Well, I've just spotted an HDD for auction (sold as "for parts") that had both 192 Emergency Retract Count and 193 Load/Unload Cycle Count on 24/24 (value/worst). (Threshold: 50)
I'm not familiar with these two S.M.A.R.T. parameters.

Does this mean that the HDD is seriously ill, or can this be fixed by a low-level format, for instance?

Note that everything BUT these got a green 'OK' bullet in the test sheet (attached to the auction entry).

bump...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.
Suggest to never buy any used drive, unless it is for parts, research, etc.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Says who?
Those who have enough CA$$H to purchase brand-new drives. Anyways, I've never had greater problems with those used or refurbished ones (except for one very stubborn SeaHate drive), except for things caused by own idiocy (in my doggone non-patience, I hot-plugged (!!!) my molex power connector and slid off...*BANG* PC went off and drive PCB was gone in a cloud o' smoke, shorted ... but that was 10 years ago, mind).

Sorry... I personally don't have enough cash to buy another drive right enough, well new and the kind that I want.
Tell u what though: penny wise and dollar foolish with drives is a recipe for headaches.
Best wishes

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts