this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
1 points (100.0% liked)
Data Hoarder
170 readers
1 users here now
We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time (tm) ). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
In this case the white label drive is used recertified/refurbished by Seagate, which is why the seller states it has 0 bad sectors and correctly doesn't state it's new.
White label drives can also be binned drives directly from the manufacturer that didn't meet the full specs to be sold as full retail. 2nd tier drives are usually used in their own externals. 3rd tier drives are sold to resellers.
The green label drive is new, but OEM, which again the seller correctly states. OEM drives are bought in bulk and may have different specs than the retail drives.
Both drives are warranted my the seller. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing as long a the seller is around to honor it.
The Newegg drive is new, but sold by GoHardDrive, which I personally don't hold in high regard because of some negative comments here and elsewhere and their association their sister companies, MDD (MaxDigitalData) and Avolusion which are reported to have sold used drives as new.
Seller labeled as New through, what I found weird also is that the drive does not say Exo in the label.
https://i.imgur.com/0PfEyYj.png
No idea how that seller got 100% reputation.
I did some research and it seems its the Seagate Enterprise Capacity instead of Exos. What is the difference? Seagate Exos vs Enterprise Capacity?
Thank you for your answer very helpful, you notice things I did not like OEM and recertified/refurbished.
Do you know any good offer? I have read also that Seagate is not as good drive... Western digital and Toshiba supposedly better but Western digital are a lot more expensive at lower capacity.
This is another Hard drive refurbished, but it seems a gamble.. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074WGLH47/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A18WXU4I7YR6UA&psc=1
I missed that the first drive states New. Then it can't be refurbished/recertified. What's strange is that it says 0 bad sectors, which couldn't be determined unless the drive is used and tested. A strange thing for the seller to state. The manufacturers test the drives before they're sold, so in theory, every new drive has 0 bad sectors.
Thinking about it, I think I've seen reports of some new Exos (as reported in SMART) are labeled Seagate Enterprise Capacity and with the white label. Since the seller doesn't state they're OEM, I suspect they're binned drives.
There's no such thing as truly good or truly bad manufacturers (of which there's only Seagate, WD/HGST and Toshiba today). Nor are there any truly good or truly bad drives either. Seagate did have a truly bad 3TB drive 2013-16, but the drives and design have been long discontinued.
ServerPartDeals is highly recommended here for deals. They sell both new and used drives and provide a warranty on the used drives themselves. And are likely to be around in the next five years.
The drive you linked to seems to be sold by the same seller on eBay, though I'm not sure why they have several different names depending on where they're selling.
It's your call whether the price is worth getting only a 90 day warranty. Which brings us to what you determine is a more important. Price or warranty. A longer warranty at a higher price is essentially insurance to make you whole in product. Data integrity is always your responsibility, which is why you have backups!