Buying some computer components is a great way to save a buck (or a hundred), but with no warranty, guarantees, or recourse, others are just inviting trouble. But there is one in particular you should avoid to save yourself a huge headache.
Be Careful With Used Storage
Plenty of computer components are safe to buy used. I’ve built entire gaming PCs for half the sticker price using previous-generation components. Some of them are coming up on five years old and are still going strong.
That boils down to fact that most electrical components, once you’re past a certain age where manufacturing defects kill them early, will chug along contently for years without issue. The only problem you’re likely to encounter are fans going bad, and that is usually a pretty easy DIY fix.
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However, storage is an entirely different beast. Unlike GPUs, CPUs, or motherboards, the forms of storage we have today invariably wear with use. That makes them prone to failures, and sometimes, there are absolutely no warning signs.
What Makes Used Hard Drives Risky?
There are two things that can make a hard drive die: a mechanical failure or an electrical failure.
Hard drives work by storing binary information on a spinning platter, a bit like a digital version of the way grooves in a vinyl record store information about sound. That information is written and read by an arm that moves across the surface of the platter.
Those platters spin very quickly, anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 times per minute, depending on your drive. In general, the faster your drive spins, the faster you’ll be able to read and write data from it.
Of course, like all mechanical devices, eventually wear and tear sets in, and something breaks. It could be the arm; it could be the motor that drives the platter. Once either breaks, your drive is toast.
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Your drives have a host of useful diagnostic data hidden away. Here’s how to read it.
A mechanical failure often results in a specific sound, ominously known as “the click of death,” which occurs when the arm attempts to move across the platter but can’t. If your drive is still functioning, and you start hearing clicking, take it as a warning: back up your important files immediately.
It is technically possible to repair a hard drive that has suffered either of these mechanical failures, but it is very difficult and expensive. It isn’t normally worth it.
The combination of spinning platters and a moving arm also makes hard drives vulnerable to bumps, drops, and motion. If the drive is jolted while the arm is moving across the platter, it can scratch the surface of the platter, resulting in data loss and areas of the drive where data can no longer be stored (bad sectors).
Additionally, the platters themselves are often brittle, and if they crack, the drive will be unusable.
Electrically, hard drives are pretty simple and are usually pretty reliable if there isn’t a manufacturing defect. They can be damaged by faulty power supplies, though.
What Makes SSDs Fail?
Unlike conventional hard disk drives, SSDs have no moving parts, though they do still physically wear out.
SSDs are composed of billions of tiny electrical cells that store the information on your PC. Reading from these cells doesn’t damage them, but every time you write to a cell, the process of writing slightly degrades it. Eventually, cells become completely unusable, and the total capacity of the SSD decreases.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
To make the drive “age” uniformly, SSDs use a technique called wear leveling to ensure all the cells are written to evenly. That prevents any one cell from being written to so many times that it fails earlier than it should.
WD_BLACK SN850X
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The WD_BLACK SN850X is even faster than the SN850 it replaces, making it an even better option for your PC or Playstation 5. The recommended heat sink helps ensure that your drive will last just as long as your console or PC does.
Refurbished Isn’t the Same as Used
If you’re looking to buy storage for cheap, it is important to note the difference between a used drive and a refurbished drive.
Refurbished drives, like those sold by ServerPartDeals, have been tested, and you can be sure that they weren’t violently mishandled previously. Refurbished mechanical drives are a particularly good bargain. I’ve been using a half-dozen refurbished drives for more than 3 years with no signs of trouble.
Used drives, like those you’d find on Facebook Marketplace, are a different story. You have no way of knowing the state of the drive or how much wear and tear it was subject to. There are no warranties. You’re just out of luck if it breaks.
There are few things more annoying than losing important data, so even if you’re buying your storage brand new, you need to make sure you make appropriate backups.
Besides storage components (and fans, since they wear out too), you should seriously consider buying other PC components used—especially if you’re building on a budget.
