this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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Data Hoarder

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We are digital librarians. Among us are represented the various reasons to keep data -- legal requirements, competitive requirements, uncertainty of permanence of cloud services, distaste for transmitting your data externally (e.g. government or corporate espionage), cultural and familial archivists, internet collapse preppers, and people who do it themselves so they're sure it's done right. Everyone has their reasons for curating the data they have decided to keep (either forever or For A Damn Long Time (tm) ). Along the way we have sought out like-minded individuals to exchange strategies, war stories, and cautionary tales of failures.

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New Costco 14TB vs Refurb 18TB, which one would you get? (alien.top)
submitted 11 months ago by silvertricl0ps@alien.top to c/datahoarder@selfhosted.forum
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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.

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[–] rajmahid@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] silvertricl0ps@alien.top 1 points 11 months 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.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] silvertricl0ps@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Good point, I didn't realize there was a difference. I'll check out that deal.

[–] Phynness@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] audioeptesicus@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Ditto. I've been waiting on those to drop and ordered a ton while they were on sale for BF. Serverpartdeals.com is legit and their customer service is fantastic. With the savings, you can buy more drives to have hot or cold spares on hand if/when a drive fails, and you'll still come out ahead.

[–] vaisaga@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] Phynness@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No, this one.

[–] vaisaga@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Ah, Refurbished though ... Comment below said to avoid them and get a Recertified one instead: https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/184r0u1/comment/kayd6v3