Question Are these MDD hard drives "safe"?

[Etrius vanRandr]

These "MaxDigitalData" HDDs are a fraction of the price of Seagate competitors. Reviews are mixed but that's true for any component due to the average intelligence levels of the people who buy them.

@USAFRet I know you're the resident expert on storage, what's your opinion? I've been looking to upgrade the storage in one of my NAS boxes but want something that will last. Also looking for 2.5in drives for density.

Edit: the answer is "NO!"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9FXJTMR

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097CWJDP5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GT473KC

 

[Dave8671]

These drives are manufactured western digital. But I can not speak on their reliability. But to say you get what you pay for.

 

[Colif]

No reviews by any sites I know. I don't trust Amazon reviews.

These drive are refurbished (or renewed what ever they call them these day) the name is trademark by GOHARDDRIVE, INC. There like white label drive. Base on image on amazon they look like old Hitachi Ultrastar 7k3000 or 7k4000 or Western digital RE (3,4).

link

tbh, if you putting drives into a NAS, I would just buy better drives

if they refurbished WD, just buy WD

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

These drives are manufactured western digital

That's a hard pass from me, then. I'm a Seagate guy. I got Seagate drives in all my PCs/laptops and have had nothing but a pleasant experience.

I have ONE Western Digital Black and it's loud, slow, and runs pretty warm for an HDD.

tbh, if you putting drives into a NAS, I would just buy better drives

That's why I asked. My main NAS is undergoing a rebuild so my game server is also acting as a NAS for the time being. Already need more than the 6TB I have on there.

 

[Colif]

The ones you looking at are possibly pre owned. I don't see logic in using a drive that has been used by someone you don't know.

I haven't had any problems with WD drives, had a few of them through the years. You could have picked a bad model or been unlucky. I used WD for about 10 years with no problems.
I haven't used as many Seagate drives.

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

The ones you looking at are possibly pre owned. I don't see logic in using a drive that has been used by someone you don't know.

I saw somewhere (reddit maybe?) that MDD drives are made from QC Failed HDDs. Either way, it's a nope from me.

 

[Colif]

I saw somewhere (reddit maybe?) that MDD drives are made from QC Failed HDDs

Sign of quality right there, drive fails Quality Control, lets relabel it, wipe its memory of failing and sell it to people who can't see the failed SMART record.
Great, its like turning the error reporting off so you can't tell what is going wrong...
Ostrich with head in sand.

these in the form of a hdd:

The Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses have been designed to help people develop a relaxed attitude to danger. They follow the principle "what you don't know can't hurt you" and turn completely dark and opaque at the first sign of danger. This prevents you from seeing anything that might alarm you. This does, however, mean that you see absolutely nothing, including where you're going.

link

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

Sign of quality right there, drive fails Quality Control, lets relabel it, wipe its memory of failing and sell it to people who can't see the failed SMART record.
Great, its like turning the error reporting off so you can't tell what is going wrong...
Ostrich with head in sand.

I don't mind buying QC Failed products, most of the time it's usually a cosmetic defect or something easily fixable. But these are hard drives!

 

[Colif]

I don't mind buying QC Failed products, most of the time it's usually a cosmetic defect or something easily fixable. But these are hard drives!

it would be like buying a QC failed PSU. You don't go cheap with essential parts. Buy best you can so it hopefully lasts.

 

[Etrius vanRandr]

it would be like buying a QC failed PSU. You don't go cheap with essential parts. Buy best you can so it hopefully lasts.

Yeah pretty much, a lot of nvidia b-stock is cosmetic defect items, i got two 980Ti from them a while back that were defects like that. I also buy defect cases...but not HDDs.

Should sticky this thread so other people don't buy them

 

[Colif]

Anyone looking for drives can search for name and maybe Google suggest this thread to them.
I not heard of brand before so its not like its a common question.

 

[USAFRet]

...a fraction of the price of Seagate competitors

There's a reason for that.

I'll pass.

 

[WrongRookie]

In today's times, the only HDD brand that are still around are Seagate, Western Digital and Toshiba..which is sad because less competition means no room for improvement or less choices for customers.

MDD is something I've not heard of so I can't say anything.

If you're going for NAS, you can just go for Seagate Ironwolf or WD Red.

 

[fzabkar]

These "MaxDigitalData" HDDs are a fraction of the price of Seagate competitors. Reviews are mixed but that's true for any component due to the average intelligence levels of the people who buy them.

@USAFRet I know you're the resident expert on storage, what's your opinion? I've been looking to upgrade the storage in one of my NAS boxes but want something that will last. Also looking for 2.5in drives for density.

Edit: the answer is "NO!"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9FXJTMR

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097CWJDP5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GT473KC

The 10TB and 14TB drives are relabelled Seagates.

ST14000NM001G Seagate PCB 100833707:
https://www.hddzone.com/st14000nm001g-seagate-pcb-100833707-p-4093.html

The 8TB PCB (p/n 100745573 ) looks like the Seagate HDD in this review:
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7247/seagate-archive-8tb-st8000as002-hdd-review/index.html

If you decide to buy one of these drives, test the serial number at Seagate's warranty checker:
https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/warranty-and-replacements/

Also compare the manufacture date on the label (is there one?) against the YYWW or YWW (Year/Week) date codes on the ICs on the PCB. If the dates are far apart, then the drive may have been recertified.

 

[Dave8671]

This is very interesting site.

https://www.backblaze.com/b2/hard-drive-test-data.html

 

[Karadjgne]

HDD's are a mechanical device made by man. That guarantees a certain % of failures, that's an unadulterated fact. Seagate, WD, Toshiba, all have good, mediocre and ugly drives and all have failure rates. I've owned WD, Seagate, Toshiba, HGST, you name it and had success and failures with all of them.

Mostly it depended on exactly which model, the cheap stuff tended to have more issues, more often, than the better grade stuff.

The last HDD I bought was a WD Black 1Tb, almost 10 years ago, saw daily use for the first 7 years and not only still runs quiet and cool, but doesn't have a single bad block yet.

 

[Dave8671]

Yep I have a WD black hdd as my backup drive.