refurb used enterprise SSDs off ebay. Anyone gone there?

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richms

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#315684 6-Aug-2024 14:37

One of the cheapo kingstons in my gaming PC is starting to act up and go offline, so I assme it is at the end of life.

Seen on /r/datahoarders or /r/homelab that people are getting used data centre intel SSDs off ebay and finding they're good.

Has anyone done this and how did it go? Was looking at the intel 1.92 TB sata ones that seem to go for around nzd 200ish plus shipping - https://www.ebay.com/itm/226233962568

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#3268703 6-Aug-2024 16:05

No way would I buy a refurb SSD. The one you end up with might already be at its TBW.

2TB nVME brand new with warranty (I have this one) is $244 inc GST. There are SATA for around the same price. The used ebay ones with no warranty are around NZ$200. So for $44 you're getting a newer item with a warranty. Easy choice IMHO.

richms

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#3268707 6-Aug-2024 16:19

I just have concerns that the cheap end will be QLC dram-less slow junk like I have had in nvme form a couple of times that ended up being unusable.

Seems SSDs are the only PC part that has got worse and more expensive over time.

Richard rich.ms

timmmay

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#3268711 6-Aug-2024 16:37

I buy a decent brand with a good TBW, add a heatsink, and if they fail I exchange them. I have a Lexar NM790 4TB, no dram, it's super fast, but runs a bit hot hence the heatsink.

I'd rather have SLC / MLC / TLC but modern QLC is ok, so long as you have backups. The Intel one is TLC, so it's a little better than QLC - three bits per cell rather than four. Every three months I run a program I found "bitrot" that does a checksum on all files in a folder, so far not a single error. I did however cook one nvme disk until it failed, accidentally, in my R.Pi. The temperatures were above 90 degrees for an extended period... which is another reason I monitor temperatures and add heatsinks to all my m.2 SSDs.

Tinkerisk

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#3268766 6-Aug-2024 17:03

richms:

One of the cheapo kingstons in my gaming PC is starting to act up and go offline, so I assme it is at the end of life.

Seen on /r/datahoarders or /r/homelab that people are getting used data centre intel SSDs off ebay and finding they're good.

Has anyone done this and how did it go? Was looking at the intel 1.92 TB sata ones that seem to go for around nzd 200ish plus shipping - https://www.ebay.com/itm/226233962568

I have been using certain used Intel models as OS boot drives for servers for a long time, mostly 40 or 80GB. These models are extremely fail-safe and don't mind if the power fails in the middle of a write cycle. However, I wouldn't use them used for gaming purposes for various reasons.

- NET: FTTH & VDSL, OPNsense, 10G backbone, GWN APs
- SRV: 12 RU HA server cluster, 0.1 PB storage on premise
- IoT: thread, zigbee, tasmota, BidCoS, LoRa, WX suite, IR
- 3D: two 3D printers, 3D scanner, CNC router, laser cutter

MaxineN

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#3268829 6-Aug-2024 19:15

timmmay:

No way would I buy a refurb SSD. The one you end up with might already be at its TBW.

2TB nVME brand new with warranty (I have this one) is $244 inc GST. There are SATA for around the same price. The used ebay ones with no warranty are around NZ$200. So for $44 you're getting a newer item with a warranty. Easy choice IMHO.

To be honest, I used to say this exact piece, until I did a reconfiguration on my file server and went with 6 Intel S3610 1.2TB disks from a very reputable Trademe seller second hand.

All of those drives almost a year ago had 89-90% drive health with around a petabyte written.

I have just checked my NAS drives and they're still reading 89-90% health.

I would still buy new if possible, but if strapped for cash... it's not bad if you can find a good SSD with very high health.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.