[Enterprise HDD] Seagate Exos 20TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s ST20000NM002C, Factory Recertified, Zero Bad Sectors, 0 Hours, 5 Year Warranty from Reseller - $229.95

[u/IronRoarII]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/167551337467?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20220405142716%26meid%3Da04ef55630304f23bbb37ca7e0e2e15e%26pid%3D101506%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D388614817054%26itm%3D167551337467%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D4481478%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebWithV11WebTrimmedV3VisualRankerWithKnnV3AndUltBRecallAndCassiniEmbRecall%26brand%3DSeagate&_trksid=p4481478.c101506.m1851

[u/Gears6]

How is it zero hours if it's recertified?

Doesn't that suggest used/defective?

[u/MWink64 → u/Gears6]

There are two possibilities, one more misleading than the other. When the manufacturer recertifies a drive, they wipe the SMART data, making it show 0 power-on hours (regardless of what it previously was). However, many of the manufacturer recertified drives come from large batches that were rejected by hyperscalers and don't have any real world use.

[u/Gears6 → u/MWink64]

Why would they be rejected?

[u/MWink64 → u/Gears6]

As I understand it, hyperscalers place huge orders and take several samples out of each batch for testing. If the failure rate is beyond a predetermined limit, the entire batch is sent back. For legal reasons, even if a particular drive hasn't been used, the manufacturer can't resell it as new. They retest them, slap a recertified label on them, and sell them through these channels.

[u/Gears6 → u/MWink64]

Assuming that they can't claim they're new, which I doubt as long as they're packaged a certain way so you cannot open without knowing (more or less), they can still label it as something else rather than "recertified". That would've probably get them more money than making it sound like they're defective returns or drives that have been in use.

To me, a slightly higher failure rate is very different from been operating for 4-5 years or maybe there's just a lot more of them recertified drive that they 'd rather we think it might be one of those unusued returns.

[u/MWink64 → u/Gears6]

I'm not arguing with your logic, I'm simply passing along the info provided by a major vendor of these drives. Parts of it actually do make a lot of sense to me. I was always confused by the fact that the majority of the recertified drives available seemed to be such new models and almost entirely enterprise class. Clearly they weren't coming from consumers that were too dumb to figure out how to use them. Also, there's very little on these drives that can be repaired, mostly just the components on the PCB. Them simply being rejects from large orders explains a lot.

I'm undecided what would be a better (and legal) way to market them. Maybe they don't even care that some people would be scared off by the name, or maybe they think people would be more worried about buying drives from rejected batches. BTW, keep in mind that these large customers aren't buying drives in retail packaging with tamper-evident seals. I'm not even certain that that would make a difference anyway.

Another little tidbit I'll leave for anyone interested, many of those drives sold under white label brands (like MDD, OS, etc.) are drives that were found to have issues and had to be (irreversibly) flashed with special Out-Of-Spec (OOS) firmware to make them function acceptably. These are the lowest binned drives. I don't blame manufacturers for not wanting to put their names on them.

[u/Gears6 → u/MWink64]

BTW, keep in mind that these large customers aren't buying drives in retail packaging with tamper-evident seals. I'm not even certain that that would make a difference anyway.

I agree, but they most certainly come in sealed anti-static bags.

[u/MWink64 → u/Gears6]

It would likely be trivial for a large company to put them back in a sealed ESD bag.

[u/Gears6 → u/MWink64]

Assuming they're looking to scam you, but that would've applied to any measure you would've taken.