[SOLVED] Looking at buying new HDD from ebay

[Change Gates]

Hi there
Looking for some buyers advice for purchasing a new hard drive for a PC with SATA connections

Problem is there is so much bad stuff made from the far east and sold on ebay nowerdays that I am reluctent to buy anything off of there

Hear what the list shows
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313&_nkw=hard+drive&_sacat=0

But this one seams to be better and offers different brands
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/500GB-64...865106?hash=item341887fe92:g:a5cAAOSwRDRd~KAj

thanks

 

[USAFRet]

Why fleabay?

From your second ebay link:
1TB WD = £34.99
"Seller refurbished", 30 day return, you pay shipping

From Amazon.co.uk:
1TB WD, £34.99
Actually new, 3 year manufacturer warranty
https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-TB-PC-Hard-Drive/dp/B0088PUEPK

 

[OrlyP]

I'm with ^.

This is just personal preference but eBay is not the first place I think of when buying something as fragile as a HDD.... unless you can get it for cheap and in bulk.

Otherwise, for a few bucks more, you can get it brand new with a proper warranty and a no-questions-asked return policy.

 

[Nikon1234]

I would strongly suggest you to buy HDD from ebay. My main reason is that they are very cheap HDD on ebay, not the new ones, but the 2nd hand, refurbished one. My recent experience with ebay purchase is: three seagate terascale 4TB hdd, 90$+8$(shipping)+Tax. What do I do with them? I always use them as backup disks with multiple copies. I have been doing this for last two years. I have 9 3TB disks, and I have used these disks 3 in a row to back up my ~7TB data. I made three duplicates, 3X3=9. Since I copied those data ~ every 2 months. I have not experience any backup HDD failure yet. I bought those 3TB hdd @~30$ a piece, so my TB cost is 1TB/10$. And in the future, if one disk fails me, I just swap them with another 2nd hand HDD.

In short, I suggest you do buy 2nd hand HDD from ebay and back up you data at least double the copy.

Thanks.

 

[Change Gates]

I would strongly suggest you to buy HDD from ebay. My main reason is that they are very cheap HDD on ebay, not the new ones, but the 2nd hand, refurbished one.

I did not see that bit! that is was a referbished HDD. I mean how on earth can you referb it since you need a million dollar room to open it up and put it back together again. So I would say that that HDD is just plain second hard

Do you know of any online shops that sell them in the UK you could recomend please?

 

[Change Gates]

Why fleabay?


From Amazon.co.uk:
1TB WD, £34.99
Actually new, 3 year manufacturer warranty
https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-TB-PC-Hard-Drive/dp/B0088PUEPK

That link is not working

 

[USAFRet]

That link is not working

Works for me.

 

[Change Gates]

What do you recon to Weston digital as a brand then?

 

[USAFRet]

What do you recon to Weston digital as a brand then?

No better or worse than any other.

Among all the current brands...there is no more than a percentage point or two difference in "reliability".

If 100 of your neighbors bought a particular WD, 1 or 2 of them would have a drive fail in the next couple years.
If a different 100 of your neighbors bought a similar level Seagate, 1 or 2 of them would have the drive die in the next couple years.

This is where warranty and backups enter the picture.
If it dies within the warranty period, you get a free replacement.
If it dies outside the warranty period, it lived its lifespan.

In either case, you need to be proactive with your own data and backups.


Used drives from fleabay? 30 day warranty/replacement. If that.

 

[ttower2020]

As far as how the refurbish the drives, they hardly do anything. Depending on the reseller, they could do a couple things. They might do literally nothing, they might clean the outside of the drive so it doesnt look dusty, they might plug the drive into a PC to make sure it works and reads properly, some might do a data write test to make sure the HDD is working, and accepting/reading data like it should be. There is no way to tell what they do, and the closest thing would be to check seller rating to see how reliable, honest, or truthful they are in their listings. That being said, New is a better choice due to better warranty and quality guarantees, especially if the cost is nearly the same.

 

[fzabkar]

The drives could have been refurbished by Seagate and issued as replacements for warranty failures.

That said, I don't believe any of the HDD manufacturers actually do any work on the drive innards. If a head fails, and assuming there is no head crash, I suspect that the manufacturer merely "cuts" the bad head and low level formats the drive using the remaining heads. The refurbished drive would then have a reduced capacity. Samsung calls this "burn-in" while WD refers to it as "selfscan". In fact there are selfscan and burn-in procedures at the HDD Oracle.

There is actually a new command set defined in the ATA standard which enables a user to "depopulate" bad heads in recent drives.

http://t13.org/Documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2017/di529r18-ATAATAPI_Command_Set_-_4.pdf

7.12 GET PHYSICAL ELEMENT STATUS -- 12h, DMA

7.32 REMOVE ELEMENT AND TRUNCATE -- 7Ch, non-data

Hitachi drives can also be "refurbished" with the FORMAT UNIT command. This enables grown defects (reallocated sectors) to be transferred to the Primary Defect List.

ISTR seeing a refurbished WD drive with an "R" (for Refurbish) on the label.

 

[Noobiness_Unlimited]

I personally don't recommend buying 2nd hand and/or refurbished (if thats even a thing with HDDs) hard drives. In my opinion it's worth spending some extra bucks to get a new one cause it will definitely last a long time. With 2nd hand hdds you take a chance and they might fail any moment and you never know

 

[Change Gates]

No better or worse than any other.

Among all the current brands...there is no more than a percentage point or two difference in "reliability".

If 100 of your neighbors bought a particular WD, 1 or 2 of them would have a drive fail in the next couple years.
If a different 100 of your neighbors bought a similar level Seagate, 1 or 2 of them would have the drive die in the next couple years.

This is where warranty and backups enter the picture.
If it dies within the warranty period, you get a free replacement.
If it dies outside the warranty period, it lived its lifespan.

In either case, you need to be proactive with your own data and backups.


Used drives from fleabay? 30 day warranty/replacement. If that.

So youur saying that with hard drivers that this is not a "cheap tools from China" job again?

What do you recon to this one?
says one year warrenty
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westren-...8bd9:g:W-cAAOSwhHpfOls-&LH_ItemCondition=1000

 

[USAFRet]

What do you recon to this one?
says one year warrenty
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Westren-Digital-2-5-3-5-SATA-Internal-Hard-Drive-HDD-320GB-500GB-1TB-CCTV-DVR/293694442457?hash=item44618d8bd9:g:W-cAAOSwhHpfOls-&LH_ItemCondition=1000

No.

"Westren Digital 2.5" 3.5" SATA Internal Hard Drive HDD 320GB 500GB 1TB CCTV NVR
You will be Get Any model of WD in Particular Capacity, Pictures are only for illustration Purposes."

You get some random WD drive of appropriate size
Not necessarily the WD Blue as depicted.

Again, why fleabay?
From that listing, a 2.5" 1TB is £42.99 each

Direct from Amazon, a 1TB 2.5" Seagate is £36, or known WD Blue at £44, or Toshiba L200 at £40.

What is the fascination with ebay?

 

[USAFRet]

Additionally the "1 year warranty"
"Note: These are certified as new with 1 year warranty with us. "

So you have to rely on their good graces.

Meanwhile, with an actual new drive from Amazon, you get a 3 or 5 year warranty, direct from WD.

 

[Change Gates]

No.

"Westren Digital 2.5" 3.5" SATA Internal Hard Drive HDD 320GB 500GB 1TB CCTV NVR
You will be Get Any model of WD in Particular Capacity, Pictures are only for illustration Purposes."

You get some random WD drive of appropriate size
Not necessarily the WD Blue as depicted.

The add quotes:
You will be Get Any model of WD in Particular Capacity, Pictures are only for illustration Purposes.

If you select from the drop down menu "Capacit 3.5"320GB" Then that is what they must (by the TAC of ebay) send!
I presum that they will send a Wstern Digital

Again, why fleabay?
From that listing, a 2.5" 1TB is £42.99 each

Direct from Amazon, a 1TB 2.5" Seagate is £36, or known WD Blue at £44, or Toshiba L200 at £40.

What is the fascination with ebay?

I do not have an amozon account or the methods for setting one up

 

[DSzymborski]

The add quotes:
You will be Get Any model of WD in Particular Capacity, Pictures are only for illustration Purposes.

If you select from the drop down menu "Capacit 3.5"320GB" Then that is what they must (by the TAC of ebay) send!
I presum that they will send a Wstern Digital


I do not have an amozon account or the methods for setting one up

There are no more requirements for an Amazon account than an eBay account. You have to have the internet somehow, an address, and a way to pay for stuff. That's it.

This eBay listing you're obsessed with is an amazingly bad idea.

 

[USAFRet]

The add quotes:
You will be Get Any model of WD in Particular Capacity, Pictures are only for illustration Purposes.

If you select from the drop down menu "Capacit 3.5"320GB" Then that is what they must (by the TAC of ebay) send!
I presum that they will send a Wstern Digital

There are many models of WD drives, applicable to different use cases.

Blue/Purple/Black/Green/Red...
You have no influence over which one you get.

 

[Change Gates]

There are no more requirements for an Amazon account than an eBay account. You have to have the internet somehow, an address, and a way to pay for stuff. That's it.

This eBay listing you're obsessed with is an amazingly bad idea.

I suppose I would have to set an Amazon account up first though
I emailed the seller of that HDD and he confirms the warrenty is with him and not the manufature

 

[Change Gates]

This company Sonics claim they make the HDD and sell them on ebay too and offer 1 years warranty
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233082258957?ul_noapp=true

They also sell a different brand which they claim is there sister company. But they where unable to confirm any warrantty with them
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333527853214?ul_noapp=true

 

[Palorim12]

dude, what isyour obsession with ebay? just buy from Amazon UK

 

[USAFRet]

This company Sonics claim they make the HDD and sell them on ebay too and offer 1 years warranty
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233082258957?ul_noapp=true

They also sell a different brand which they claim is there sister company. But they where unable to confirm any warrantty with them
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333527853214?ul_noapp=true

No, they don't "make" the hard drives. Those are just relabeled from elsewhere.

And their Newegg brand store shows a whopping 1 Egg for any of their things that have been reviewed.
https://www.newegg.com/Sonnics/BrandStore/ID-203837



But, you seem dead set on buying some junk from fleabay.
Good luck.

 

[USAFRet]

And for Vivetronic

From their Amazon 'store':
"Vivetronic is expert at giving a new lease of life to used electronic devices.

Convinced that a circular economy model makes sense from a social, environmental and also financial stand point for everyone involved, we have made our mission to offer consumers used products that are “as good as new”.

https://www.amazon.com/sp?seller=A298VUFEU5Y4MM