Question Legitimacy of insanely cheap HDDs ?

[kyle bitchson]

I recently was browsing through online store in search of new HDD.
There were normal priced HDD. Around $130 for 8TB.
Then there was an insanely cheap HDD. around $65 for 8TB.
It's literally the same model albeit the cheaper one being older model.
From the seller's description, it's brand new unused.

This makes me wonder:

Is this HDD really cheap because it's an old model or is there something sketchy happening in the background?

If i do buy it and it has 0 Terabyte written and 0 power on hours, can it possibly be faked? Perhaps the board was swapped or modified?

Could it be a repaired DOA drive?

Maybe it was used as Chia drive before? If it does, is it risky to store any data in it?

Any reason for me to buy this HDD? Maybe 2 sketchy HDDs used as mirror backup is better than 1 legit HDD? or is there another reason?

 

[USAFRet]

I recently was browsing through online store

What online store?

 

[kyle bitchson]

What online store?

Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba.
around $130s in Amazon new
$100-$150 in Ebay. The cheaper one was claimed as used by the seller
around $65-90 in Aliexpress. They claim that it was completely new. I know that Aliexpress is filled with scam product, but maybe 2 bad HDDs used as mirror backup is better than 1 good HDD in the same price maybe? I don't know if that's really the case tho.

 

[USAFRet]

Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba.
around $130s in Amazon new
$100-$150 in Ebay. The cheaper one was claimed as used by the seller
around $65-90 in Aliexpress. They claim that it was completely new. I know that Aliexpress is filled with scam product, but maybe 2 bad HDDs used as mirror backup is better than 1 good HDD in the same price maybe? I don't know if that's really the case tho.

ebay = used. Pass
AliE = probable scam. Pass.

2 bad HDDs used as mirror backup

Thats not a backup.

 

[NorbertPlays]

There are two things I wouldn't buy used: toilet paper and hard disks.

 

[zinkles]

If i do buy it and it has 0 Terabyte written and 0 power on hours, can it possibly be faked? Perhaps the board was swapped or modified?

yes, there are ways of doing so, and they can be faked. its easy for people to scam others when they have the gadgets to do so, no board swapping required.
there are many such scams going on with USB drives that go for dirt cheap for ridiculously high storage capacities. they have been altered to show fake capacities. same with HDDs, their previous read/writes, power on hours, brand/model and such can also be altered/erased.

From the seller's description, it's brand new unused.

so they say...

how old is the drive that were talking about here, compared with the other one?

 

[PEnns]

Google "Micro SD Cards " + "Fake Drives".

The really cheap ones are not what they claim.

 

[geofelt]

Even on Amazon, look to see if it is direct from amazon which is probably ok, But, I would pass if sold by any independent seller.
On a hard drive you do not want to risk your data with a suspect drive.
How important is $65 to you?

 

[punkncat]

I have, over the years, had pretty decent success with "used" drives, in particular when taken out of operational systems to be replaced with an SSD. I have also purchased lots of used SSD and had pretty good success aside from some SanDisk that were a known quantity (that I found out afterward, lol).

I would not use a used HDD for anything critical. I would base the decision on price as well as seller rating or reputation. Make sure it has a return window. Run a health test ASAP. Keep in mind that HDD are susceptible to being damaged in shipping, so it requires a bit of a trust that the seller will pack with plenty of protection, and a good return policy.

 

[stonecarver]

I have bought new and used. My biggest disappointment was from amazon a brand new 8Tb hard drive. Worked just fine until warranty ended. Dead now.

You never know.

 

[punkncat]

I have bought new and used. My biggest disappointment was from amazon a brand new 8Tb hard drive. Worked just fine until warranty ended. Dead now.

You never know.

Right around the time it became worthwhile to upgrade a laptop to an SSD, I had SO many 1TB 2.5" HDD that I really didn't even know what to do with them all. I would install two of them as a freebie to flips, give them to friends to use, even hooked my son up with a large one to use alongside his Xbox as the external storage in a little enclosure. The stack finally got so large as to have nowhere to continue storing them in an unsightly manner, so I destroyed what must have been around 20+ of them. In said case I like to take all the magnets out of them and stick to the fridge. My wife LOVES that I do that....(or not)