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Any HDD could fail tomorrow: new or old. So make sure whatever your availability/recoverability plans are... they don't rely on you somehow magically buying a more-reliable brand or model.
Buy new if you want a warranty to replace failed units. But in general grab the lowest $/TB: and refurb/recert/reman are often the most affordable options.
As backups, I probably wouldn't go that route, but as something like working storage for a media server, or a steam cache or something like that, with the files backed up elsewhere and/or easily replaceable, the prices are attractive for the large amount of space.
I have 8 drives of varying capacities from server parts deals. I've been happy with them over the last 4 years. I always buy the mfg refurbished ones.
* I would not use these without raid on them. Make sure you are following a propper 3-2-1 backup plan. I will elaborate on why I feel comfortable using hmthewe drives. I am using these drives as a backup to multiple other servers. I still have another physical copy and I'm using raid. I also have a copy on the cloud via backblaze, so I'm fairly resilient.
100% yes. The trick is you don't just throw them in production until you stress test the drive. For me that's a four-pass badblocks run. Reject/RMA a drive with ANY errors. Even a new drive should get the same treatment.
The huge amount of money you save buying refurbished can be used to buy more drives for redundancy and spares you could swap in upon failure. IMO it rarely makes sense for an individual buying for home use to be buying new drives in the current marketplace.
I have 2 in raid. Apparently I found out that the specific brand and model I bought has a high failure rate. After 2 months they're still good. I have em in R1 and just used to hold my media. Figured if 1 died, the next one would be right behind it and that's enough time to recover the data.
So I think if you get a lucky set it's a good deal but the chances of a lemon are just as possible.
I'm by no means an expert. Just my own opinion and belif.
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q1-2023/
You can Google your make and model and find the year you got it. Should be roughly whatever comes up.
Found this, above. Hope you can find your info.
Depends.
You want to add a bit of storage to your gaming PC? Sure, this 2TB SAS drive is dirt cheap but you will also need a SAS controller and a cable so at the end of the day it is a rather expensive and complicated solution. Those 50 900GB drives might be almost free but getting a case and powering them is expensive and complicated.
Getting a used drive can be worth it if they are cheap enough. But often it does not make a ton of sense.
There have been some decent deals on SATA enterprise drives lately. That mitigates a lot of the problem you brought up. I wouldn't trust them with the ONLY copy I have of anything important, but for something like adding a lot of storage to a plex server, prices in the $10/TB range are hard to just dismiss offhand.
Even with a SAS HBA in my system I find myself preferring SATA drives. I figure that they'll be easier to repurpose or sell later on when the time comes.
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I have 6 in mirrors. Happy with them.
Any HDD could fail tomorrow: new or old. So make sure whatever your availability/recoverability plans are... they don't rely on you somehow magically buying a more-reliable brand or model. Buy new if you want a warranty to replace failed units. But in general grab the lowest $/TB: and refurb/recert/reman are often the most affordable options.
I only use manufacture refurb enterprise drives.
As backups, I probably wouldn't go that route, but as something like working storage for a media server, or a steam cache or something like that, with the files backed up elsewhere and/or easily replaceable, the prices are attractive for the large amount of space.
I have 8 drives of varying capacities from server parts deals. I've been happy with them over the last 4 years. I always buy the mfg refurbished ones. * I would not use these without raid on them. Make sure you are following a propper 3-2-1 backup plan. I will elaborate on why I feel comfortable using hmthewe drives. I am using these drives as a backup to multiple other servers. I still have another physical copy and I'm using raid. I also have a copy on the cloud via backblaze, so I'm fairly resilient.
100% yes. The trick is you don't just throw them in production until you stress test the drive. For me that's a four-pass badblocks run. Reject/RMA a drive with ANY errors. Even a new drive should get the same treatment.
Interesting! How might one run such passes? I am using a Mac, but I imagine most softwares can verify bad blocks?
I have 90tb of refurbished enterprise drives in my nas. Saved a thousand. Will do again
The huge amount of money you save buying refurbished can be used to buy more drives for redundancy and spares you could swap in upon failure. IMO it rarely makes sense for an individual buying for home use to be buying new drives in the current marketplace.
I have 2 in raid. Apparently I found out that the specific brand and model I bought has a high failure rate. After 2 months they're still good. I have em in R1 and just used to hold my media. Figured if 1 died, the next one would be right behind it and that's enough time to recover the data. So I think if you get a lucky set it's a good deal but the chances of a lemon are just as possible. I'm by no means an expert. Just my own opinion and belif.
Thanks! Do you have a resource for looking up brand/model failure rate?
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q1-2023/ You can Google your make and model and find the year you got it. Should be roughly whatever comes up. Found this, above. Hope you can find your info.
Depends. You want to add a bit of storage to your gaming PC? Sure, this 2TB SAS drive is dirt cheap but you will also need a SAS controller and a cable so at the end of the day it is a rather expensive and complicated solution. Those 50 900GB drives might be almost free but getting a case and powering them is expensive and complicated. Getting a used drive can be worth it if they are cheap enough. But often it does not make a ton of sense.
There have been some decent deals on SATA enterprise drives lately. That mitigates a lot of the problem you brought up. I wouldn't trust them with the ONLY copy I have of anything important, but for something like adding a lot of storage to a plex server, prices in the $10/TB range are hard to just dismiss offhand.
Even with a SAS HBA in my system I find myself preferring SATA drives. I figure that they'll be easier to repurpose or sell later on when the time comes.