[dmuk]

What's the best way to test it when it arrives?

Will it still have a warranty from the manufacturer?

[mincepie]

Why bother? They're not that expensive to begin with, you know that they're going to fail after xxxx hours, and a second hand one is going to be further into that count, and it's hardly worth loosing all your data for a few pounds saving?

[s2k]

Scan it with Seatools, or the manufacturer equivalent if not a Seagate drive. If it fails on the DST then its pointless wasting your time with it as it will cause problems sooner or later even if it initially seems fine.

I would imagine an RMA would require a proof-of-purchase to claim against. The degree of support would also depend on if its a retail or OEM drive too.

[1saintly]

Originally Posted by s2k

Scan it with Seatools, or the manufacturer equivalent if not a Seagate drive. If it fails on the DST then its pointless wasting your time with it as it will cause problems sooner or later even if it initially seems fine.

I would imagine an RMA would require a proof-of-purchase to claim against. The degree of support would also depend on if its a retail or OEM drive too.

Seagate only need these details
http://support.seagate.com/customer/...validation.jsp
Mine packed in, didnt have proof of purchase, filled in the details, it gives you a order number, pack it up
http://www.seagate.com/support/warra...nty-checklist/
Send it off and get new drive back

[rottweiler]

I bought a second hand shuttle at a boot sale for £20
Wouldn't boot up when I got home, hard drive was popping and banging checked its warranty status online and it had 4 days left

Sent it off and seagate sent me a replacement 320gb drive for free

[Barry Wilson]

I bought a second hand HD from ebay recently.

Scanned it with http://www.hdtune.com/ and it was littered with bad sectors.

Ended up returning it to seller, who claime dnone of his HDs were faulty, I'm guessing his buyers do not scan them once they get them.

[GetFrodo]

Originally Posted by mincepie

Why bother? They're not that expensive to begin with, you know that they're going to fail after xxxx hours, and a second hand one is going to be further into that count, and it's hardly worth loosing all your data for a few pounds saving?

On the other hand, some people have really tight budgets. And you never know, you might end up being able to nose through an old MOD/council/NHS drive