20TB hard drive for $295
- Thread starter bilbo1337
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Water Panther is a completely different animal from companies like ServerPartDeals.
Water Panther drives look like a brand you've never heard of and are sold as new, but they are just used drives with SMART data wiped.
ServerPartDeals are honest about the drives they sell, at least as far as I can tell. The used drives they sell still could be the same "used with SMART data wiped", but if sold as used with the original label and serial number, you at least have an idea of what you are getting.
Water Panther drives look like a brand you've never heard of and are sold as new, but they are just used drives with SMART data wiped.
ServerPartDeals are honest about the drives they sell, at least as far as I can tell. The used drives they sell still could be the same "used with SMART data wiped", but if sold as used with the original label and serial number, you at least have an idea of what you are getting.
Yes, the name is stupid.
So I just recently got a 12TB recertified water panther drive (i won it in the giveaway). pretty sure it's a seagate Exos. it acts totally normal. Two nice things compared to a few years ago reports on water panther:
1) it's labeled as recertified, not new
2) the power on hours (which were probably wiped) showed like, 7 hours
3) it has a unique serial number in the firmware, not 0's. (0's reportedly messed up some operating systems? truenas?)
4) I speculate, based only on the stamp on the side of the drive, that the recertification was done by Seagate.
My own personal practice is:
1) unless it's refurbished by the manufacturer, treat any other refurbished or recertified drive as 'just plain used'
2) unless the warranty is from the manufacturer, then it's only whatever warranty the seller provides, which can be hit or miss.
Which is the same as serverpartsdeals, right?
So it's extermely likely it's the same outfit working under different branding, and they are using the water panther branding for... I dunno, to stand out on amazon?
For folks who have purchased the 'manufacturer recertified' drives from serverpartsdeals, is the warranty through seagate or the seller? I assume it's through the seller?
So I just recently got a 12TB recertified water panther drive (i won it in the giveaway). pretty sure it's a seagate Exos. it acts totally normal. Two nice things compared to a few years ago reports on water panther:
1) it's labeled as recertified, not new
2) the power on hours (which were probably wiped) showed like, 7 hours
3) it has a unique serial number in the firmware, not 0's. (0's reportedly messed up some operating systems? truenas?)
4) I speculate, based only on the stamp on the side of the drive, that the recertification was done by Seagate.
My own personal practice is:
1) unless it's refurbished by the manufacturer, treat any other refurbished or recertified drive as 'just plain used'
2) unless the warranty is from the manufacturer, then it's only whatever warranty the seller provides, which can be hit or miss.
so this is super interesting guys. But the water panther drive I just received last week, the shipping label said "server tech shipping department" at 111 central park place, sanford, fl.
Which is the same as serverpartsdeals, right?
So it's extermely likely it's the same outfit working under different branding, and they are using the water panther branding for... I dunno, to stand out on amazon?
For folks who have purchased the 'manufacturer recertified' drives from serverpartsdeals, is the warranty through seagate or the seller? I assume it's through the seller?
Water Panther is a very clever name for the business intent.
The "WP" on the drives looks enough like "WD" that some people might think they are related. Plus the "Panther" makes people think of other "animal" hard drive names, like Barracuda or Raptor. Last, the actual label has enough in common with the current Western Digital label style that it reinforces the belief that they are related.
And all this refurbishment talk begs to ask the question--is it legal to tamper with the smart data on a drive?
That's a bit strong. They're not even a drive company, they're just a reseller.
I would trust a used drive from them as much as anyone else's used drives (which means I only trust them when the price is right)
Lol the drama. Water Panther has been spammy at times on Reddit.
But I've verified that water panther, serverpartsdeals.com, and Amazon drive seller "tech on tech" all share the same address in Florida.
I think they've cleaned up some mistakes they made a couple of years ago.
Drives seem to be clearly marketed as refurb now.
Warranty correctly marketed as from seller
The firmware now has actual serial numbers
Rep for good packaging.
Still a little bit spammy.
The main thing lacking is people reporting about their RMA experience, good or bad.
But I've verified that water panther, serverpartsdeals.com, and Amazon drive seller "tech on tech" all share the same address in Florida.
I think they've cleaned up some mistakes they made a couple of years ago.
Drives seem to be clearly marketed as refurb now.
Warranty correctly marketed as from seller
The firmware now has actual serial numbers
Rep for good packaging.
Still a little bit spammy.
The main thing lacking is people reporting about their RMA experience, good or bad.
I also had a bad experience with them in the past. I bough like 5 hdd labeled as new and I received 5 drives with wiped smart data but physically looked like they been thru hell. You can tell that they were installed because of the scuffs and dents on the sides.
If you receive a disk with 0 hours from ServerPartsDeals just assume that they had wiped the smart data and treat them as drives that should not have anything important.
Me I would not buy anything but new drives from reputable vendors. I rather pay a bit more and have real manufacturer warranty than to save pennies and be praying that they honor the warranty down the road.
If you receive a disk with 0 hours from ServerPartsDeals just assume that they had wiped the smart data and treat them as drives that should not have anything important.
Me I would not buy anything but new drives from reputable vendors. I rather pay a bit more and have real manufacturer warranty than to save pennies and be praying that they honor the warranty down the road.
How long ago did you buy those? I've seen other reports of used labeled as new, but it was a few years ago. They seem to be clearly labeling drives on their site as new or refurb now
This is my rule of thumb for anything new...so many shady characters and fakes out there...
Nice, thanks for posting your response.
That kind of matches what my expectations would be, but it's nice to see it in writing