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Author Topic: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?  (Read 2195 times)

zxcvbob

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No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« on: April 03, 2013, 12:08:27 PM »
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-120GB-10000RPM-16MB-Cache-SATA3-0Gb-s-3-5-Hard-Drive-Boost-your-PC-Speed-/121038765582

Looks like a rebranded Western Digital, or it might be a knock-off.  Think it's worth a try for a noncritical app?  I think the real WD Velociraptor drives are 2.5" drives in a 3.5" heat sink. 
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Balog

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2013, 12:33:36 PM »
When you can get real, quality terabyte drives from a reputable vendor with a return policy for $60 I don't see any upside to taking that chance. And if it has to be 10k rpm here's a refurb for $4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148793
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AZRedhawk44

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2013, 12:38:22 PM »
Not worth it.

I just ordered an SSD 250GB drive for $170 yesterday.  Gonna replace the 5400rpm 750GB drive on my work laptop with the SSD drive.  Since I'm taking the work laptop on my motorcycle trip, I want something that is a bit more vibration-resistant than a cheap 5400rpm laptop drive.  And, I will get lower power consumption and better speed out of the SSD.

No way I'd trust a $25 10k RPM drive.
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Brad Johnson

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2013, 12:39:21 PM »
Quote from: zxcvbob on April 03, 2013, 12:08:27 PM
No-name HDD, worth a gamble?

No.

Brad
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zxcvbob

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2013, 12:42:22 PM »
Quote
And if it has to be 10k rpm...
It doesn't have to be 10k, I just thought, "hey, 10k... cool!"    This is a 2nd drive for that Xeon server I bought for a toy.  Gonna put Windows on one drive and Linux on the other (I didn't go with the VM solution because one OS is 32-bit and the other is 64.)

There is room for another 3.5": drive, but there's room for lots of 2.5"s if I can figure a way to mount them (3M double stick tape ;)

ETA: Okay, scratch the cheap 10k drive off the list, pay $40 or $50 for a good one.  Thanks guys.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2013, 12:55:38 PM by zxcvbob »
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zxcvbob

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2013, 12:47:49 PM »
Quote from: AZRedhawk44 on April 03, 2013, 12:38:22 PM
Not worth it.

I just ordered an SSD 250GB drive for $170 yesterday.  Gonna replace the 5400rpm 750GB drive on my work laptop with the SSD drive.  Since I'm taking the work laptop on my motorcycle trip, I want something that is a bit more vibration-resistant than a cheap 5400rpm laptop drive.  And, I will get lower power consumption and better speed out of the SSD.


I have a plethora of netbooks, and ones with SSD's are *so* much nicer just because they don't crash if you bump them (they don't have near the mass of a fullsize laptop) and the batteries last longer.  The speed is no better, but the SSD's they put in these things are probably little more than hardwired SD cards.
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Nick1911

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2013, 02:14:45 PM »
Meh, any data you want to keep should be backed up anyway.  Starting from that perspective, all you're really gambling with is your time should you have to recover from this disk failing.
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zxcvbob

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2013, 02:30:59 PM »
Quote from: Nick1911 on April 03, 2013, 02:14:45 PM
Meh, any data you want to keep should be backed up anyway.  Starting from that perspective, all you're really gambling with is your time should you have to recover from this disk failing.

I *may* have a SATA laptop drive already, from where I replaced the HDD in daughter's Macbook a year ago.  I ordered some SATA data cables and a Molex to SATA power adapter cable.  Not going to get in a hurry about the HDD, and see if I can work with what I have.  If not, I'll buy...  something.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2013, 02:36:58 PM »
Quote from: Nick1911 on April 03, 2013, 02:14:45 PM
Meh, any data you want to keep should be backed up anyway.  Starting from that perspective, all you're really gambling with is your time should you have to recover from this disk failing.

Kinda what I was thinking, but if you can get more of a sure thing for $40, that might be better.
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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2013, 04:27:39 PM »
Those are either a white label WD Velociraptor, or perhaps drives salvaged and refurbished post-flood in Thailand.  I am very familiar with the WD Velociraptor drives 300GB and above, but I have not seen any 120GB units.  These don't look much like the 300GB and 500GB WD units I have used.  Some differences in mounting points, top layout, etc.
Those are also 'enterprise' class drives, meaning they are 15mm high among other things.  You can see that in the pictures.  However, being 15mm high they are too thick to fit in most laptop drive bays.
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CNYCacher

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2013, 04:28:51 PM »
ZFS loves arrays made of cheap drives that might fail.
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zxcvbob

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2013, 11:16:12 PM »
Yay! I found a good 80 GB SATA drive that I didn't even know I had.  (there's another questionable 100 GB drive around here someplace. Why do I have so much junk...)
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Brad Johnson

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2013, 09:41:44 AM »
Quote from: zxcvbob on April 03, 2013, 11:16:12 PM
Why do I have so much junk...)

Because... you don't throw it away...?

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Re: No-name HDD, worth a gamble?
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2013, 09:48:31 AM »
If you were buying it for that price from newegg I'd say sure, from ebay? Hells no.
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