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Meowssi | Staff 28.9K Views
Feb 15, 2024 4:25 PM

WD Elements Desktop External Hard Drives (Certified Refurb): 14TB $152, 16TB

$168

$280

40% off
+ Free Shippingat eBay
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Deal Details
Western Digital via eBay has Select WD Elements USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drives (Certified Refurbished) on sale + an Extra 20% off when you apply promo code PRESIDENT20 at checkout. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Deal Hunter Meowssi for posting this deal.

Available Deals:
  • 14TB (WDBWLG0140HBK-NESN) $151.99
  • 16TB (WDBWLG0160HBK-NESN) $167.99

Editor's Notes

Written by SubZero5 | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • Please see original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.
  • About this product:
    • This item is Certified Refurbished. It has been professionally restored by a Western Digital approved vendor. Units are usually cosmetically indistinguishable from New products, however some may show signs of light use. Functionally, these units are equivalent to New. Certified Refurbished units will be shipped in a New Brown CR Box
    • This item has a 2-year warranty serviced by Allstate.
  • About this store:
    • 30 days returns. Seller pays for return shipping.

Original Post

Written by Meowssi | Staff
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Western Digital via eBay has Select WD Elements USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drives (Certified Refurbished) on sale + an Extra 20% off when you apply promo code PRESIDENT20 at checkout. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Deal Hunter Meowssi for posting this deal.

Available Deals:
  • 14TB (WDBWLG0140HBK-NESN) $151.99
  • 16TB (WDBWLG0160HBK-NESN) $167.99

Editor's Notes

Written by SubZero5 | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • Please see original post for additional details & give the WIKI and additional forum comments a read for helpful discussion.
  • About this product:
    • This item is Certified Refurbished. It has been professionally restored by a Western Digital approved vendor. Units are usually cosmetically indistinguishable from New products, however some may show signs of light use. Functionally, these units are equivalent to New. Certified Refurbished units will be shipped in a New Brown CR Box
    • This item has a 2-year warranty serviced by Allstate.
  • About this store:
    • 30 days returns. Seller pays for return shipping.

Original Post

Written by Meowssi | Staff

Community Voting

Deal Score
+27
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Top Comments

wherestheanykey
5.3KComments
890Reputation
Most refurbishment on these externals happens at the controller board for the enclosure, not the drive itself. There's a possibility these drives have never even been spun up for any significant amount of time because of this.

It could be something as minor as a power surge, broken connector, or firmware update that knocks out the enclosure and makes the drive inaccessible.

If you're shucking it, the enclosure is usually never used, so defects often go unnoticed.
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IndigoBuffalo138
1Comments
10Reputation
I bought two last month from WD on eBay. One broke within a week and the other one is noisy. I like WD but will stick to my "never buy a refurbed hd" rule
moving forward. I did get a 2 year warranty with each of them and I was able to return the broken one without hassleā€¦
Go to Comment
wherestheanykey
5.3KComments
890Reputation
What?

These are local storage drives, not cloud based.

What data do you think is being stolen?

Your tinfoil hat might be on too tight.
Go to Comment

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80 Comments

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Feb 15, 2024 6:38 PM
902 Comments
Joined Nov 2016
geo2209Feb 15, 2024 6:38 PM
902 Comments
What does refurbished on a physical drive mean? Wonder if it's worth the hassle for a shucked NAS or just buy new instead.
Feb 15, 2024 6:44 PM
306 Comments
Joined Mar 2013
MadMennoniteFeb 15, 2024 6:44 PM
306 Comments
It's at least coming from WD, so I at least put some faith in it vs another seller.
1
Feb 15, 2024 6:48 PM
1.7K Comments
Joined Aug 2020
SplendidHome1945Feb 15, 2024 6:48 PM
1.7K Comments
isn't buying a certified hard drive a very no no?
1
4
Feb 15, 2024 6:55 PM
2.7K Comments
Joined Jan 2004
frugalbrutusFeb 15, 2024 6:55 PM
2.7K Comments
are these external drives only used by home consumers, which implies light usage? Or is there a use case where a business buys a bunch of these for storage or backup or something where it might get a lot more usage?
Feb 15, 2024 6:59 PM
188 Comments
Joined Oct 2011
mrkazadorFeb 15, 2024 6:59 PM
188 Comments
If you're planning to shuck the drive then maybe consider a recertified enterprise drive from server part deals for $160, 16tb HC550 2 year seller warranty.
2
Feb 15, 2024 7:18 PM
393 Comments
Joined Mar 2017
AtariBabyFeb 15, 2024 7:18 PM
393 Comments
Quote from frugalbrutus View quoted comment :
are these external drives only used by home consumers, which implies light usage? Or is there a use case where a business buys a bunch of these for storage or backup or something where it might get a lot more usage?
I have used them in personal use and business (IT) use. I can't imagine there could be much difference, being an external usb drive. It's either backing up using the rules of back up routines, or used to move files around to different locations
Last edited by AtariBaby February 15, 2024 at 11:20 AM.
1
Feb 15, 2024 7:28 PM
1 Comments
Joined Jul 2018
IndigoBuffalo138Feb 15, 2024 7:28 PM
1 Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

I bought two last month from WD on eBay. One broke within a week and the other one is noisy. I like WD but will stick to my "never buy a refurbed hd" rule
moving forward. I did get a 2 year warranty with each of them and I was able to return the broken one without hassleā€¦
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Feb 15, 2024 7:28 PM
10 Comments
Joined Nov 2015
rob50lxFeb 15, 2024 7:28 PM
10 Comments
I have had great success with WD shucked drives in my 10 year old Windows-based JBOD Media server. I have had drives with 6-8 years of 24/7 usage that have been retired with 0 errors and only been upgrade due to small size and needing more storage space but limited to power and sata connectors. I have had a couple of internal consumer drivers that started showing errors after a few years but still gave me enough warning before I had a catastrophic error and loss of data. I'm going to try 2 refurb 16tb drives in my new media server that I'm building now. I always run a full surface scan of the drives in the USB enclosure and then after shucking them I run another full surface scan in the computer case before I start loading them with data. Although the drives are used more for reading than writing; they do get regular load balancing and other data test and migration. My newest media server being built this weekend will be starting out with 2 new 18tb shucked WD drives and these 2 refurbed 16tb shucked drives. The old server will be retired and used as a backup for the newest media server.
1
Feb 15, 2024 7:52 PM
505 Comments
Joined Jan 2013
Ih8reb8sFeb 15, 2024 7:52 PM
505 Comments
Quote from geo2209 View quoted comment :
What does refurbished on a physical drive mean? Wonder if it's worth the hassle for a shucked NAS or just buy new instead.
Be aware that you would be buying a drive meant for general use as an external , so it's probably a WD Green - meant for light use, less power consumption, less emphasis on performance. To me, that's a big difference between buying this to use in a NAS, versus buying a "refurbished" enterprise drive which was designed for use in a NAS or data center.
3
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Feb 15, 2024 7:53 PM
5.3K Comments
Joined Oct 2013
wherestheanykey
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Feb 15, 2024 7:53 PM
5.3K Comments

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Quote from IndigoBuffalo138 View quoted comment :
I bought two last month from WD on eBay. One broke within a week and the other one is noisy. I like WD but will stick to my "never buy a refurbed hd" rule
moving forward. I did get a 2 year warranty with each of them and I was able to return the broken one without hassleā€¦
How do you know it's the refurbishment and not the shipping method?

I've had plenty of brand new drives come DoA from Amazon and other retailers.

No carrier is perfect, but UPS has the fewest package throwers from what I've witnessed.
1
Feb 15, 2024 7:58 PM
380 Comments
Joined Dec 2019

This comment has been rated as unhelpful by Slickdeals users.

Feb 15, 2024 8:01 PM
4.2K Comments
Joined Mar 2006
nightanoleFeb 15, 2024 8:01 PM
4.2K Comments

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Quote from Ih8reb8s View quoted comment :
Be aware that you would be buying a drive meant for general use as an external , so it's probably a WD Green - meant for light use, less power consumption, less emphasis on performance. To me, that's a big difference between buying this to use in a NAS, versus buying a "refurbished" enterprise drive which was designed for use in a NAS or data center.
Oh no these are not WD greens. These come with mid grade server drives meant for high heat environments(so they can sit on your desk and bake, which saves money by not needing a fan). I think server grade starts at 8 tb and up.
For instance my 14tb ones were cmr helium WDC_WD140EDGZ, which are white label RED Plus's.
1
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This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Feb 15, 2024 8:01 PM
5.3K Comments
Joined Oct 2013
wherestheanykey
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Feb 15, 2024 8:01 PM
5.3K Comments

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Quote from geo2209 View quoted comment :
What does refurbished on a physical drive mean? Wonder if it's worth the hassle for a shucked NAS or just buy new instead.
Most refurbishment on these externals happens at the controller board for the enclosure, not the drive itself. There's a possibility these drives have never even been spun up for any significant amount of time because of this.

It could be something as minor as a power surge, broken connector, or firmware update that knocks out the enclosure and makes the drive inaccessible.

If you're shucking it, the enclosure is usually never used, so defects often go unnoticed.
3
Expert
This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Feb 15, 2024 8:04 PM
5.3K Comments
Joined Oct 2013
wherestheanykey
Expert
This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Feb 15, 2024 8:04 PM
5.3K Comments
Quote from WiseLeopard609 View quoted comment :
Western Digital is perfect if you like having your data stolen.
Go search Western Digital hacked on Google News. 2021-2023 many such cases.
What?

These are local storage drives, not cloud based.

What data do you think is being stolen?

Your tinfoil hat might be on too tight.
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Feb 15, 2024 8:06 PM
1 Comments
Joined Dec 2016
feelfreetoblamemeFeb 15, 2024 8:06 PM
1 Comments
Quote from Ih8reb8s View quoted comment :
Be aware that you would be buying a drive meant for general use as an external , so it's probably a WD Green - meant for light use, less power consumption, less emphasis on performance. To me, that's a big difference between buying this to use in a NAS, versus buying a "refurbished" enterprise drive which was designed for use in a NAS or data center.
In my experience with the 14TB Elements or Essentials from Best Buy, the drives are white labeled and from research online, are possibly rebadged Reds.

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