Is buying cheap used hard drives on ebay risky?

[Pc6777]

I might want to get some cheap used hard drives on ebay, is it risky if i format it in bios before I do anything with them because I know some are probably sold with spywear on purpose.

[The_russian]

That is a possible risk, there's also the risk of drive health. Buying used hard drives, especially cheap ones on Ebay, you don't know how the drives have been treated. For all you know they could have been dropped multiple times and are about to die. I wouldn't be comfortable being used hard drives, but ultimately it's up to you and how much risk you are willing to take. 

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

Hard drives are among the riskiest things to buy used.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Just now, HairlessMonkeyBoy said:

Hard drives are among the riskiest things to buy used.

and the cheapest things to buy new...

[Pc6777]

it wouldn't be for my daily driver they would be extras and for other stuff.

[The_russian]

2 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

it wouldn't be for my daily driver they would be extras and for other stuff.

Like I said, it's up to you and how much risk you are willing to take. If you are still set on buying one used for some reason, I wouldn't store any sensitive or personally identifiable data on it, and I would back up the drive regularly. 

[aisle9]

If all you need is a 500GB hard drive, you don't care if it dies in a couple months, you don't care about SATA II vs. SATA III, and you only want to pay $15 for it, eBay is a viable option. If you do go that route, you'll need to DBAN it as soon as it shows up, then run a comprehensive SMART test. If the SMART test returns pre-fail results or bad sectors, return the drive.

 

If you need it to last, buy a new 1TB drive for $40-45.

[Pc6777]

Maybe I will get one or 2 new ones instead of like 8 used ones, or refirbished ones from a good seller on newegg or something, and whats dban? I was just gona format in bios if i did it but is dban something different?

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

2 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

and whats dban?

I'm also interested in the answer to this, but he probably won't answer unless you do this: @aisle9

[Pc6777]

what about this new one it probably sucks and sys its for video but is it useful? https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-av-gp-wd5000avcs-500gb/p/N82E16822136944?Item=9SIA5AD6JP8982&quicklink=true

[Chris Pratt]

The worst that can happen is the drive fails. As long as you're backing up any important data, that doesn't matter, really. However, there's an argument to be made the the ROI is low. You can get 1TB drives new for like $40. If you get the drive used, for a discount, you have to factor in the cost of having to replace it. Depending on the discount, even one replacement might cost you more in the end than just buying new.

[Pc6777]

Just now, Chris Pratt said:

The worst that can happen is the drive fails. As long as you're backing up any important data, that doesn't matter, really. However, there's an argument to be made the the ROI is low. You can get 1TB drives new for like $40. If you get the drive used, for a discount, you have to factor in the cost of having to replace it. Depending on the discount, even one replacement might cost you more in the end than just buying new.

thats what i saw thinking, a new bottom of the barrel 5400 rpm drive might be a better value.

[aisle9]

10 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

Maybe I will get one or 2 new ones instead of like 8 used ones, or refirbished ones from a good seller on newegg or something, and whats dban? I was just gona format in bios if i did it but is dban something different?

https://dban.org/

 

As far as I know/am concerned, DBAN (which is also found on a certain boot utility disc that's readily available if you look hard enough) is the absolute best way to make sure a drive is completely and totally wiped of any and all data.

 

But yeah, if new is an option for you, get a new drive. The drives on eBay are a decent value if you just need a drive, any drive, as cheap as you can get it, but they'll be retired enterprise drives with lots of hours, and they'll probably be loud AF because they're 10+ years old and the head is wearing out.

[The_russian]

19 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

whats dban? I was just gona format in bios if i did it but is dban something different?

To add to what @aisle9 said, when you do a quick format of a hard drive you are not actually erasing the data, but rather the directions or pointers to that data. The data is still there and can be recoverable by various programs. DBAN is a utility that overwrites the hard drive data with 1s and 0s (or just all 1's or all 0's, I don't remember for sure), so the data is actually erased and overwritten.  

[Pc6777]

to use a program like that i would have to boot into an os and I would be vunrablue, unless I put linux on some old pc and had no personal data on there when i ran it. 

[aisle9]

3 minutes ago, The_russian said:

To add to what @aisle9 said, when you do a quick format of a hard drive you are not actually erasing the data, but rather the directions or pointers to that data. The data is still there and can be recoverable by various programs. DBAN is a utility that overwrites the hard drive data with 1s and 0s (or just all 1's or all 0's, I don't remember for sure), so the data is actually erased and overwritten.  

IIRC, it's a pass of all zeroes, then a pass of all ones, then a pass of random 0s and 1s. Not a good thing to do to an SSD you want to keep long-term, but a HDD? Nuke away.

 

1 minute ago, Pc6777 said:

to use a program like that i would have to boot into an os and I would be vunrablue, unless I put linux on some old pc and had no personal data on there when i ran it. 

Not if you spend some time looking for an ultimate solution.

[Pc6777]

25 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

what about this new one it probably sucks and sys its for video but is it useful? https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-av-gp-wd5000avcs-500gb/p/N82E16822136944?Item=9SIA5AD6JP8982&quicklink=true

Would this drive be useful its new and cost like the same as used drives but its a vidioe storage drive, what does that mean is it worse than a normal drive?

[The_russian]

5 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

to use a program like that i would have to boot into an os and I would be vunrablue, unless I put linux on some old pc and had no personal data on there when i ran it. 

Actually DBAN is booted from either a usb thumb drive or a DVD, so you don't need an operating system on the computer when you run it. 

[Pc6777]

1 minute ago, The_russian said:

Actually DBAN is booted from either a usb thumb drive or a DVD, so you don't need an operating system on the computer when you run it. 

makes a lot more sense now haha

[The_russian]

5 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

Would this drive be useful its new and cost like the same as used drives but its a vidioe storage drive, what does that mean is it worse than a normal drive?

That one is a SATA 2 drive, so it has slower speeds than a SATA 3 drive (3Gb/s for SATA2 and 6Gb/s for SATA3)

[Pc6777]

Just now, The_russian said:

That one is a SATA 2 drive, so it has slower speeds than a SATA 3 drive (3Gb/s for SATA2 and 6Gb/s for SATA3)

if i used it in a secondary pc(not my main) and wanted to play a game on it would it have lower fps or just bad load times? its not for my main pc so I woudnt care about windows booting slow or anything like that.

[The_russian]

3 minutes ago, Pc6777 said:

if i used it in a secondary pc(not my main) and wanted to play a game on it would it have lower fps or just bad load times? its not for my main pc so I woudnt care about windows booting slow or anything like that.

As far as I know it would just affect load times and not FPS, but I am not certain about that. 

[Pc6777]

well I would rather have slower new hard drives that are more reliable tbh, the ones on ebay used are a similar price anyway.