# Refurbished Hard Drives



## DefConDelta (Jul 12, 2007)

I would like to know what technicians do to "refurbish" a hard drive. What type of technical tests do they run, if any. 

All-in-All, what is a so-called refurbished hard drive?


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## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

Generally, on a refurbished hard drive the manufacturer would go no further than replacing the controller board if necessary and low level formatting the drive.

If you buy a "refurbished" drive from a non manufacturer then the most likely extent of "refurbishing" was to wipe the dust off the drive and then zero fill.


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## kev1952 (Jul 10, 2007)

I, personally, wouldn't bother with them. It may be "refurbished" but it's still second-hand. The new drives are now so cheap that buying s/h is really not worth it.


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

DefConDelta said:


> I would like to know what technicians do to "refurbish" a hard drive. What type of technical tests do they run, if any.
> 
> All-in-All, what is a so-called refurbished hard drive?


yeah basically a pull with a dust off.
I mean they will probably work, how long no one knows, could be a minute could be years, the problem with them is they charge almost the same as a new one, IMO a reburb hdd should be about .10 to .20 cents per gig, they try to charge more like .50 to $1. plus shipping, thats just robbery.


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## DefConDelta (Jul 12, 2007)

So basically they blow any dust out and run a chkdsk, maybe. 

I wasn't going to buy one. I was telling a friend who was considering buying one that if he did, he'd need to be in a padded cell for spending his money.

Am I not right in that sometimes, on "refurbished" (that word reminds me of "rubbish") that if the person who owned it previously had bad sectors and ran a chkdsk, basically those would be eliminated as usage space.....so when these techs "refurbish" it really doesn't show the actual sectors the original owner has fixed? Or is it.....when they run a chkdsk it will show each and every bad sector that was EVER "eliminated" as good usage?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Run, don't walk away from a "refurbished" hard disk!  That truly has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever seen for sale! Why in the world would you buy a "refurbished" piece of equipment that has the highest failure rate of anything on the computer?


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

yeah i mean I can barely trust a brand new one


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

brite750 said:


> yeah i mean I can barely trust a brand new one


BINGO!


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## Skivvywaver (Mar 18, 2001)

I have had to return 2 brand new drives in my time. One WD and one Seagate.

They both got smokin hot and wouldn't install windows. This was in about a 6 month period about 2 years ago. Totally freaked me out because I have never had an issue with either company before or since.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

I have dead drives from every manufacturer in my closet, I'm an equal opportunity disk drive killer.


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

Skivvywaver said:


> I have had to return 2 brand new drives in my time. One WD and one Seagate.
> 
> They both got smokin hot and wouldn't install windows. This was in about a 6 month period about 2 years ago. Totally freaked me out because I have never had an issue with either company before or since.


ive had pretty good luck with all the brands really, they all seemed to have gone thru times when they put out some bad product, its really kind of a roll of the dice, thats why if you dont want to lose it, back it up.


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

JohnWill said:


> I have dead drives from every manufacturer in my closet, I'm an equal opportunity disk drive killer.


Really funny JW, and there are definitely 2 of us!


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## DefConDelta (Jul 12, 2007)

I'm not saying that they would try to sell a refurbished drive as a new drive, but would you be able to tell if you have a brand new drive rather than a refurbished one?


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## kev1952 (Jul 10, 2007)

DefConDelta said:


> I'm not saying that they would try to sell a refurbished drive as a new drive, but would you be able to tell if you have a brand new drive rather than a refurbished one?


That's a very good, intelligent question. If the drive had been "refurbished" (and it is a horrible word) and it was being sold by the manufacturer then you would expect a full "new" warranty on it. Then the onus is on the manufacturer to make sure it performs to spec. They would, however, under most fair trading laws in most countries, be required to advertise it as "refurbished".

I still say run a mile from it!


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## brite750 (Mar 16, 2002)

DefConDelta said:


> I'm not saying that they would try to sell a refurbished drive as a new drive, but would you be able to tell if you have a brand new drive rather than a refurbished one?


at .50/gig or less for new drive, I'm not sure its worth the trouble


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## Rich-M (May 3, 2006)

Look carefully on the face of the drive as I have been seeing "recertified drive" lately on those that are.


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