Used hd

[Prevs]

Does anyone have any idea why its impossible to get hold of cheap second hand harddrives. It amazes me that the second hand ones on ebay and other sites cost the same if not more than new ones. Am I the only one who thinks it doesn't make sense.

 

[Jesse_hz]

If that's true then I'll agree with you that it doesn't make sense, just don't buy them. Hard drives degrade with age.

 

[N3051M]

better a new one with full warranty than one that been in some you-don't-wanna-know..

Maybe if you look for refurbished drives if you still want second hand..

 

[SNGX1275]

craigslist?

 

[Prevs]

I dont think ill worry about it, I'm looking to raid 0 a couple of sata drives so im not too worried about fault tolerance, but if new is the same price as used I might as well get new.

 

[Tmagic650]

If that's true then I'll agree with you that it doesn't make sense, just don't buy them. Hard drives degrade with age.

Not necessairly Jesse_hz,
I have a box full of 40GB or less hard drives. Fugitsu, IBM Deathstars (Deskstar), Maxtor, Western Digital, Samsung and Quantum...

The Fugitsu and Samsungs are reliable to this day. The Quantum, Maxtor and Western Digitals are junk. The IBM Deathstars are worse than junk

 

[Jesse_hz]

I also have a lot of old hard drives that still seem to work flawlessly, but according to the S.M.A.R.T. statistics they aren't performing like they used to though.

OK so you took good care of your hard drives and under good conditions HDDs can last for a long time, but not everyone else is as good at taking care of their hard drives.
IMO people should always be careful when buying any piece of used hardware.
--
Yes, Quantum drives are definitely junk!

 

[Tmagic650]

Most of the drives in my box don't support SMART monitoring...

 

[SNGX1275]

OK so you took good care of your hard drives and under good conditions HDDs can last for a long time, but not everyone else is as good at taking care of their hard drives.

What is taking care of them?

You should just be able to put them in the case and never do anything else with them.

I hear about putting in the fans in a drive bay and mounting the hard drive so it has airflow all around it, rubber cushioners and such, I think that is asking too much. The drives don't have any instructions telling you to do that, so I don't think we as consumers should have to do that to prevent a drive from failing.

I've had hard drives die on me and I don't think I've treated them any differently from the drives that haven't failed.

 

[Tmagic650]

A low-level format (writing all 0's) can rejuvenate some hard drives. As far as "taking care of them", all you can do is not drop or mishandle them. With today's hi-capacity drives, keeping them cool is a good way to take care of them

 

[Tedster]

I seem to remember there are programs out there to exercise and rejuvenate old or failing drives. They're not 100% reliable, but they do "re-magenize" the platters through forced writing.... kind of like what you said about writing 0s, but it does it repeatedly.

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes Tedster,
in the old days a low level format could only be done by the manufacturer. Writing all 0's or 1's tends to remagnetize the platters. I have done this to many older drives that consistantly showed read or write errors. Somtimes it works, other times it doesn't. Bad drive electronics or mechanics is another story