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Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability

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  Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> - 2020-08-21 16:45 -0400
    Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Percival John Hackworth <pjh@nanoworks.com> - 2020-08-21 16:35 -0700
      Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> - 2020-08-22 09:40 -0400
    Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2020-08-21 20:53 -0400
      Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2020-08-22 07:04 +0000
        Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> - 2020-08-22 09:45 -0400
        Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Percival John Hackworth <pjh@nanoworks.com> - 2020-08-22 07:02 -0700
        Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2020-08-22 15:45 +0000
          Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2020-08-22 16:10 +0000
            Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2020-08-23 16:19 +0000
              Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2020-08-23 22:00 +0000
                Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2020-08-25 20:56 +0000
          Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> - 2020-08-22 13:17 -0400
            Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2020-08-23 16:20 +0000
      Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2020-08-22 15:36 +0000
        Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Paul Goodman <goodmanp@comcast.net> - 2020-08-22 14:10 -0400
    Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2020-08-22 15:29 +0000
      Re: Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> - 2020-08-22 13:19 -0400

#134135 — Manufacturer Refurb Portable HD Reliability

I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer 
Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from 
Western Digital on their Ebay store.

Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend 
extra and pop for brand new ones...

-- 
I’ve been trying to grow my own food but I can’t find bacon seeds.

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#134136

On 21-Aug-2020, Wade Garrett wrote
(in article <rhpbp5$e2n$1@dont-email.me>):

> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer
> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from
> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>
> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend
> extra and pop for brand new ones...

I've had a Seagate drive die, sent it in to be fixed, and have it fail again. 
I suspect they sent me a refurb. I ended up just tossing it and won't ever 
buy Seagate again.

When I was buying drives for our datacenter, we got the black label with 5 
year warrantee. We always had dead drives to send back to be fixed, but 
because we bought the black label, they were FedEx'ed within 48 hours instead 
of 4-6 weeks.

I used Toshiba for a while, then settled on Hitachi. They got bought by WD. I 
have 4 TB drives and they're holding up fine.

I'd stay away from the Passport drives. It's not the same fab as the black 
label.

And as to saving a couple bucks, how important is your data? Is it worth 
loosing a drive or two, waiting to get it replaced, then restoring the data 
from your backups? That's your call. Your paying for the savings in $$ with 
your time instead.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button! DeeDee! NO! Dee...

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#134139

On 8/21/20 7:35 PM, Percival John Hackworth wrote:
> On 21-Aug-2020, Wade Garrett wrote
> (in article <rhpbp5$e2n$1@dont-email.me>):
> 
>> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer
>> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from
>> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>>
>> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend
>> extra and pop for brand new ones...
> 
> I've had a Seagate drive die, sent it in to be fixed, and have it fail again.
> I suspect they sent me a refurb. I ended up just tossing it and won't ever
> buy Seagate again.
> 
> When I was buying drives for our datacenter, we got the black label with 5
> year warrantee. We always had dead drives to send back to be fixed, but
> because we bought the black label, they were FedEx'ed within 48 hours instead
> of 4-6 weeks.
> 
> I used Toshiba for a while, then settled on Hitachi. They got bought by WD. I
> have 4 TB drives and they're holding up fine.
> 
> I'd stay away from the Passport drives. It's not the same fab as the black
> label.
> 
> And as to saving a couple bucks, how important is your data? Is it worth
> loosing a drive or two, waiting to get it replaced, then restoring the data
> from your backups? That's your call. Your paying for the savings in $$ with
> your time instead.
> 
Yeah, not smart money to save. Better to just buy some new ones...

-- 
The opposite of identity politics is individualism which judges people 
on their merits, not their group label.

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#134137

On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer 
> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from 
> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
> 
> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend 
> extra and pop for brand new ones...
> 


Of late WD have (!) been more reliable than Seagate.  This is shocking. 
But then these are commodity items.

OTOH new drives are reasonably priced and should go a few years.

IAC, for my external drives I'm very redundant in storage...

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#134138

In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer 
>> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from 
>> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>> 
>> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend 
>> extra and pop for brand new ones...

> Of late WD have (!) been more reliable than Seagate.  This is shocking. 
> But then these are commodity items.

That doesn’t match my experience, WD has been significantly inferior for
me over the last decade or more. However,I try to get Toshiba drives
whenever I can as they have proved to be most reliable from me.

Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell drives
they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have a
manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and they
will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company" you've
never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon will tell
you to fuck off.

(Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).

> OTOH new drives are reasonably priced and should go a few years.

You have to be very careful where you buy from. Even NewEgg, which used
to be reliable, most of their drives are sold by third parties. Sadly,
the only way to get a new drive that 1) you are sure is new 2) you are
sure has a manufacturer warranty is to buy it at a brick and mortar
store. I tend to favor Microcenter, assuming there's no pandemic. I
avoid Buy More.

> IAC, for my external drives I'm very redundant in storage...

I have over 30TB connected to my Mac mini and my Synology has slightly
more space.

The drives are use the most are the internal 1TB SSD and the two
external SSDs.

-- 
"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but what if the hippopotamus won't wear the beach
	thong?"

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#134140

On 2020-08-22 03:04, Lewis wrote:
> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer
>>> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from
>>> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>>>
>>> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend
>>> extra and pop for brand new ones...
> 
>> Of late WD have (!) been more reliable than Seagate.  This is shocking.
>> But then these are commodity items.
> 
> That doesn’t match my experience, WD has been significantly inferior for
> me over the last decade or more. However,I try to get Toshiba drives
> whenever I can as they have proved to be most reliable from me.

The WD reliabilty v Seagate came from an online source - they were 
surprised too.  This was a couple years ago when I started getting 6 TB 
drives to replace 2 and 3 TB drives.  As it happens all my new external 
drives are Seagate Barracudas which are not all that highly rated 
reliability wise - but they are cheap - so redundancy is the key.  My 
last batch of Barracudas went 3 - 5 years with no failures (and are for 
sale - no offers), but the prior Seagates had 1 fail out of 4 within 5 
years.

> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell drives

I bought 2 drives on Amazon (from Aero Malls) and the rest from 
CanadaDirect (now defunct) IIRC.  Aero Malls has a 96% approval rating 
over the past 12 months, 99% "lifetime" with near 12,000 transactions.

To what degree I'm covered if the drives go TU, to be seen.  But really, 
I'd just buy a replacement drive.  Less hassle.

> they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have a
> manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and they
> will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company" you've
> never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon will tell
> you to fuck off.
> 
> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).

Often it's fulfillment by Amazon - meaning the guy never sees the drive 
physically.  But you're still stuck dealing with that guy when things go 
bad...

> 
>> OTOH new drives are reasonably priced and should go a few years.
> 
> You have to be very careful where you buy from. Even NewEgg, which used
> to be reliable, most of their drives are sold by third parties. Sadly,
> the only way to get a new drive that 1) you are sure is new 2) you are
> sure has a manufacturer warranty is to buy it at a brick and mortar
> store. I tend to favor Microcenter, assuming there's no pandemic. I
> avoid Buy More.

B&M stores here are usually: not selling the higher density drives or 
are usually significantly more expensive.  If I order from US sources, 
the S&H is usually bizarrely high and I could get hit with customs 
collection fees (ie: paying taxes is one thing, but CRA will also slap 
on a collection fee because the US source didn't collect the tax (some 
do).  Self brokering with UPS is designed to be a time consuming morass 
of a process.

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#134141

On 22-Aug-2020, Lewis wrote
(in article <slrnrk1gs8.2rd.g.kreme@ProMini.lan>):

> In message<t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad>  Alan Browne
> <bitbucket@blackhole.com>  wrote:
> > On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
> > > I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer
> > > Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from
> > > Western Digital on their Ebay store.
> > >
> > > Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend
> > > extra and pop for brand new ones...
>
> > Of late WD have (!) been more reliable than Seagate. This is shocking.
> > But then these are commodity items.
>
> That doesn’t match my experience, WD has been significantly inferior for
> me over the last decade or more. However,I try to get Toshiba drives
> whenever I can as they have proved to be most reliable from me.
>
> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell drives
> they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have a
> manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and they
> will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company" you've
> never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon will tell
> you to fuck off.
>
> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).
>
> > OTOH new drives are reasonably priced and should go a few years.
>
> You have to be very careful where you buy from. Even NewEgg, which used
> to be reliable, most of their drives are sold by third parties. Sadly,
> the only way to get a new drive that 1) you are sure is new 2) you are
> sure has a manufacturer warranty is to buy it at a brick and mortar
> store. I tend to favor Microcenter, assuming there's no pandemic. I
> avoid Buy More.
>
> > IAC, for my external drives I'm very redundant in storage...
>
> I have over 30TB connected to my Mac mini and my Synology has slightly
> more space.
>
> The drives are use the most are the internal 1TB SSD and the two
> external SSDs.

I haven't had any problems with drives from Amazon both when I bought the 
Toshiba drives, the Hitachi drives, and the WD Black label. I put them 
through a full media format to ensure they work, then put them in service.

When I didn't do this and had a black label drive fail "out of the bag" after 
sitting on a shelf for 6 months, it was after the 2 week "Amazon will replace 
it no questions asked" period. That's standard procedure. WD FEDEx'ed me a 
replacement within 24 hours.

I don't know where you bought your drives from in the Amazon Store, but all 
my drives were fully warranted. I had the same experience buying drives from 
Amazon for our Datacenter of 100 servers and 5 Synology NAS with 150TB each. 
No problems dealing with WD for warrantee.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button! DeeDee! NO! Dee...

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#134144

On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>
> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have
> a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and
> they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company"
> you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon
> will tell you to fuck off.
>
> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).

I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.

There are indeed scammy sellers on Amazon's marketplace. I once
purchased a drive from an Amazon reseller ("ServerPartsDeals" or
something like that, IIRC), and got a drive that showed no warranty
coverage because it was sold as an OEM part in a computer before the
Amazon marketplace reseller resold it to me. Thanksfully, they took the
drive back without any fuss. 

Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just make
sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by Amazon". 

I've purchased all of my drives from Amazon for the past few years
without issue. I always check the serial number for warranty coverage on
the manufacturer's website before opening the antistatic bag just in
case. They have all been new drives with full coverage. And all of them
are still running fine.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#134145

In message <hqcssjFcqheU3@mid.individual.net> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>
>> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
>> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have
>> a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and
>> they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company"
>> you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon
>> will tell you to fuck off.
>>
>> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).

> I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.

There is no way to tell. The last drives I bought (or will ever buy)
from Amazon clearly said they were sold by Amazon and had the
manufacturer's warranty; Not "a warranty" but the manufacturers
warranty/ Both these statements were lies.

> Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just make
> sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by Amazon". 

It did. It was not. As far as I am concerned, what Amazon did was fraud.

I did have some Amazon marketplace issues with drives several years ago
(I bought 4 drives, all were OEM, I returned them and got four "new"
drives. All were OEMs. I canceled the order and returned the four
replacements. Since then I was VERY careful that nothing I bought was
ever from Amazon Marketplace.

After I complained and they told me to fuck off they wouldn't do
anything but give me the contact info for whatever bullshit company
they used, they did update the listing to remove their lies, but I did
keep screenshots a I planned to file against them in Small Claims.

Then the pandemic happened. So instead I simply stopped buying computer
parts from them. In fact, I don't think I have used my account at all
this year, although it is possible my wife has for household stuff. (She
has her own account but is careless about which account she is logged
into).

In short, don't trust Amazon to sell you what they said they sold you.

And if I have to check every serial number to make sure I am not being
defrauded, that's not a company I want to purchase goods from.

-- 
You could save people. You could get there in the nick of time. And
	something could snap its fingers and say, no , it has to be that
	way. Let me tell you how it has to be. This is how the legend
	goes. --Soul Music

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#134162

On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <hqcssjFcqheU3@mid.individual.net> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
>> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>>
>>> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
>>> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they
>>> have a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail,
>>> and they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some
>>> "company" you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement
>>> and Amazon will tell you to fuck off.
>>>
>>> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage
>>> locker).
>
>> I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.
>
> There is no way to tell. The last drives I bought (or will ever buy)
> from Amazon clearly said they were sold by Amazon and had the
> manufacturer's warranty; Not "a warranty" but the manufacturers
> warranty/ Both these statements were lies.
>
>> Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just
>> make sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by
>> Amazon". 
>
> It did. It was not. As far as I am concerned, what Amazon did was
> fraud.

I've purchased a dozen drives like this without issue in the past year
or three.

Did they accept your return?

> I did have some Amazon marketplace issues with drives several years
> ago (I bought 4 drives, all were OEM, I returned them and got four
> "new" drives. All were OEMs. I canceled the order and returned the
> four replacements. Since then I was VERY careful that nothing I bought
> was ever from Amazon Marketplace.

Same here. Since avoiding the marketplace, I haven't had a problem with
drives not being what was stated. But even if something like that did
happen, I know Amazon would take them back no questions asked.

> After I complained and they told me to fuck off

That's why you buy from Amazon instead, where they will happily accept a
return for just about any reason.

> In short, don't trust Amazon to sell you what they said they sold you.

Meh. Don't buy from the marketplace and you have little to worry about.

> And if I have to check every serial number

If you are buying hard drives without checking to make sure the warranty
is legit on the manufacturer's website with the serial number, your
problems are self-created as far as I'm concerned.

> that's not a company I want to purchase goods from.

Where do you buy your hard drives from?

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#134164

In message <hqfj8iFtig4U1@mid.individual.net> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>> In message <hqcssjFcqheU3@mid.individual.net> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
>>> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>>> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>>>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
>>>> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they
>>>> have a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail,
>>>> and they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some
>>>> "company" you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement
>>>> and Amazon will tell you to fuck off.
>>>>
>>>> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage
>>>> locker).
>>
>>> I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.
>>
>> There is no way to tell. The last drives I bought (or will ever buy)
>> from Amazon clearly said they were sold by Amazon and had the
>> manufacturer's warranty; Not "a warranty" but the manufacturers
>> warranty/ Both these statements were lies.
>>
>>> Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just
>>> make sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by
>>> Amazon". 
>>
>> It did. It was not. As far as I am concerned, what Amazon did was
>> fraud.

> I've purchased a dozen drives like this without issue in the past year
> or three.

> Did they accept your return?

No, they did not since the drives failed in the "warranty" period, not
within their return window.

Anyway, I am done with Amazon. I do not deal with companies that lie to
me and commit fraud.

> If you are buying hard drives without checking to make sure the warranty
> is legit on the manufacturer's website with the serial number, your
> problems are self-created as far as I'm concerned.

I will simply buy products from companies that I can trust to not be
selling my shit. Right now, that means nearly no online vendors qualify.

-- 
*** AgentSmith sets mode: +m

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#134172

On 2020-08-23, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
> In message <hqfj8iFtig4U1@mid.individual.net> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
>> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>> In message <hqcssjFcqheU3@mid.individual.net> Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>>>> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>>>>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
>>>>> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they
>>>>> have a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail,
>>>>> and they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some
>>>>> "company" you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement
>>>>> and Amazon will tell you to fuck off.
>>>>>
>>>>> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage
>>>>> locker).
>>>
>>>> I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.
>>>
>>> There is no way to tell. The last drives I bought (or will ever buy)
>>> from Amazon clearly said they were sold by Amazon and had the
>>> manufacturer's warranty; Not "a warranty" but the manufacturers
>>> warranty/ Both these statements were lies.
>>>
>>>> Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just
>>>> make sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by
>>>> Amazon". 
>>>
>>> It did. It was not. As far as I am concerned, what Amazon did was
>>> fraud.
>
>> I've purchased a dozen drives like this without issue in the past year
>> or three.
>
>> Did they accept your return?
>
> No, they did not since the drives failed in the "warranty" period, not
> within their return window.

That's why you check the serial number with the manufacturer before
deciding to keep it and use it. 

I've done this for years: 

1. Order the drive (making sure it is "sold and fulfilled by Amazon").
2. Receive the package.
3. Without cutting the protective antistatic bag around the drive:
3a. Read the serial number through the antistatic bag.
3b. Go to the drive manufacturer's warranty check web page.
3c. Enter the serial number, and verify the drive is legit with full
warranty. 
4. Optionally, check SMART statistics on the drive to make sure it is in
fact brand-new. 

I do all of this within the week of receiving the package. If the drive
isn't legit, I simply return it to Amazon with a note that the drive is
not a new drive or is not covered by the manufacturer warranty. Simple.

> Anyway, I am done with Amazon. I do not deal with companies that lie to
> me and commit fraud.

Certainly both a good principle and your prerogative.

>> If you are buying hard drives without checking to make sure the warranty
>> is legit on the manufacturer's website with the serial number, your
>> problems are self-created as far as I'm concerned.
>
> I will simply buy products from companies that I can trust to not be
> selling my shit. Right now, that means nearly no online vendors qualify.

Yeah, no thanks.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#134146

On 8/22/20 11:45 AM, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>
>> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
>> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have
>> a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and
>> they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company"
>> you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon
>> will tell you to fuck off.
>>
>> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).
> 
> I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.
> 
> There are indeed scammy sellers on Amazon's marketplace. I once
> purchased a drive from an Amazon reseller ("ServerPartsDeals" or
> something like that, IIRC), and got a drive that showed no warranty
> coverage because it was sold as an OEM part in a computer before the
> Amazon marketplace reseller resold it to me. Thanksfully, they took the
> drive back without any fuss.
> 
> Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just make
> sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by Amazon".
> 
> I've purchased all of my drives from Amazon for the past few years
> without issue. I always check the serial number for warranty coverage on
> the manufacturer's website before opening the antistatic bag just in
> case. They have all been new drives with full coverage. And all of them
> are still running fine.
> 
It's not just Amazon that has "marketplace" sellers who wear the gloss 
of the reputable big name website they're selling on- unless, as you 
say, you read carefully and buy only "sold and fulfilled by...".

I've seen them listed on Newegg, Sears Roebuck, Walmart, etc.

-- 
Why is it that  the people who want more government control over your 
life are the same ones who want you to be disarmed?

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#134163

On 2020-08-22, Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> wrote:
> On 8/22/20 11:45 AM, Jolly Roger wrote:
>> On 2020-08-22, Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:
>>> In message <t0_%G.413861$DO2.340698@fx45.iad> Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>>>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>>
>>> Of note, never buy any hard drive on Amazon. They routinely sell
>>> drives they claim are sold by Amazon (they are not) and that they have
>>> a manufacturer's warranty (they do not). When the drives fail, and
>>> they will, you will find yourself trying to deal with some "company"
>>> you've never heard of trying to get a warranty replacement and Amazon
>>> will tell you to fuck off.
>>>
>>> (Company as in some guy selling OEM drives out of his storage locker).
>> 
>> I wouldn't go so far as to say "never - just be smart about it.
>> 
>> There are indeed scammy sellers on Amazon's marketplace. I once
>> purchased a drive from an Amazon reseller ("ServerPartsDeals" or
>> something like that, IIRC), and got a drive that showed no warranty
>> coverage because it was sold as an OEM part in a computer before the
>> Amazon marketplace reseller resold it to me. Thanksfully, they took the
>> drive back without any fuss.
>> 
>> Luckily, it's really easy to avoid shady resellers on Amazon: just make
>> sure the item you want to purchase says "sold and fulfilled by Amazon".
>> 
>> I've purchased all of my drives from Amazon for the past few years
>> without issue. I always check the serial number for warranty coverage on
>> the manufacturer's website before opening the antistatic bag just in
>> case. They have all been new drives with full coverage. And all of them
>> are still running fine.
>> 
> It's not just Amazon that has "marketplace" sellers who wear the gloss 
> of the reputable big name website they're selling on- unless, as you 
> say, you read carefully and buy only "sold and fulfilled by...".
>
> I've seen them listed on Newegg, Sears Roebuck, Walmart, etc.

Yep, same here, and I apply the same rule to them.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#134143

On 2020-08-22, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some
>> Manufacturer Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good
>> price- direct from Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>> 
>> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to
>> spend extra and pop for brand new ones...
>
> Of late WD have (!) been more reliable than Seagate.  This is
> shocking.  But then these are commodity items.

That's probably relevant only for certain models. 

> OTOH new drives are reasonably priced and should go a few years.
>
> IAC, for my external drives I'm very redundant in storage...

I've been using 10-16 TB Seagate Exos drives in my RAID arrays for a
couple years now, and find them to be much more reliable than any
consumer drives I've ever purchased from Western Digital or others.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#134148

On 2020-08-22 15:36:39 +0000, Jolly Roger said:

> On 2020-08-22, Alan Browne <bitbucket@blackhole.com> wrote:
>> On 2020-08-21 16:45, Wade Garrett wrote:
>>> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some
>>> Manufacturer Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good
>>> price- direct from Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>>> 
>>> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to
>>> spend extra and pop for brand new ones...
>> 
>> Of late WD have (!) been more reliable than Seagate.  This is
>> shocking.  But then these are commodity items.
> 
> That's probably relevant only for certain models.
> 
>> OTOH new drives are reasonably priced and should go a few years.
>> IAC, for my external drives I'm very redundant in storage...
> 
> I've been using 10-16 TB Seagate Exos drives in my RAID arrays for a
> couple years now, and find them to be much more reliable than any
> consumer drives I've ever purchased from Western Digital or others.
> 
I have been using both Western Digital Passport and G-Technology Drives 
for time machine backups on my current MacBook.  I haven't had problems 
with either one, but I'm not putting a lot of wear on tear on them, as 
I tend to backup everything just once or twice a day.  I'm not sure who 
makes G-Technology; I purchased that drive at the Apple Store when I 
bought my current laptop.

-- 
Paul Goodman

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#134142

On 2020-08-21, Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> wrote:
> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer 
> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from 
> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>
> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend 
> extra and pop for brand new ones...

Probably not. Make sure you look at the warranty coverage for these
refurbs - often it's significantly worse coverage. 

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#134147

On 8/22/20 11:29 AM, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2020-08-21, Wade Garrett <wade@cooler.net> wrote:
>> I need a few portable external hard drives and noticed some Manufacturer
>> Refurbished WD Elements and WD MyPassports at a good price- direct from
>> Western Digital on their Ebay store.
>>
>> Wonder if it's worth buying them to save a few bucks- or better to spend
>> extra and pop for brand new ones...
> 
> Probably not. Make sure you look at the warranty coverage for these
> refurbs - often it's significantly worse coverage.
> 
Point taken...

-- 
A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect 
plan executed next week.
			- Gen. George S. Patton

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