Refurbished portable HDs -- any reason not to buy?

[TSNWork]

Hi all,

I've had a WD My Passport for about 2.5 years that just died on me. I essentially only use it for back-up purposes (Time Machine and a few a la carte things I do). I'm looking to replace it on a relative budget--say, $100 or less--and found:

1) refurbished 500 GB USB 2.0 for $48
2) refurbished 320GB for $45

I have an rMBP, but the space of those two is more than enough for me. I'm just looking for something basic that I won't have to think about for 2+ years. Are those good options? Is it worth getting a FireWire or USB 3.0 one? Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Jaykee]

Buying Refurbished usually isn't an issue, I've had refurbished things like this before in the past, and usually they're almost brand new units, that someone didn't want after opening and so they sent it back, so virtually un-used.

On the respect of USB 2.0 vs 3.0, this is an image that shows the improvements made, you will notice a significant increase in speed if you go for a USB 3.0 drive, assuming you use it on a USB 3.0 Port.

Thunderbolt drives, from what I've seen are much faster than USB 3.0 Drives, but they're very expensive right now considering they're new.

But for what you need it for, which is assuming, just backing up files and what-not, the HDDs you have found will do the job, the speed wouldn't be much of an issue since you'd be storing files, and not necessarily accessing them on a daily basis.

But if I were you, I'd definitely shop around, I've just found a nice USB 3.0 Drive here for around your budget.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-154-SA&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237

Buy for your needs, most external hard drives will do the job, just shop around for the best deal!

 

[paulrbeers]

Buying Refurbished usually isn't an issue, I've had refurbished things like this before in the past, and usually they're almost brand new units, that someone didn't want after opening and so they sent it back, so virtually un-used.

On the respect of USB 2.0 vs 3.0, this is an image that shows the improvements made, you will notice a significant increase in speed if you go for a USB 3.0 drive, assuming you use it on a USB 3.0 Port.

Image

Thunderbolt drives, from what I've seen are much faster than USB 3.0 Drives, but they're very expensive right now considering they're new.

But for what you need it for, which is assuming, just backing up files and what-not, the HDDs you have found will do the job, the speed wouldn't be much of an issue since you'd be storing files, and not necessarily accessing them on a daily basis.

But if I were you, I'd definitely shop around, I've just found a nice USB 3.0 Drive here for around your budget.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-154-SA&groupid=1657&catid=1659&subcat=1237

Buy for your needs, most external hard drives will do the job, just shop around for the best deal!

Just for clarification, that table above is inaccurate. The power spec for USB 2.0 is 5 units at 100ma which is a maximum of 500ma per port. USB 3.0 has a power unit of 150ma and a maximum per port of 900ma. So they basically compared a single unit of power for USB 2.0 to the Max power of USB 3.0....

 

[TSNWork]

Great. Thanks much!