I’m building a NAS and trying to decide between drives. I’ve never done this before, most of my data is on google drive and a few externals. I bought a few drives on BF deals and trying to decide which ones to keep.

Costco Seagate 14TB External ($149.99) pros:

  • Actually new
  • Costco “unlimited” return policy/warranty (will most likely be around longer than goharddrive, and if a drive dies I can swap it for a new one within a few hours)
  • Possibly quieter? I haven’t shucked them yet but I’ve heard these use ironwolfs and they’re quieter than exos

Ebay Refurb 18TB ($169.99) pros:

  • more space per drive
  • better cost/TB ($9.44 vs. $10.71)
  • 5 year warranty (without possible guilt of taking advantage of costco)

Given these choices, which would you more experienced data hoarders choose? I have space in my case for 8 drives and won’t need that many for years if ever.

Also, trying to decide whether to use ZFS or not. I like the idea of bitrot protection and extra speed once I eventually upgrade to 10gbe, but am very concerned about noise from running the whole array 24/7.

  • rajmahid@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’d go for the 14TB vs the 18TB used. One can only guess how many hours are on a used drives.

    • silvertricl0ps@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Good point, yeah I wish those refurbishers would just sell the drives without wiping smart. I just shucked one of the Costco drives and found an Exos 2X14.

  • drewts86@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Someone else already mention serverpartsdeals, I’ll go ahead and add on to that. They have manufacturer recertified HDDs as opposed to seller refurbished drives. Avoid refurbished drives. I have a dozen drives from them ranging from 8-18TB and yet to have one fail, the older 8TB drives being maybe 8 years old now. Reach out to them and find out if they are going to have any more holiday sales - I’ve found better deals better than Black Friday on electronics well into December.

  • Phynness@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Serverpartdeals has an 18TB for $165 right now. That’s would I would get. In fact, I’ve bought 6 of them in the last couple months.