Refurbished hard drive

**Banyarola** · 2012-05-17 06:00

I get sales emails from a company I have been buying PC stuff from for years and every now and then, recently this morning, they offered Re-Furbished Hard Drives for substantially less then buying a new one of the same type..

Just what is a Re-Furbished Hard Drive ?
How does one Re-Furbish a hard drive ?
Has anyone here ever purchased a Re-Furbished hard drive?

**Not Brightest Bulb** · 2012-05-17 06:24

I'm wondering these days if it's any different than purchasing new, you order something then when it comes you flip a coin to see if it will install and work properly.

I don't normally buy refurbished but years ago I had a combo speaker/answer phone that I really liked and when it finally went under I could only find a refurbished model and I jumped on it and it worked great until I decided to upgrade my phone program.

Most refurbished units do come with some type of warranty (usually shorter time length than new model) Look for seller reviews.

**Banyarola** · 2012-05-17 06:36

Well, I know that sometimes if something is returned they can't sell it again as new.

You're right about it being the 'luck of the draw'..

**DrWho** · 2012-05-17 06:56

What is disheartening, is when you spend good money for a product, like a hard drive, and it fails within the warranty period.
You go through all the process of requesting an RMA (Returned Merchandise Authorization) package up and ship back the failed
component. Then some days later you get a replacement device back and notice that it's a refurbished unit.
The one you paid your good money for wasn't a refurbished unit, so why did they replace it with one? Grrrrrr!

I had a WD hard drive fail after just a few months of use. I did the RMA thing and finally got a replacement.
It was refurbished and only lasted a little over a month and then it failed.
I went through the whole RMA process again and again got another drive, refurbished in Taiwan.
It was so badly scratched up, it looked like it had been kicked across a cement floor.
I wouldn't even put it back in my computer. I had already replaced it with a Seagate drive, which I still have.
I gave the WD refurbished drive to a friend to use as a backup drive. In one month it failed!

On the other side of the coin..... I've purchased several refurbished printers and one scanner from the Epson Store,
and they were just like new, with a new warranty and they never failed.

So it depends a lot on what company you're dealing with, if refurbished is as good as new, or not.

**CLiNT** · 2012-05-17 08:05

I never purchase refurbished hard drives and I tend to avoid refurbished components altogether ever since my very first
computer was a refurbished unit. (Compaq Presario~Best Buy)

Refurbished components are those that have been purchased within a warranted period and have been sent back by the purchaser due to some problem or failure.
Supposedly, the manufacturer makes some form of repair on the component, tests it, and puts it back on the market for a resale discount. This is not uncommon with motherboard manufacturers.

If you are a manufacturer of some specific component then it stands to reason that you have the faculty in place to test, repair, and place the item back
on the market for resale if it is financially advantageous to do so. The repairs being made can be anyones guess. It could mean replacing the hard
drives controler board if the board is purchased DOA.

**ibm650** · 2012-06-19 16:27

I never purchase refurbished hard drives and I tend to avoid refurbished components altogether ever since my very first
computer was a refurbished unit. (Compaq Presario~Best Buy)

I had one of those, it overheated.

**Banyarola** · 2012-06-19 17:15

Well guys, I never planned on buying one.
I was just curious about how they re-furbish a hard drive...

The price of drives is coming down again since those factories got wiped out so I guess they are getting production back to normal now.

**CLiNT** · 2012-06-19 17:49

It would depend upon what the problem was and whether it was worthwhile for the manufacture to repair, which most likely usually is.
Refurbished hard drives are supposed to be tested for QC purposes, but then again new hard drives are supposed to be tested too.

**Banyarola** · 2012-06-19 17:58

Clint, you wold get a better hard drive by buying an entire used PC on ebay for about the same price as a re-furbished drive

If i ever was to consider buying a HD re-furbished then O would buy it the way I said..

**Doc Brown** · 2012-06-20 08:37

I have purchased many refurbed products over the years. I have yet to regret that decision. Often they come with the same warranty as the new product.

**bobprimak** · 2012-06-21 11:05

With hard drives, refurbished or used or part of a used or refurbished computer, you never know the exact reason the drive or the computer was returned. It's a complete crap-shoot. With something as critical as a hard drive, I would simply not take the chance of a failure. Also, as posted in this thread, new hard drive prices are on the decline again now, so there is less of an incentive to accept the "luck of the draw" risks of buying refurbished hard drives. I buy mine new.

I have had good experiences with external drives from Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba. Internal Hitachi OEM drives have been less reliable in my experience. I have never added nor replaced an internal hard drive.

**Casual_Tinkerer** · 2012-06-21 12:34

Take note of DrWho's story. There is always a reason why the product found its way back to the supplier. If it is a widespread fundamental problem with a product line, it can be a huge headache to figure out, and the vendor may have a vested interest in pretending the problem is a one-off fluke. WD put out a whole bunch of bad 2.5 gig IDE drives and their lower level personnel insisted for years that there was no widespread problem. Higher-level support engineers definitely did know, if you could get to them, but WD kept on pretending until truth eventually came out online, and later in court. Compaq shipped a bunch of bad MoBos, same story.

Take the time to check online for others' tales of woe, before lining up for the slaughter. If it was merely a cosmetic issue, a bad box, or something else innocuous, it's going to be more or less a one-time thing and you won't get 3 zillion scary hits. It can also depend on what breaks. I used to buy this one high-end bookshelf stereo refurbed, for $35, knowing that the CD transport was the weak link and was doomed to fail. Since they were only intended as Hi-Fi computer speakers, who cared? $35! On a HDD, contrary to WD's notions, everything would seem to be pretty much essential.

**mr.wire** · 2012-06-21 17:43

I have normally avoided refurbed hard drives - with one exception.

This applies to externals. I have some HDs that are sent out with other peopled as a "loaner". They are not usually containing any data that is critical and if so it will be a 'copy', not an exclusive. My reasoning is this: why should I pay top dollar to loan someone a HD that will endure their abuse? They drop them, unplug without ejecting, spill soda/beer on them and just do all the 'n00b' things that wrecks HDs. So I the reason I do this is that those HDs are more at risk and I gamble less money when there is higher risk.

This applies to internals. I have helped others setup some computers and servers where the situation is one of a learning experience. Small refurb HDs for a situation like this is acceptable. So are HDs for the small computers used for children to learn on. It keeps them out of "dad's stuff".

Now here is a twist in the situation. Whether it is about hard drives or other components, not all refurbs are refurbs. They are sometimes marketed that way because of the discounted price. Sometimes it is just a 'open box' situation. Other times 'granny' has no desire to struggle with the learning curve of new technology and simply sends it back, so now it becomes 'refurb'.

I have been fortunate enough to get refurbished things that were actually brand new and I have also bought brand new, things that self destructed way too soon. One example was with 3 Seagate desktop external HDs that achieved 12 RMAs. I kid you not, LOL!

**Banyarola** · 2012-06-22 05:41

Well guys, all the opinions offered are great.. Mr. Wire has a point and I know what he says is correct but you just don't know so it's a crap shoot..

Me, I stay away from anything Re-Furbished since my X wife...That didn't turn out well..

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