Quality of refurb drives - are they more likely to fail?

[rowan194]

Based on my limited experience the answer is YES, but I'm curious what the experts have to say.

(My experience: I've received 6 Seagate refurbs: one was faulty out of the box, the other failed after a couple of months, and the remaining four are all showing uncorrectable read errors after only 3 months of use. They've been retired.)

[guru]

Hi Rowan,

It really depends upon how the drive is refurbished. Some companies just format the drive in windows, other do this and maybe a SMART check. Other companies have the capability to recertify (factory testing like an RMA return from Seagate etc.

So it "depends" upon the process performed. You can liken a refurb to a second hand car, it works well it may fail in a few years but it's not new and it does have many miles on the clock

Guru

[rowan194]

Hi Rowan,

It really depends upon how the drive is refurbished. Some companies just format the drive in windows, other do this and maybe a SMART check. Other companies have the capability to recertify (factory testing like an RMA return from Seagate etc.

So it "depends" upon the process performed. You can liken a refurb to a second hand car, it works well it may fail in a few years but it's not new and it does have many miles on the clock

I was referring more to original manufacturer certified refurbs. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

Would I be right in assuming that a lot of (OEM) refurbs are as simple as updating firmware, recalibrating a servo map, redoing the bad sector list, testing for a short period... all electronic, no mechanical work at all? I've also heard stories of drives with bad heads or platters being refurb'd "down" to lesser capacity models.

As per the OP my experience with Seagate refurbs has not been good... there's really no point even RMAing a drive.

[BlackST]

I do refurbish drives but it is not a simple reformat.
About refurbished drives sold as refurbished (and clearly stated on label) you get what you pay.Finally, yes, you can get working downsized drives from non-working drives. It is also done at factory level without telling you.

[jono-ats]

What galls me about most manufacturers (and Seagate in particular) is that you can send them a brand new DOA drive and you'll get back a green-labeled drive of unknown provenance. Try giving a client their data back on one of these!

Jono

[zebong]

What galls me about most manufacturers (and Seagate in particular) is that you can send them a brand new DOA drive and you'll get back a green-labeled drive of unknown provenance. Try giving a client their data back on one of these!

Jono

Yes, i have the same problem, sometimes new drives with out any use and DOA, send to seagate and came all with Certified Repair.

But not with Seagate also WD and Hitachi happen this.

[rowan194]

Why wouldn't you just return DOA drives to the retailer for a straight swap? Unless we're talking about a non retail situation?

[jono-ats]

We buy from distributors and retailers, depending upon who has better price / availability. If we find a good deal or a useful configuration, we buy in quantity.

Sometimes we have new stock that is older than 30 days, or beyond the return range of the reseller.

[zebong]

Yes it happen to me the same, we buy a large quantity off drives and we can not test it one by one. So sometimes happen when we use the drive is older 30days them DOA is not applied here, we have to send to the manufacture off the drive.