20TB hard drive for $295

Good deal?


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nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
308
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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.
 
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EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2019
494
361
63
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.

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?
 

nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
308
176
43
Yes, the name is stupid.
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.
 
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EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2019
494
361
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yeah, I think the speculation a few years ago was they were a sneaky way that western digital was trying to sell off old or excess drives.

Now, it looks like it's maybe a company that specializes in getting old/excess/refurb/whatever inventory from a variety of manufacturers
 
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Samir

Post Liker and Deal Hunter Extraordinaire!
Jul 21, 2017
3,241
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HSV and SFO
And all this refurbishment talk begs to ask the question--is it legal to tamper with the smart data on a drive?
 

Churchill

Admiral
Jan 6, 2016
838
213
43
Water Panther is a shit drive company? Darn as I was eying some of their drives and now I'll stay farrrr away
 
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EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2019
494
361
63
Water Panther is a shit drive company? Darn as I was eying some of their drives and now I'll stay farrrr away
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)
 
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EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2019
494
361
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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.
 

ServerSemi

Active Member
Jan 12, 2017
130
34
28
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.
 
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EasyRhino

Well-Known Member
Aug 6, 2019
494
361
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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. Yo
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
 
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Samir

Post Liker and Deal Hunter Extraordinaire!
Jul 21, 2017
3,241
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HSV and SFO
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.
This is my rule of thumb for anything new...so many shady characters and fakes out there...
 

nflsumitup

New Member
Jan 11, 2017
1
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49
I just asked a few questions using their help chat and this is what they came back with:



Hello! How can I help you?
I am interested in some drives that are listed as "Manufacturer Recertified", does that mean that the manufacturer would have the drives listed in their serial number lookup portal for the stated warranty?

Hi, thanks for reaching out to us.
No, manufacturer drives have a seller warranty that we provide for 2 years.
Factory sealed drives that have not been opened contain that 5-year manufacturer warranty.

What is the difference between "Manufacturer Recertified" and "Seller Refurbished" units?
Manufacturer Refurbished drives are drives that have been received by the manufacturer after being refurbished, having not been used. Only a few power on hours from tested by us.

Seller Refurbished drives are drives that have been used, usually a couple hundred power on hours or more.

Is there any manufacturer warranty on the "Manufacturer Recertified" drives?
No, just seller warranty through us.
Don’t worry, we guarantee function and if anything goes wrong, contact us. We’ll set up an RMA replacement
 
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