How do i figure out if the used hard drive i purchased online is good?

[Guest]

Hi guys, this is my first time posting a thread.

The question i want to ask is, "How do i figure out if the used hard drive i purchased online is good?"

I bought a used "Western Digital Caviar Green 1.5 TB SATA III - WD15EARX" on amazon.com warehouse for $75. I read from different websites on reviews on this specific hard drive, and in general have a poor failure rate (due to some shipping damage or other). I had WD hard drives for many years and not one has failed on me. But i don't know anymore since Thailand floods have damaged production. I don't want to find out in 9 months that my data disappeared. So is there anyway to diagnose, (sound characteristics, software, odd behaviors) to see that it is a good or bad hard drive?

 

[nhasian]

check for bad sectors and check smart status. always have a backup solution.

 

[price_th]

In either case of new or used, there's no way to know when a drive may fail. Doesn't matter whos drive you buy they all have failures. Backup your data. Even if you get a new drive you still can suffer a failure. Backup your data. The only good thing with new drives is you have a warranty for 1, 3 or 5 years. Doesn't cover data though so you know what I will say next.

 

[techguy911]

Its not that hard drives can fail certain models such as WD Green drives have problems because they park so much.
Knowledge Base WD Caviar Green / GP
WD Green Drives Problems
WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw
I have had many problems with green drives ,blue are more reliable and black are best but much more expensive.

 

[Onus]

You can download a program like HDDTUNE and run a full surface scan on it, checking for bad sectors and other problems. If there are none, then your odds are no worse than anyone else's for having a failure. In case you missed price_th's post, back up your data.

 

[Guest]

Its not that hard drives can fail certain models such as WD Green drives have problems because they park so much.
Knowledge Base WD Caviar Green / GP
WD Green Drives Problems
WD Caviar Green HDDs Suffer from a Critical Design Flaw
I have had many problems with green drives ,blue are more reliable and black are best but much more expensive.

Thanks for giving me links on information on the WD Caviar Green HDD. As well as everyone else who contributed to this thread.

 

[Guest]

Best answer selected by jupiter optimus maximus.