[ale] Refurbished HDDs

Tue Feb 3 13:32:07 EST 2026

I had suggested outsourcing the C_suite back when offshoring of coding
jobswas all the rage.  I estimated a cheap Indian CEO would cut
compensation by 95% with no loss of productivity

On Tue, Feb 3, 2026 at 1:18 PM Jim Kinney via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> And I'm looking for how to remove it.
>
>
>
> Hey AI! How do I maximize shareholder value
>
> That's a great idea! Have you thought about firing all of the C-suite?
> They make the most money for the least productivity since they all seem to
> have teams of minions doing their job for them. I can collate the data
> provided by their teams faster and more accurately for far less in stock
> options. Shall I continue?
>
>
> Hmmm....
>
> --
> James P. Kinney III
>
> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
> at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
> It won't fatten the dog.
> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>
>
> *http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
> <http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/>*
>
> On Tue, Feb 3, 2026, 8:37 AM Boris Borisov via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>
>> Wow now we have AI overview in gmail.
>>
>> Alex asked the list for online recommendations for purchasing refurbished
>> HDDs, specifically over 10 TB, for a NAS.
>> William suggested a link for new HDDs, while Bob recommended new Western
>> Digital Caviar drives and using RAID6 for redundancy.
>> Alex clarified they are seeking manufacturer refurbished drives due to
>> budget constraints, despite having existing redundancy.
>> DJPfulio--- shared positive long-term experience with WD Black drives but
>> stressed the importance of backups over RAID.
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 3, 2026, 08:33 Chuck Payne via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Alex,
>>>
>>> When Jim offers hardware, he offers it. I recived a lot from him. Still
>>> grateful for the haul. I just saying.
>>>
>>> On Tue, Feb 3, 2026 at 7:58 AM Jim Kinney via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Manufacturers don't refurbish hard drives. It doesn't happen. Third
>>>> parties "refurbish" by wiping and resetting drive firmware. Manufacture
>>>> warranties are void.
>>>>
>>>> I was not clear in my offer. I'm not asking for money. I just want this
>>>> hardware hauled away by someone who wants it. I lack time and interest to
>>>> be involved. So, Alex, if you want this stuff, let me know. Once Alex
>>>> decides, I'll toss the rest on the group for another rehoming event. I want
>>>> to unload the entire space formerly used as my test gear server closet. I
>>>> have several thousand systems at work to wrestle with and I no longer
>>>> experiment at home with new technologies. At the end of the day, I make
>>>> tiny, wearable sculptures from silver and occasionally gold or platinum,
>>>> semi and precious stones, and fused glass. I'm done making invisible things
>>>> that 99.9% of humans don't understand.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> James P. Kinney III
>>>>
>>>> Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you
>>>> gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own
>>>> tail. It won't fatten the dog.
>>>> - Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
>>>> <http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/>*
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Feb 2, 2026, 11:54 PM Alex Carver via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm no stranger to drive failures but I'm also not exactly flush with
>>>>> cash enough to buy a dozen drives at over $300 each. Recall I wasn't
>>>>> asking about used drives, I asked about manufacturer refurbished which
>>>>> is a bit different.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is going in a NAS already, redundancy is part of the process but
>>>>> there's other backups, too.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2026-02-02 10:20, Bob Toxen wrote:
>>>>> > It's been my experience that high quality disks, such as the Western
>>>>> > Digital Caviar series, will last 5 years and should be replaced at
>>>>> > that time!!!  I find most other brands to be suboptimal, e.g., expect
>>>>> > a head crash and catastrophic loss of all data.  The Caviar Black
>>>>> disks
>>>>> > spin at 7200 RPM and carry a 5 year warranty!
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I've had poor luck with Seagate.  YMMV.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I realize that a RAID array is redundant but is it worth being cheap
>>>>> to
>>>>> > hopefully replace every failed disk before another one also fails?
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Understand that the MTBF is less than that for one disk increased by
>>>>> > being able to continue until two disks fail.  This is because,
>>>>> assuming
>>>>> > all disks of the same type and time in service are more likely to
>>>>> fail
>>>>> > around the same time, same as incandescent light bulbs.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I suggest, if you use refurbished disks, pick a RAID mode, such as
>>>>> RAID6,
>>>>> > with double redundancy due to two different parities that can
>>>>> withstand
>>>>> > two disk failures in the array.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Wikipedia's "RAID" entry is excellent.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > If the cost isn't out of your pocket buy new WD Black!
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Bob
>>>>> >
>>>>> > [Bob's political comment suppressed by Bob]
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 06:25:39PM -0800, Alex Carver via Ale wrote:
>>>>> >> Anyone have recommendations for an online place to buy refurbished
>>>>> HDDs (not
>>>>> >> SSDs)? I want to add a few more drives to the NAS.
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Ale mailing list
>>>>> Ale at ale.org
>>>>> https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>>>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>>>>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Terror PUP a.k.a
>>> Chuck "PUP" Payne
>>> -----------------------------------------
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-- 
Pete Hardie
--------
Better Living Through Bitmaps
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