb maybe a bit more trustworthy ???

look over things like the reviews here and see how there luck runs ?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100167523 4016 600003300