Refurbished Hard Drives: Renewed, Recertified, and Used
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Prefer Amazon Renewed or maker-recertified drives over plain used listings, test each drive's SMART data when it arrives, and run refurbished drives behind redundancy, because their warranties are shorter and failure rates rise with age.
NAS builders and backup buyers look at refurbished hard drives to get more terabytes for the money. The trade-off is warranty and age, and both vary a lot from one listing to the next. The list below ranks today's renewed and used Amazon offers — internal and external, every size — by price per TB, and re-ranks itself every time our price snapshot refreshes.
Refurbished is not one thing. It covers Amazon Renewed drives, which come with a 90-day return guarantee or a year for Renewed Premium; maker-recertified drives sold by Seagate and WD with their own warranties; and plain used or seller-renewed drives that carry only the seller's terms. Many are ex-data-center enterprise drives, which are CMR. Check which kind each listing is, then plan for age.
Toshiba 14TB SATA 512e 256MB Cache 7200RPM 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Enterprise Hard Drive - MG07ACA14TE (Renewed)
$329.00 · $23.50/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #1 at $23.50/TB — 3% below the typical 14TB HDD. Renewed condition, SATA, 3.5".
MDD MAXDIGITALDATA MDD (MDD14TSATA25672E) 14TB 7200 RPM 256MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5'' Internal Enterprise Hard Drive - 5 Years Warranty (Renewed)
$329.99 · $23.57/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #2 at $23.57/TB — 3% below the typical 14TB HDD. Renewed condition, SATA, 5 yr warranty.
Basicnology Enterprise HDD 14TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 128MB Cache 3.5inch Datacenter Hard Drive (BG14TSA256E) - 3 Years Warranty (Renewed)
$329.99 · $23.57/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #3 at $23.57/TB — 3% below the typical 14TB HDD. Renewed condition, SATA, 3.5", 3 yr warranty.
MDD MAXDIGITALDATA MDD 14TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-inch Internal Desktop Hard Drive (Renewed)
$329.99 · $23.57/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #4 at $23.57/TB — 3% below the typical 14TB HDD. Renewed condition, SATA, 3.5".
Avolusion PRO-H1 14TB 7200RPM USB 3.2 Gen2 (10Gbps) External Hard Drive (for Windows or MacOS Desktop PC/Laptop) (Renewed)
$329.99 · $23.57/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #5 at $23.57/TB — 17% below the typical external HDD across all sizes. Renewed condition, USB.
Avolusion PRO-T5 Series USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for WindowsOS Desktop PC/Laptop - 2 Year Warranty (14TB White) (Renewed)
$329.99 · $23.57/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #6 at $23.57/TB — 17% below the typical external HDD across all sizes. Renewed condition, USB, 2 yr warranty.
Water Panther WP Arsenal 14TB SATA 7200RPM 3.5-Inch DAS Hard Drive, Mechanical Hard Disk (Renewed)
$334.00 · $23.86/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #7 at $23.86/TB — 2% below the typical 14TB HDD. Renewed condition, SATA, 3.5".
MDD (MD14TSATA25672NAS) 14TB 7200 RPM 256MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5'' Internal NAS Hard Drive - 5 Years Warranty (Renewed)
$339.95 · $24.28/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #8 at $24.28/TB. Renewed condition, SATA, 5 yr warranty.
Western Digital 14TB Ultrastar DC HC530 SATA HDD - 7200 RPM Class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 512MB Cache, 3.5" - WUH721414ALE604 (Renewed)
$339.99 · $24.29/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #9 at $24.29/TB. Renewed condition, SATA, 3.5".
MDD MAXDIGITALDATA MDD 14TB 7200RPM 256MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5-inch Internal Surveillance Hard Drive - 3 Years Warranty (Renewed)
$339.99 · $24.29/TB as of Sep 26, 03:42 PM EDT
Ranks #10 at $24.29/TB. Renewed condition, SATA, 3.5", 3 yr warranty.
How the ranking and deal scores work
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What to look for
Work out which kind of refurbished drive the listing is. Amazon says Renewed products are inspected and tested, with faulty parts replaced, cleaned, and graded from Premium to Acceptable; its Renewed Guarantee allows a return within 90 days, or a year for Renewed Premium. Seagate sells recertified drives directly with a 6-month limited warranty and WD with a 1-year warranty. Anything else is a used drive on the seller's terms, so read them first.
Check the drive's age and health the day it arrives. Run the maker's diagnostic first; Seagate's SeaTools reports an overall SMART pass or fail. The SMART attributes buyers commonly check on a used drive are Power-On Hours, which shows how long it has run, and Reallocated Sector Count, which climbs as bad sectors are remapped. Compare what you find with the listing, and return anything doubtful inside the window.
Match the drive to the job and assume it can fail. Enterprise lines such as Seagate Exos, WD Ultrastar, and Toshiba MG are CMR and rated for 550 TB per year with a 5-year warranty when new, but a renewed unit does not carry that maker warranty. CMR is what you want in a RAID array. Backblaze's fleet data shows failure rates rise with age, so budget for replacements and keep a separate backup.
FAQ
Are refurbished hard drives reliable?
They can be, but reliability depends on the model and its age more than on the refurbished label. Backblaze's fleet data shows failure rates rise as drives age; one 8TB model about seven and a half years into service failed at an annualized rate above 10%. Use redundancy and keep a backup.
What's the difference between renewed, recertified, and used?
Who stands behind the drive, and for how long. Amazon Renewed carries a 90-day return guarantee, or a year for Renewed Premium. Seagate's recertified drives have a 6-month limited warranty and WD's have 1 year. Plain used or seller-renewed drives come only with the seller's terms.
How do I check a refurbished hard drive?
Test it the day it arrives and return it inside the guarantee window if anything looks wrong. Run the maker's diagnostic tool, such as Seagate's SeaTools, for an overall SMART pass or fail, then look at Power-On Hours and Reallocated Sector Count to see how long it has run and whether sectors were remapped.
Are refurbished drives good for a NAS?
Yes, if the array has redundancy and the drives are CMR. Ex-data-center enterprise lines such as Seagate Exos, WD Ultrastar, and Toshiba MG are CMR and built for heavy workloads. Treat each refurbished drive as replaceable: run a redundant array and keep a separate backup.