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expireditsamazeling | Staff posted Jun 22, 2022 06:49 PM
expireditsamazeling | Staff posted Jun 22, 2022 06:49 PM

WD Hard Drives (Refurb): 3TB Western Digital My Book External Desktop

+ Free Shipping

$50

$90

44% off
eBay
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Update: This popular deal is still available.

Western Digital via eBay has select Certified Refurbished Western Digital Drives on sale below. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Deal Hunter itsamazeling for posting this deal.
  • Note: These drives also include a 2-Year Allstate Warranty (more info). You may save an additional $15 Off your purchase when you buy 3 or more qualifying items.
Available:

Editor's Notes

Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff

Original Post

Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Update: This popular deal is still available.

Western Digital via eBay has select Certified Refurbished Western Digital Drives on sale below. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Deal Hunter itsamazeling for posting this deal.
  • Note: These drives also include a 2-Year Allstate Warranty (more info). You may save an additional $15 Off your purchase when you buy 3 or more qualifying items.
Available:

Editor's Notes

Written by powerfuldoppler | Staff

Original Post

Community Voting

Deal Score
+93
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Top Comments

R3DTR1X
6313 Posts
1185 Reputation
For archival purposes, SMR is fine. Write once, then read mostly. It's constant read/write cycles that kill SMR drives. For important, irreplaceable files like family memories, best to make at least 2 copies and store one copy off site at a different location. I would have no problem using 2 of these drives for my photos and videos, then in the unlikely event one of them fails you will still have the other to retrieve them.
adamk77
5 Posts
14 Reputation
I've purchased one of these refurb drives and I would not recommend it. I ended up getting a refund.

I purchased it knowing fully well that these were SMR drives, but I did not expect 1 MB/sec both read/write speeds. This was transferring and reading large media files.
R3DTR1X
6313 Posts
1185 Reputation
Trash SMR drives make great plex drives

155 Comments

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Jul 05, 2022 11:26 PM
2,207 Posts
Joined Oct 2011
MWinkJul 05, 2022 11:26 PM
2,207 Posts
Quote from huge :
5TB 2.5inch are ALL SMR drives. They are VERY VERY SLOW writes. Sometimes even LESS THAN 1MB/s, yes, that's one megabyte per second. Whereas typical drives should have 100MB/s

??
It may depend on how things are being written (small random writes vs large sequential) but this should definitely not always be the case. I've used a 4TB 2.5" SMR drive and it consistently wrote >100MB/S. I was actually quite impressed with it. Though, I admit, it was mostly large sequential writes.
Jul 06, 2022 02:51 AM
1,853 Posts
Joined Jan 2007
SysopJul 06, 2022 02:51 AM
1,853 Posts
Quote from lesterhung :
That is EXACTLY the problem. It IS WD.
THEY DO NOT HONOR WARRANTY. THEY WILL JUST TAKE UR DRIVE AND NEVER SEND YOU REPLACEMENT, AND ALSO REFUSE TO SEND BACK THE ORIGINAL DRIVE.
WD have the absolute lowest 1/5 star review on BBB, even though BBB is known for selling reputation for the right amount of money. This means WD is so bad, even with purchased reputation, BBB only decide to give them 1 star. https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-jos...216-388853
This guy comes and shits on a ton of WD posts. There's nothing wrong with WD and dealing with warranties is always lame when it comes to data. You almost always get a refurb they're ready to ship rather than your old drive back. It's not an automobile repair shop.
Jul 06, 2022 04:54 AM
2,151 Posts
Joined Nov 2005
DavidhhJul 06, 2022 04:54 AM
2,151 Posts
Quote from Jaydawg :
Is this powered by USB or needs a seperate power.
It's powered by USB.
Jul 06, 2022 05:50 AM
2,707 Posts
Joined Dec 2010
radarsJul 06, 2022 05:50 AM
2,707 Posts
Refurb HD has risk for data loss if it is defective again.
2
Jul 06, 2022 07:12 AM
4,865 Posts
Joined Aug 2006
hugeJul 06, 2022 07:12 AM
4,865 Posts
Quote from Tillman91 :
I need a drive to put important photos/videos because my laptop is full. I'd be devastated if they were lost because most files are of family, and with my dad just passing away a few months ago, I'm afraid to buy something that could lose all my files as I can't get those memories back or make new ones with him. I looked for Father's Day deals, but it being the first holiday in my 31 years not spent with my dad, I wasn't in the right mindset to read and review the top drives for what I'm looking for. I have a lot of photos/videos, plus huge GoPro hero 9 files amount whatever else isn't on my iCloud (which is something I'd like to have a backup of as well sometime in the future because Icloud is weird and confusing to me, kinda like how I bought a huge brick of the 1TB one for $300-$400 back in 2009ish at Best Buy. I didn't know I could use it like a regular drive or SD card, so set it up with its software, meaning it's password protected, and if I remember correctly I cant update it by adding new files to it without losing my original update from 15 years ago. Plus I need a lot more space these days with 4K videos and GoPro hero 9 video files being so huge.

Any suggestions on what would be a good alternative to this? Big space, lower price that won't lose my files?

I can't spent too much because our household income is literally $0 and has been since he passed months ago. But I do need to be able to use my laptop and want to keep those files safe and not accidentally buy a Chinese knockoff or something that will break somehow. I usually buy from Amazon (never used eBay before),

Sorry, that was long! I've been finding out I talk a lot in this stage of grief (whatever it is these days). I'm like a crazy crack head these days with how much I talk/text (when not isolating).

. ..,,Anyway, I apologize and truly appreciate any suggestions you, or anyone willing to read all of this may have for me.

Thank you!

The best is to buy 2 hard drives and clone one every once in a while. You can buy a cloning device for about $20 and just pop them in and will clone quickly
Jul 06, 2022 07:25 AM
8,409 Posts
Joined Jul 2006
fbuellerJul 06, 2022 07:25 AM
8,409 Posts
Quote from huge :
The best is to buy 2 hard drives and clone one every once in a while. You can buy a cloning device for about $20 and just pop them in and will clone quickly
For anything other than boot drive, Bvckup 2 is amazing for real time backup sync. Relied on it for years, it's rock solid, lightweight, and very customizable. My drive gets synced with archiving every few hours, if the drive poops the bed then it's a copy and paste job onto a new drive and I'm good to go. Amazing peace of mind.
Jul 06, 2022 02:06 PM
7,872 Posts
Joined Oct 2004
VarmintCongJul 06, 2022 02:06 PM
7,872 Posts
Quote from jrm523 :
Sadly these days i consider stuff sold on Ebay a red flag. Especially hard drives. There have been so many hard drive scams on eBay. A lot of "refurbished" drives end up being drives that have been run for thousands of hours and are at the end of their life.
But this is Western Digital's Ebay store front, not a 3rd party.

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Jul 06, 2022 04:51 PM
704 Posts
Joined Oct 2007
CowboyjloveJul 06, 2022 04:51 PM
704 Posts
Buyer beware!
Jul 06, 2022 11:41 PM
1,619 Posts
Joined Jun 2008
DavNeilJul 06, 2022 11:41 PM
1,619 Posts
Mine 5TB had 0 hours and only 3 start and stop. Now if WD has done something that is separate story.
Jul 07, 2022 12:51 AM
7,084 Posts
Joined May 2007
DonV1962Jul 07, 2022 12:51 AM
7,084 Posts
Quote from DavNeil :
Mine 5TB had 0 hours and only 3 start and stop. Now if WD has done something that is separate story.
I think much of this talk of shadiness and shenanigans from the WD seller is highly exaggerated. I'm not even sure they could do some rollback of the speedometer. If they could or if they did, I think we would see all the drives showing the same numbers and we see that is not happening with the reports coming in here. From what we are seeing everyone is getting drives that have had only a few power ons and are scanning clear.

Taking the time and labor to do some rollback of the numbers would cost money. If they are returns, I imagine drive scan would be al they do and pack them back up.

Think about it, if they were doing something shady and asking a third party to cover warranty, they would be setting themselves up for a lawsuit. WD and the warranty company do have legal departments that make sure stuff like that does not set their respective companies up for big losses. Talk is cheap I'm sure that some people do get bad drives and maybe the service from there is not always the greatest but that doesn't equate to a grand conspiracy and corruption going on.

Another thing I do notice is that many of the complaints on Ebay are saying that the Ebay account will not get back to them about warranty or service. The Ebay account is not warranting anything after the initial Ebay policy for returns. We may have many users having problems and being upset but not contacting the right company for warranty. When I ordered I received an email with the terms and who to contact it is not the WD Ebay account.
1
Jul 07, 2022 08:01 PM
1,466 Posts
Joined Jul 2009
i4k20cJul 07, 2022 08:01 PM
1,466 Posts
Quote from R3DTR1X :
For archival purposes, SMR is fine. Write once, then read mostly. It's constant read/write cycles that kill SMR drives. For important, irreplaceable files like family memories, best to make at least 2 copies and store one copy off site at a different location. I would have no problem using 2 of these drives for my photos and videos, then in the unlikely event one of them fails you will still have the other to retrieve them.
what do you recommend for constant/read write? one where you are deleting files and viewing videos/photos/documents maybe 1-2x a week.
Jul 07, 2022 08:28 PM
172 Posts
Joined Nov 2015
gluesniffinedJul 07, 2022 08:28 PM
172 Posts
I picked up a few of the 4TB portable (USB powered) drives on the previous refurb deal. They work great as a scheduled backup destination for my NAS, and I have one on my Xbox Series X for backwards compatible games.

No issues so far, a couple of months in.
Jul 07, 2022 09:58 PM
1,121 Posts
Joined Feb 2007
cheshirecatJul 07, 2022 09:58 PM
1,121 Posts
Quote from rbtree1 :
Not SMR, and nothing wrong with refurb drives. I will be ordering a couple, but the 10tb Elements refurbs, directly from WD, for $129... as I have another 15% off coupon to use, from the last drive I sent in for their recycle program. I'm springing for a couple now for two reasons: rak10 cash back is at 10% (not bad even though does hit 15% sometimes, like around Black Friday) And, even though I have 2 14 tb Elements, and a 16 tb internal Red Pro, I did sell a few 8 tb used drives and one 10 a while back. The refurb ones will likely be low hours and I'll report back on this thread after I get them and run Crystal Disk Info. Why? I like having the last word... Heh.

I do want to again remind slickdealers, that the best deals on WD drives are always to be had direct from WD, if you send in any old dead drive ahead of time, for the unlimited 15% coupon, and time it when rak10 points are at 10-15%
Ty 4 info, repped.
Is 1 WD recycle coupon limited to 1 HDD purchase or for the total of however many I decide to buy in 1 transaction?
Jul 07, 2022 10:07 PM
1,121 Posts
Joined Feb 2007
cheshirecatJul 07, 2022 10:07 PM
1,121 Posts
Quote from rbtree1 :
Not SMR, and nothing wrong with refurb drives. I will be ordering a couple, but the 10tb Elements refurbs, directly from WD, for $129... as I have another 15% off coupon to use, from the last drive I sent in for their recycle program. I'm springing for a couple now for two reasons: rak10 cash back is at 10% (not bad even though does hit 15% sometimes, like around Black Friday) And, even though I have 2 14 tb Elements, and a 16 tb internal Red Pro, I did sell a few 8 tb used drives and one 10 a while back. The refurb ones will likely be low hours and I'll report back on this thread after I get them and run Crystal Disk Info. Why? I like having the last word... Heh.

I do want to again remind slickdealers, that the best deals on WD drives are always to be had direct from WD, if you send in any old dead drive ahead of time, for the unlimited 15% coupon, and time it when rak10 points are at 10-15%
Also, how long is the 15% recycle coupon code good for once they generate it for you?

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Jul 08, 2022 01:04 AM
499 Posts
Joined Feb 2007
BuffalobJul 08, 2022 01:04 AM
499 Posts
Refurb hard drives? Almost like buying refurb condoms. No way I'd trust it... It's refurb for a reason...
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