Buying cheap HDDs off ebay? Anyone do that? WD AV-GP Qs.

[VirtualLarry]

I placed an order recently, for some "WD 500GB SATA" HDDs. Listing said "new". Showed a picture of "WD Green", and it was slightly blurry, but seemed to show "EURX" at the top of the label.

Now, the drive(s) that I bought, were listed as "$10.00", with "$5.00" ship. That listing seems to be expired / taken down. That same ebay userid has the same drives / pictures listed, for "$5.00", with "$20.00" ship. So $25 shipped, $10 more than I paid. Looks like that listing isn't really selling, as there are other vendors showing the same drive for $19.99 shipped, FS.

But the drives that I ordered, are supposedly 500GB, and the only thing that seems to come up when I search for "EURX", is the "WD10EURX" model, which is a 1TB drive, and other vendors are selling "Zero POH", and "Mgr refurb", for $40.00 and up for that drive.

So, I hope that I'm not being scammed. (Ebay userid selling it had thousands of feedback, 97% or higher, IIRC).

I'm kind of wondering what drive I'll actually get, though. I hope that it is indeed a WD Green drive.

The EURX model seems to be an AV-GP drive, which is an AV drive, which supports the streaming command set.

The question is, can those drives be used for regular data storage?

Oh, Newegg themselves also has a WD10EURX drive selling for $34.99 FS in their newest sale flyer.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-_-DesktopInternalHardDrives-_-22236447-S3A1D

I know that "AV" HDDs have a reduced error-recovery timeout, but does that only apply to reads using the streaming command-set, or regular "read sector" commands too?

My question, assuming that I actually get the drives that I ordered, and they are new, is if they will be fairly reliable for desktop usage, rather than AV usage.

I know that WD has recently canned their entire "Green" drive line, so I hope that these are simply auction bulk surplus sold onto the secondary market, from WD's distributors or whatnot.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

The question is, can those drives be used for regular data storage?

Of course they can. But WD themselves are not recommending it, because apparently the AV-GP/Purple AV drives tolerate far more internal R/W errors then consumer or enterprise grade drive.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

"0 poh" screams scam.

 

[cbn]

"0 poh" screams scam.

Reset to "zero hour" has been known to happen:

https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...ing-smart-data-selling-used-hdds-as-new.4507/

And I found out that data reset is SOP for white label drives from the following company:

https://www.teleplan.com/2015/03/09...o-you-and-includes-sell-and-buy-side-options/

Companies looking to buy HDDs from Teleplan can purchase either White Label (factory returned Hard Disk Drives, tested and data-wiped to stringent white label industry standards with no OEM identification) or refurbished out of warranty HDDs (tested and refurbished and sold in “As-is” condition as HDD OEM standards). Teleplan can supply many form factors across multiple capacities such as 160Gb, 250Gb, 500Gb, 1Tb and beyond.

Our white Label drives are tested for read and write performance across the full media whilst smart logs and user data are cleared and reset. OEM labels are removed and any electronic identification removed. We have the capability for personalization of bespoke branding and packaging requirements for customers with larger consistent volumes.

Our refurbished drives do not have their SMART logs cleared in order to retain visibility of their true lifespan expectancy. The drives are fully data-wiped and a final random blank check is carried out. You can be assured of the highest quality products equivalent to OEM standards.]